The Bond 23 Thread

[The Englishman]

In some circles.

There is an equal number who didn't like him (and the GA generally rejected him). I think Daniel Craig is the Bond that Dalton tried to play. But until Craig, some fans thought Dalton was great because he tried to be dark, gritty and super-cereal. It didn't matter that he failed. I much prefer Connery, Brosnan, Craig and even Moore.

My opinion of course.

Yeah that really is your opinion....

 

[Cain]

Yeah that really is your opinion....

Yeah, I mean I've greatly enjoyed Dalton's movies much more than the best from Brosnan and Moore. I also liked his take on Bond a lot. I liked CR and Craig was aces in it but QOS really really sucked and he gave a pretty bland performance. I hope this new movie solidifies where he would stand amongst his fellow Bond actors.

Conversely I also thought Tomorrow Never Dies was the only Brosnan Bond movie even worth revisiting aside from GoldenEye. They gave him a kick ass Bond chick who keeps up with him a lot in Michelle Yeoh. Price's villain was no less of a megalomaniac than previous Bond villains except this time he resembled people in our contemporary like Rupert Murdoch even more. Brosnan himself wasn't as tongue in cheek as he was in GoldenEye either. Loved his more subdued & cold performance there too. I just really enjoy that one especially compared to the pieces of complete garbage that followed it.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

In some circles.

There is an equal number who didn't like him (and the GA generally rejected him). I think Daniel Craig is the Bond that Dalton tried to play. But until Craig, some fans thought Dalton was great because he tried to be dark, gritty and super-cereal. It didn't matter that he failed. I much prefer Connery, Brosnan, Craig and even Moore.

My opinion of course.

People's opinions of Dalton changed after Craig's films. Dalton is viewed in a much more positive light than 20 years ago so I'd say there a lot more people that like him than didn't. I wouldn't say he failed, and critcally he was more successful than Moore.

And there were two reasons License to Kill wasn't as successful. The name was changed shortly before release affecting promotion of the film and limiting the marketing. Plus, it was the only Bond film released in the summer.

 

[Doctor Jones]

License To Kill looked cheap as hell. That's one of my main gripes with it. Dalton is still great in it. I think The Living Daylights is pretty solid, but I think he deserved better films to be in.

 

[Spoonman]

Is it true that the GoldenEye script was done with Dalton in mind? I 'd like to see what Dalton would've done with the material at hand.

 

[Spoonman]

Is it true that the GoldenEye script was done with Dalton in mind? I 'd like to see what Dalton would've done with the material at hand.

 

[DACrowe]

How can you say that Dalton failed, even if you didn't like him?

He played the part like a professional who took the job seriously, and he pulled it off.

In my view he failed at what he was trying to do. He tried to be a tortured, bitter and unpredictable 007 that is a cold blooded killer with a temper. He just came off as really, really hammy, over-the-top, one-note and unintentionally funny.

He just missed the mark. Like when he growls at some other MI6 agent in his second scene in TLD, "Sit down!" to show off how tough he is. It just felt forced.

The best way I can phrase this is his first scene in TLD. Every other actor crafted their "Bond, James Bond" (especially the first time they say it) to have some charisma-charm-smug coolness about it. Sure Craig was a bitter "blunt instrument" who in his delivery of it in the final scene is furious and looking for revenge. But he still cooly, dryly delivers it perfectly like a signature.

Dalton tosses it off as something trivial and rushes through it. Sure, it was an attempt to show his Bond as "no nonsense" who doesn't have time for the camp of Moore and Connery. But he comes off as limp. As did his Bond.

 

[DACrowe]

Yeah that really is your opinion....

...and the generally accepted opinion. I know some Bond fans since have clung to his as the true Fleming Bond (though since Craig debuted, they have become less defensive of Dalton). However, he is widely ranked in polls at the bottom of the six actors to play Bond, just above George Lazenby. Both of his Bond films underperformed and even in EON's own sanctioned writings of the Bond film legacies, note that GoldenEye was their last attempt to salvage the character after the six year absence and the last two Dalton duds that had begun making people call Bond irrelevant, a relic of the Cold War, etc. They used all that ammunition and wrote it into GE to prove them wrong. While the role was still offered to Dalton (who wisely turned it down) they made sure when they got Brosnan--the fan choice at the time--he delivered "Bond, James Bond" with all the panache of Connery and looked cool again.

But it is my opinion. The one that even EON accepts as the narrative opinion on that era, but it is still just a viewpoint, you are right.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Dalton won me over in TLD when he threatened Rhys Davies and his wife at gunpoint.

