most overrted/underrated bond films

[Palpadious]

MY overrated: Thunderball, many people say this is their favorite, but it is my least favorite Connery movie. It is very uneven with ridiculously slow and boring underwater sequences mixed with a good spy thriller. This is when Connery was getting tired of the roll and it shows with his sleepwalking. He is aslo starting to show age here.

underrated: Dr No, I don't think this movie gets the credit it deserves, even though it's the first. How can you not get chills with Bond's first scene in the casino? It is a very good spy thriller that ends with an interesting villain and exotic hideout. Connery iis pretty well settled in the role in the first one

 

[Furious Styles]

I wouldn't say underated, but perhaps underappreciated would be some of Roger Moore's films. Everyone gives the standard company line that Moore hammed up the role, but in TSWLM, FYEO and Octopussy, as an older, more serious Bond, he was amazing.

 

[Everyman]

I think TSWLM is somewhat overrated as a Bond film. Not because it is bad, it is quite good actually and it did resurrect the Bond franchise, but it was a bit too over the top and a bit too heavy on sci-fi elements. And it gave people the wrong impression that Bond was always after megalomaniacs who want to take over the world. Only Stromberg and Drax really wanted to take over the world (and Moonraker was a repetition of TSWLM).

I think TWINE is quite uderrated. Again, it's far from the best and it its share of flaws, but it is the last good Bond with Brosnan, and it has overall some great qualities. The core of the plot while not original is quite good, the opening sequence is great, there is the gorgeous Sophie Marceau who plays a very interesting Bondgirl baddie and Robbie Coltrane is back as Zukovsky.

 

[Palpadious]

I also think TSWLM is slighlty overrated.

 

[DACrowe]

Overrated: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and The Living Daylights (and I actually like this one)

Underrated: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only (I think it gets overshadowed by Moore's other camp) and The World is Not Enough.

Done.

 

[Agentsands77]

Most Overrated: THUNDERBALL - It's an epic bore.

Most Underrated: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - It's an epic masterpiece.

 

[TheFalcon]

Overrated: You Only Live Twice, Thunderball

Underrated: The World Is Not Enough

 

[Everyman]

Overrated: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and The Living Daylights (and I actually like this one)

Underrated: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only (I think it gets overshadowed by Moore's other camp) and The World is Not Enough.

Done.

I don't think DAF is overrated, it is usually not very popular. And OHMSS is now quite appreciated. But I agree with TWINE. It isn't the best Bond, but it's much better than a lot of people say.

 

[DACrowe]

Well there was a time when DAF was held in the same high regard as all Connery films were because it was Connery. I genuinely think Thunderball is mediocre with a few nice advantages (Connery, Largo, two great Bond girls....and that's it), while YOLT and DAF are plainly boring dreck on the same level as Moore's worst movies.

I also agree TWINE wouldn't go in my top 5 (though probably top 10) and is generally held in lower respect due to a pace that spent more time on characters than action (though adimttedly of the 5 action set pieces one was slow and boring and another was just boring). Yes a wee bit melodramatic but I htought it was Brosnan's best performance and his story with Elektra King was interesting at the very least.

For Your Eyes Only is well respected by the fans but like OHMSS not a lot of people who are more casual seem to acknowledge it. When you say Roger Moore people think either LALD, TSWLM and Moonraker (or the old grandpa seducing Tanya Roberts while battling a coked out Chris Walken). FYO is really overshadowed as a genuine attempt to take Bond back to the early Connery days imo. Oh well.

 

[Everyman]

I think what makes TWINE good is the character of ELektra and the way Renard is slowly introduced in the movie (although he isn't as threathening when he is onscreen as he was when he wasn't directly involved). It also had solid performances from most of the actors, except Denise Richards. As for OHMSS, as good as it was, Blofeld was too active in it (and smoking! bad idea) and Lazenby simply wasn't Connery. It had it's flaws, and I often consider it as an overrated underrated movie, i.e. a movie that wasn't appreciate as much when it was released but now it is loved so much (by the fans at least) people forget it's flaws.

