I've hit a blogging wall these past weeks, no idea why. I hope it will pass. My mind, however, has not been idle. Having watched a series of James Bond films -- or bits of James Bond films -- these past days on Star Movies, I've arrived at a startling conclusion: Sean Connery is by far the best James Bond.
Roger Moore is fine in the early films, but way too old by the time the eighties kick in for the stunts, or even seductions, to seem believable. This is fatal in the context of Bond films, where plausibility is everything.
Timothy Dalton is the worst Bond. His attempts at charm have a creepy vibe.
Pierce Brosnan is bland. The best that can be said for bland is that it's better than creepy.
Daniel Craig did better in Casino Royale than I'd expected after watching his charisma-free performance in Sylvia as Ted Hughes, who was probably the closest a poet has got to the machismo of James Bond. Craig, unfortunately, looks like his mother had a cast-iron birth canal. His body can only make up so much for that face. Still, his first shot worked well because the script called for a sullen, brooding figure. By the time Quantum of Solace ended, though, I was heartily sick of sullen and brooding.
The opening of Quantum is the worst sequence in half a century of Bond films.
7 comments:
I don't think it is fair to down Dan for Quantum of Solace, I thought the script has serious pacing problems and it wasn't really great in any measure. yeah, totally agree with Sean Connery and also the Roger Moore bit. Srikanth
Connery as best Bond, agree totally. you can watch all his Bond movies even now and not wince (unlike the others). Casino Royale had the best opening of a Bond film and Daniel Craig was so refreshing in that , thought Connery's rival had arrived, then Quantum squashed that a bit. And that Goldfinger pic you've posted is seminal.
Love Bond movies, in the days I did not travel, traveled vicariously with them.:)
I won't weigh in on the best Bond discussion, but I do have to say that taken totally out of context, that picture looks like Connery has developed a bit of the Midas touch.
As for blocks, yeah, I think blogging is kind of like that.
It's Auric Goldfinger who has the Midas touch:
Goldfinger
He's the man, the man with the Midas touch
A spider's touch
Such a cold finger
Beckons you to enter his web of sin
But don't go in...
Should have figured that one out myself, I think...
Hey Girish being a Bond fan myself I agree completely on the fact that Sean Connery was and still is the bessht Bond can get with his Irish accshent! Check his biography - I read it years back at the British Council Library at Ahmedabad! btw, this is ur old friend and neighbour Ravi Iyer...
Hey Ravi! Scottish nationalist that he is, Connery might have some issues with your description of his accent :)
Hope to see you around, drop in if and when you return to the neighbourhood.
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