The James Bond Movies
One of the best loved movie number of all time and used often by generation after generation of cinema goer will be the James Bond movies and the release of Casino Royale last year has shown that the film series remains extremely popular.
From Sean Connery to Daniel Craig, every actor to obtain stepped into the shoes in the world's most famous secret agent has his own dedicated followers, and while each actor's films maintain elements that many of us now associate with the link movies, the style in the films has changed radically on several occasions.
The early years
The initial couple of Bond films starred Sean Connery, who continues to be most popular actor as 007. Physically looking the part, he brought both toughness and also a sense of humour towards the role, something that the literary character had always lacked. Plot wise these films - Dr No and From Russia With Love - were little different to the books of Ian Fleming, but by the time of the third film, Goldfinger, the filmmakers chosen to start introducing excessive gadgets, this time as the Aston Martin DB5 with ejector seat.
After Goldfinger came Thunderball, and although it remained close to the book, it too experienced a whole host of gadgets, from underwater breathing equipment the dimensions of a cigar tube to a hydrofoil that splits by 50 percent.
Fleming abandoned
After Thunderball came You Only Live Twice, but rather than base the script to the book, it was chosen to write an original story using Fleming's characters and site. The film ends the top in every way, to comprehend gadgets - including Little Nellie, the autogyro - a less plausible story with an over the top villain. The film would be a success although it was advertised Sean Connery's last outing as 007.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service came next, staring George Lazenby as Bond. It turned out his only quantity of the role and allegedly difficult to work with, but he chosen to retire from the role before On Her Majesty's Secret Service had even been released to the advice of his agent! The film again returns to Ian Fleming which is the last Bond film to stick rigidly to its literary original.
Comedy Bond
Sean Connery was persuaded revisit the role of 007 in the following film, Diamonds Are Forever. However, Fleming was again abandoned in favour of an original story that begin to see much more comedy, including a huge car chase whereby half the Sin city police force seemed to be wiped off.
This comic trend continued while using the introduction of Roger Moore because films slid further away from the spirit of Ian Fleming and also a raised eyebrow was all it took for that Bond girl to fall under bed with him.
Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun along with the Spy Who Loved Me became less plausible, with sillier gadgets and even more laughs, but after Moonraker the filmmakers decided they desired to plant Bond's feet back on a lawn.
The result was In your Eyes Only, likely the best of the Roger Moore Bond movies, playing a tougher, more ruthless 007 with less addiction to gadgets and comedy. Unfortunately it didn't last - Roger Moore's last two films, Octopussy and A View Into a Kill, are perhaps period of time point in the series.
The Dalton years
Timothy Dalton's debut as 007, The Living Daylights, saw a number of styles. On one hand the filmmakers planned to return to the books, although right now all the novel's titles ended up used; on the other merely couldn't leave the gadgets and comedy out of your film.
The result would be a film that was better than most of Roger Moore's films, but would have been be even better if your moments of stupidy ended up left out. One scene that springs to mind is when Bond fires two missiles from his Aston Martin to destroy a truck in his path followed by a scene if your car enters a wooden shed, which he then drives about using a frozen lake. How Ian Fleming may have turned in his grave.
Dalton's second and final film was License To Kill. Bond fans tend to be polarised into loving or hating it, and however the title is original many of the scenes were extracted from the book Live And Let Die. Bond was hard, dark, unsmiling... and boring. Dalton's contract was for three movies, but the series was wear hold while the producers left for court over a rival Bond series so when they were ready to film again Timothy Dalton did not continue.
The shadow of Roger Moore
Pierce Brosnan's Bond was introduced in Goldeneye, which abandoned the dark side of Bond for which some people have dubbed "Roger Moore-lite". With gadgets and humour, the films are a long way from Ian Fleming although it should be noted that his third film, The earth Is Not Enough does include some aspects of the books. Tomorrow Never Dies, another film, is instantly forgettable and Die Another Die, while reasonable good inside the first half, has a lot of science fiction, including a hidden car.
A return to Fleming
After Die At a later date the producers saw how the series needed a trial in the arm and looked to transfer the next film inside of a different direction. Among the results of the court action was that they had the rights to generate Casino Royale, the original 007 book to which Ian Fleming had sold the film right independently towards the other titles. Opting to reboot Bond they released that they'd require a younger actor, eventually picking However daniel craig for the part.
Although However daniel craig attracted much criticism when filming began, he confounded basically his harshest critics and turned the film right huge box office success. Bringing a physicality that were missing since Sean Connery stuck his shoulder holster, Casino Royale drops a lot of the gadgets and all though the subtlest of humour; the film effectively brings Bond returning to his roots and while the story has been expanded through the book, there is much that may be faithful to Ian Fleming.
Brosnan's films saw the pre-title sequences (PTS) getting longer and longer - around 20 mins in Die At a later date - which are way too long, especially in contrast to what many say is the classic PTS in Goldfinger - but in Casino Royale it seems much too short, leaving you wanting more.
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From Dr No to Casino Royale, the 007 series has been phenomenally successful and despite changing while using the times and to suit the actors, it appears to have turned full circle. With Bond 22 currently inside the planning stages we can only wait and see what the next instalment inside the saga holds for us.