hairy_hen said:
I dislike about half of the Bond films because they are so campy and over the top. I have no idea why they kept taking the film series in that direction, but it's often irritating and stupid. My favourites are the ones that take the premise and the character of Bond seriously, and these are usually the ones that adhere more closely to the spirit of Ian Fleming's creation. Even among the better films, few of them really represent Bond himself being like the literary character, but the old movie persona is so ingrained in the popular consciousness that most people can't think of him any other way.
Since they effectively rebooted the series with Casino Royale, which is the first of the books, I really think they should have tried to do it properly this time and do them all, in order and more like the original stories while keeping the modern setting. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen, though.
I agree with all of this. I was quite saddened to learn that after Casino Royale, they wouldn't be doing any more book adaptations.
For shits and giggles (and I know this isn't the thread for it, but hey, we're in Off Topic already, right?), here are the Bond films I consider to be good Bond films - I really don't care about any of the others:
- Dr. No
- From Russia with Love
- Goldfinger (to a lesser extent)
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- The Living Daylights
- Licence to Kill
- GoldenEye (to a MUCH lesser extent)
- Casino Royale
- Quantum of Solace
Although I suppose, to be fair, I haven't seen Live and Let Die in ages, so that one could be better than I remember. I have no fondness for any of Roger Moore's other outings, though.