u/Dangerous-Town2195

Watched last night and it was unexpectedly good.

Loved the Vegas atmosphere. You could practically smell the movie - cigarette smoke, dingy dark casino carpets. The muscle car chase had great set pieces. The neon is gorgeous.

Most fascinating to me was the use of triadic (red, yellow, blue) colour scheme throughout. Very striking.

Plot wise, the middle section is a bit convoluted. Wasn't a huge fan of the Bambi and Thumper scene as their roles weren't given much purpose in the wider context of the story. Otherwise likeable characters.

Blofeld is decent in this movie, although I'm often asking myself why the franchise insisted on reusing this character so often. Must be loyalty to the books? A fresh, new villain would have been nicer.

I'm now of the opinion that comedic, mature Connery is the best. His acting came across as less checked out than in YOLT, which I was surprised by. I'm assuming I'll enjoy NSNA again.

Tiffany Case was a likeable character with a few bad lines and delivery. Good pair with Bond this time. More age appropriate.

Wint and Kidd are a good duo. Amusing but menacing enough.

Favourite moments

-Bond coming out of the pipeline. "Just out walking my rat!"

-Moon buggy escape - just a ridiculous scene.

Not so good moments

-"EEEEE"

-Connery's schlapping again.

-"BondJamesBond"

-Terrible looking explosions towards the end

6.5 / 10

Talking more your personal opinions, and not the general internet consensus (Timothy Dalton underrated etc).

What’s your favourite theme and why?

Licence to Kill is my favourite. Gorgeous, shimmering late 80s syrup. Powerful vocals.

I watched CR for the first time since 2006. My wife and I both gave it a 60-70%. I’d say we both enjoyed it for the most part, but we agreed on a few improvements that could have been made.

Highlights:

-Airport chase

-M and Bond’s dialogue throughout. Judi Dench just kills it. Perfect in the role. You really believe their relationship.

-The plot details such as realising that not only is Le Chiffre making interest on the financing but also trading stock related to the terror attacks. Cunning and clever.

-Stairwell fight

-Defibrillator scene

-Elevator drowning scene - amazing acting

The problem

-The relationship between Bond and Vesper isn‘t believable. Bond falls in love way too easily, and for such an apparently intense, emotionally intimate relationship, there’s too much sex and not enough heart to heart. Bond is usually a womaniser, but if we’re going see him fall head over heels, we’d expect there to be more screen time given to the relationship to develop. In this way, the film reveals its target audience.

Why not make Vesper show more signs of cracking and end up releasing she’s a mole to Bond. Emotions would be very heightened, the resolution of which would make for an excellent bonding moment. She could reveal she’s scared and that ‘they’re after me’ etc, then they join forces. Then she could still end up locking herself in the elevator out of guilt, but after revealing her intentions to join Bond.

We didn’t believe Vesper loved Bond. Therefore instead of a love story it was unrequited.

More tension, “should I? shouldn’t I?” expressions on Vesper‘s face would have been fantastic foreshadowing for a powerful confession scene near the end.

Compared to villains like Dr No, Sanchez, Le Chiffre or Silva I just don't find Largo that intimidating, nor charismatic.

Anyone else share the same perspective? I found Thunderball to be a real mixed bag. Long movie, Connery overly cocky, beginning to phone in some lines.

I liked the underwater sections. Some funny moments. Great set pieces. Decent ending climax.

The diver in the JIM suit with the claws in FYEO stuck with me. I was probably 9 when I watched it. That and the propeller scene in AVTAK.