Bond On Blu-ray: Wave 2 – Five New Entries
I have two suggestions out of the five recent releases
Moving on we come to Never Say Never Again, something of an unofficial Bond film. While it still stars Sean Connery, it was not made by EON Productions and was made in 1983, 12 years after Connery last starred as Bond in the disappointing Diamonds are Forever. The film is something of a remake of Thunderball, which Connery starred in as Bond in 1965 and as a result of its release, like in 1967, two Bond films were released in the same year, but neither by the same production company. While Connery was making his final appearance as 007, Roger Moore was starring in Octopussy. The two films didn't compete against one another in terms of release date, although they were originally going to, but overall Octopussy won out in terms of box-office success and certainly in the memory of the movie going public.
While Roger Ebert has a review of the film giving it three-and-a-half stars out of four I can't say I agree with his opinion here. For me this film stunk from the outset, and not because the well known gun barrel introduction isn't here, but simply because it doesn't work and listening to director Irvin Kershner (Empire Strikes Back, RoboCop 2) in the commentary and featurettes he appears to agree with me.
The film begins with a good premise with Connery returning as an aged James Bond. He begins going through a training regimen and all the while hits on every woman aiding him. However, it no longer felt like the suave Bond was doing the bedding, it reminded me of why I have such a problem with Roger Moore as Bond — it seems like Bond has just become some creepy old man. To me this version of Bond felt as if Connery was playing Roger Moore playing James Bond. The idea of getting the original actor to reprise his role as a character he played 12 years prior is great, but when it is put together as poorly as this story was it's pointless.
The script, which was originally written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. (who you can now catch online as part of Reel Geezers), gets a rather negative reception in the featurettes included. Connery is quoted saying something to the effect of "This is not what I signed on for." Semple mentions how his script simply wasn't action packed enough. However, the best quote is when someone says of the script there are "two distinct problems: the story and the dialogue." Not much left after that.
Semple's script got an uncredited rewrite from Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement and in one of the interview pieces La Frenais and Clement comment on the opening sequence, which they admittedly loved when they first saw it as Bond is seen infiltrating some kind of enemy bunker. However, like me, they hated the fact the silly theme song was played over the entire thing. This was one of the things that immediately tipped me off and led me to believe I may be in for a long 134 minutes. The song made it all seem like a joke and this film does have a slightly lighter tone to it, but in their attempt to duplicate the satirical nature of the other Bonds they made something that came off almost as a parody.
Rowan Atkinson's appearances in the film are distracting to say the least and I was never buying Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny. However, the film is not an entire failure. One sequence specifically involving a shark chasing Bond underwater was extremely well done considering the majority of underwater action scenes in films are typically slow and boring. This one had a certain level of tension added, which was a bit of a surprise considering the clichéd nature of it all.
Kershner has very little overtly positive comments about the film, but his audio commentary with Bond historian Steven Jay Rubin is quite entertaining and fact filled, and may be the only reason to buy this disc. The three included featurettes do add a little to the value with quotes from Kershner saying, "I don't fault the actors in the picture. I fault what I had to work with." Followed by his comments on Connery's positive attitude and work ethic saying, "The only good memory was Sean. If he hadn't been Bond I don't think it would have been finished."
As far as the high-definition picture goes I can't speak for its improvement over any previous releases since I had not seen it before, but I wouldn't consider myself bowled over. This isn't to say the high-definition transfer isn't top notch, it is to say I could hardly be interested to even consider it. The images are boring, for lack of a better word. Nothing about this film impresses outside of a final shot of Kim Basinger underwater with her golden hair framing her face following a climactic moment in the film — that shot is outstanding.
Unfortunately, I would never recommend anyone buy this, but giving it a rent, just to catch up on the back-story wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea. One person said to me this was better than Thunderball, which I don't agree with, but even if it were is that really saying all that much?
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it may be to late now but bust buy was selling Quantum of Solace in a bluray 3-pack
with licence to kill and the man with the golden gun. licence was my first introduction to Dalton's bond and i have to say i am a Dalton fan but never really saw him as a bond but he did not dissapoint me in the slightist. And i must agree with you on the Rodger morre aspect, having never seen Lazenbury's bond, Moore is my least favorite. but ironically the man with the golden gun is a favorite of mine, perhapes it was Christopher lee but i always find his assistant stuck in my memory as an essential Bond Villian, up there with jaws and odd job.
Looking at Roger Moore Bond films…Live and Let Die was the best, The Spy Who Loved Me and A View to a Kill where good. Octopussy and Moonraker where the worst. I don't really remember For Your Eyes Only or Man With the Golden Gun so they must not stick out one way or another.
pierce brosnan is the best and great james Bond…..more power pierce!
When will Braveheart be released on Blu-Ray?
The next two Bonds on Blu ray are Licence To Kill from 1989, and The Man With With The Golden Gun from 1974. When will You Only Live Twice from 1967, be released on Blu ray? I want to see Bond in Japan in HD!
Forgot to say this but LTK and TMWTGG are going to be released on May. 12.