"On your knees."

 

[DACrowe]

People's opinions of Dalton changed after Craig's films. Dalton is viewed in a much more positive light than 20 years ago so I'd say there a lot more people that like him than didn't. I wouldn't say he failed, and critcally he was more successful than Moore.

And there were two reasons License to Kill wasn't as successful. The name was changed shortly before release affecting promotion of the film and limiting the marketing. Plus, it was the only Bond film released in the summer.

License to Kill failing had more to do with summer than the name-change. People still knew it as "the new Bond movie." And to be fair at spymania's height in the '60s they were summer films. But License to Kill is a long way from when Goldfinger and Thunderball dominated movie theaters.

But I think the main reason LTK failed is because it looked like a cheap "Miami Vice" movie, except with James Bond as the star. And that was obviously what the Brocolis were doing. It is no secret that they have sometimes (woefully) been influenced by the action films of popular genres in the past. To sometimes cheesy and even horrific results: LALD=Shaft, Moonraker=Star Wars, LTK=Miami Vice/Lethal Weapon/Die Hard, TND=John Woo American actioners, QOS=Bourne movies (but I did like LALD of those).

But people just did not click to Dalton's Bond. I think most moviegoers, critics, and the like were put off by Dalton's wooden and cheesy Bond. But there is a large contingent of Bond fans who like it because it is "dark and gritty" and they love seeing someone try to take something like this so seriously. But it just didn't work. Daniel Craig is the Bond they wanted.

Again it is all opinion, but the general audience accepts Connery, Moore, Brosnan and Craig. Dalton is like Lazenby to most people. One of "the other guys" who played Bond that only the diehards remember the names of. Not that you should be swayed by popular opinion. This is just one I happen to agree with.

 

[The Englishman]

OK we get it you dont like Dalton, but some of us around here do....

 

[Two-Face=Badass]

Price's villain was no less of a megalomaniac than previous Bond villains except this time he resembled people in our contemporary like Rupert Murdoch even more.

I remain convinced that Pryce's Elliot Carver is still in the top 5 Bond villains. Its such a wonderfully villainous performance that chews the set into oblivion, while also being genuinely threatening, a great satire, original villain motive and funny at the same time.

 

[Paroxysm]

I would love to see.......

Spoiler

Jean Reno

as a Bond villain.

 

[The Englishman]

I would love to see.......

Spoiler

Jean Reno

as a Bond villain.

Thats a ****ing awesone suggestion...t:

 

[Doc Ock]

I would love to see.......

Spoiler

Jean Reno

as a Bond villain.

Most definitely! It should be required. I'm surprised he hasn't been one already.

 

[Drizzle]

I'd actually prefer to see him as a Bond ally. He was already a villain in "Mission Impossible", wasn't he?

 

[Doc Ock]

I'd actually prefer to see him as a Bond ally. He was already a villain in "Mission Impossible", wasn't he?

Yes, I think as an ally or villain would work nicely.

 

[TheVileOne]

Jean Reno as a Bond villain is too predictable.

 

[The Englishman]

I just want to see him in a Bond movie..

 

[HR-PUFF&STUFF]

Jean Reno could play Olivier Cesari (Le Gerant)

 

[Sebastos]

Reno in a Bond film is a terrific idea.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Is it true that the GoldenEye script was done with Dalton in mind? I 'd like to see what Dalton would've done with the material at hand.

Not sure about Goldeneye but I do know that For Your Eyes Only was written with Dalton in mind. It looked like he was all set to replace Moore only for Roger to stay on in the role.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Reno in a Bond film is a very cool idea. I think he'd be better suited as an ally.

 

[baerrtt]

To the poster slamming Dalton's Bond......during a decade where every action hero/character were given the kind of one liners that reminded viewers that they were watching a movie Dalton's interpretation of Bond was ahead of it's time in actually suggesting that if any ONE OF US found ourselves in the hair raising and dangerous situations the character gets himself into we wouldn't be constantly quipping.

Dalton's Bond with his all too human reactions (showing realistic fear, his temper etc)failed with the public because the gp then weren't used to an action character behaving like a real human being.

 

[ChickenScratch]

They have finally revealed some of the details of Jeff deaver's new Bond novel. No longeer to be called simply "Project X" the novel's title is now "Carte Blanch" and is set (in part at least) in Dubi. I'm so excited, a truly gifted author of thrillers who has already won Ian Fleming's Steel Dagger award for writing that kind of story.

Details - http://commanderbond.net/12833/carte-blanche-press-release.html