 

[DACrowe]

I agree with you on TWINE. Elektra was a great Bond girl because Bond makes a connection with her (I wouldn't call it love, because after Tracy all his relationships are simply no strings attached sex or semi-connected one night stands) but feels betrayed by her and when he realizes she manipulated him....she makes a great villain who actually manipulated the main villain too and I enjoy his execution of her (that sounds sick when you think of it). Renard also had a great build up and I still enjoy Brosnan following the path of the bullet with his finger and how Renard seems a cold monster but turns out maninpulated by a false love.

On OHMSS you make a great point about Lazenby who is incredibly wooden and boring. I felt like he could do the stunts but spent the whole movie imitating Connery's performance and his puns are very painful and cringeworthy to listen to (and you think if Connery said them that they would work). But I thought the Blofeld in it was the best Blofeld of all the movie versions, he was actually menacing in it.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Everyman]

My main problem with OHMSS's Blofeld is that he gets his hands dirty a bit too often. Blofeld should go into combat only at last ressorts. Pleasence Blofeld had the right eyes, the right cold glance. But nobody could beat the early Blofeld of FRWL, when he was just a hand stroking a cat and a deep voice. He suffered the same fate as Renard, became not as menacing when we saw him in the flesh.

 

[James"007"Bond]

Overrated: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and The Living Daylights (and I actually like this one)

Underrated: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only (I think it gets overshadowed by Moore's other camp) and The World is Not Enough.

Done.

How is DAF overrated? Most people think it sucks. I'll tell you what is overrated, Goldeneye. My God, overrated is an understatement to describe this movie.

However, underrated is definately, Dr.No and license to kill.

 

[DACrowe]

How is Dr. No underrated? Most everyone holds it up as a Connery classic and is considered a great when it is the first in the series.

And LTK is a pretty bad movie all around in my opinion though.

 

[Agentsands77]

One film that's really underrated and consistently gets trashed is MOONRAKER. While far from being a perfect film, it does get a lot of things right and is always consistently entertaining.

Roger Moore's at his absolute best in MOONRAKER. This *is* the superhero Bond, and done as the superhero Bond should be. He's beautifully charming and sweet in his scenes with Corrine (perhaps my favorite seduction moment in the series), and also shows some real acting talent (watch as he exits the centrifuge... classic). He delivers his lines with panache and style and is always confident and cool.

This film also gives us some of the best set-pieces to be had in a Bond film. The opening sequence where Bond tumbles through the air without a chute is fantastic stuff. Bond facing death in a centrifuge is the stuff of classic Bond adventures. Bond fighting a thug in a glass museum? Outstanding. A boat chase down the river with a gadget-laden boat? Great.

Furthermore, Michael Lonsdale's Hugo Drax is one of the most delightfully fun villains of the series. He's intelligent and menacing and has an incredibly sharp wit. Brilliant. There's some real brutality here too, like when he sends his dogs after Corrine (one of the darker moments in the series).

Then there's the matter of just absolutely audacious scale, something I've always loved in a Bond movie. I've never, ever found anything wrong with Bond being really over-the-top. This movie does cross the line as soon as things head to outer space (the space battle just doesn't work on really any conceivable level - perhaps if Bond and Holly had just figured out how to sabotage it on their own, it might have worked), but before then, it works. It is "Bond and Beyond" and there's something to be appreciated about that.

If MOONRAKER has a serious flaw, it really has some quite campy stuff in it. The Jaws stuff is completely ridiculous (though not *that* far removed from what was done with the character in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME), and there's cheap gags here and there. But it's all meant in good fun, so it's hard to hate them too much, because you are supposed to be laughing at them anyhow.

And in spite of what MOONRAKER does wrong, it remains consistently entertaining. It's a blast to sit through, even if you're somewhat shaking your head at it all the time. It's tongue-in-cheek entertainment, and there's nothing wrong with that.