A great movie, a great actor

I might be extremely sarcastic about the role in the world of the closest ally of the United States, the UK, but I admit many British actors are unbelievably talented. Sir Roger Moore is a brilliant performer. Together with Harrison Ford, he’s my favourite actor. I enjoy all his James Bond movies very much. A great movie, a great actor, that’s all I want to say.

The hit needed to reignite the series

Make no bones about it, the Bond production team needed a hit movie with Goldeneye to keep the series alive...and that's exactly what they got.

Pierce Brosnan was a breath of fresh air after the polished but slightly too dull Timothy Dalton and the producers dragged Bond into the 90's without losing too much of what everyone liked about him in the first place.

There's the quips, the girls, the gadgets, the chases, the fights...all are present and correct. There is a great supporting cast as well. Sean Bean is excellent as Bond's former colleague Alec Trevelyan, showing the poise and presence which would have made him a great choice as Bond himself, and Famke Jansen's Xenia Onatopp is one of the most memorable female villain's in the series (right up there with Fiona Volpe from Thunderball).

Yes the film is at least half an hour too long but for the most part this is a wonderful return to form for the Bond series.

The"formula" is perfected

You could almost say that this film so perfectly nails what the Bond series was to become about that many of the films that follow can certainly be said to take their themeic inspiration from this one.

In fact it's so good that we can ignore the fact that Gert Frobe's performance as Auric Goldfinger had to be dubbed due to his lack of English...ignore the fact that Pussy Galore's character is watered down almost to the point of pointlessness...ignore the fact that Bond spends most of the film under Goldfinger's house arrest (with no real reason for Goldfinger not killing him much sooner)...

But what we do have is excitment and a plot that improves on the book's. In the book Goldfinger was to detonate an atomic bomb to break open the gates of Fort Knox. Here his intention is to set the bomb off, thus rendering the gold in there untouchable and therefore increase the value of his own gold.

There are so many moments in the film that are in the most fondly remembered by aficianado's and casual fans alike. Oddjob killing people with his bowler hat, the round of golf between Bond & Goldfinger (which incidentally is 10 times more exciting than Casino Royale's Poker game), Bond tied to a bench as a laser moves closer and closer to his family jewels, Shirley Eaton smothered in gold paint.

It might not be the absolute best in the series, but it is one of the most remembered and memorable. And to this day it remains a triumph.

So speak or forever hold your piece...

Roger Moore steps back in as James Bond after a most highly successful debut made in Ian Fleming's Live and Let Die. Critics argue that the main mistake with this film is that the producers were trying to make Moore in Connery's image. I agree, but Moore does a great job either way. His suave and humourous charm add to the fun of the film. A very good buy. The special features are most informative with regard to how the film was made.

Brosnan's Darkest Bond

After the anti-climatic Tommorrow Never Dies, Brosan's Bond hit back with a bang with Tommorrow Never Dies.

It doesn't matter that the idea of having a bullet lodged in your brain makes you stronger as it slowly kills you is ludicrous, it matters little that the final set piece isn't exactly brilliant and it doesn't even matter that the whole idea of Denise Richards as a Nuclear Scientist is too ludicrous for even a Bond film...

All that matters is that this is one of the most action packed, stunt filled films in the series.

My only real criticism is that the flim never seems to quite know if it's aiming to be a joke-filled romp a la Roger Moore or a serious attempt to uncover Bond's dark edge. If it had truly concentrated on one or the other this could have been very special indeed.

Nobody Does It Better

Generally accepted as THE best Bond film ever, The Spy Who Loved me has everything you could come to expect from a great Bond movie. The script is a model for all the great Bond movies, as stated in another review here, 'borrowing' elements from earlier movies. A moot point really, as all Bond films use a pretty much identical formula anyway, it's just here, it all comes together so smoothly. A great cast, reserved but non-the-less charismatic Bond Girl, a superbly over the top henchman in the shape of Jaws, a suitably hammy turn by Curt Jurgens as the webfingered Stromberg, some (for their time) great special effects and perhaps the best Bond Theme ever composed; (although the rest of the soundtrack is ok, John Barry's magic-touch is sadly missing here).

Superb and exotic locations and some fantastic action sequences (particularly involing the Lotus Esprit - I want that car!!) definitely make this an essential part of your DVD collection.

Surprisingly good... no excellent!!!

Although no fan of Roger Moore in his well known series ’The Saint’, his charm, humour and resourcefulness as Bond are very satisfying. Live and Let Die, one of Fleming’s more tedious and boring novels, as well as being controversial, was turned into something different and brought to life due to the excellent screenplay writing skills of Tom Mankiewicz. Guy Hamilton’s directing is fantastic as before in the excellent ’Goldfinger’.

Though different with some apparently padded out chase sequences, the tight direction, the excellent musical score, the great acting and plot makes this one of my top 5 Bond films. Very worthwhile indeed, and the special features make it even more of a great buy.

More or less Roger's finest hour

For Your Eyes Only is showing its age a bit now. At the time a hugely welcome return to basics after the leaden FX spectacle of Moonraker (the second remake of You Only Live Twice in a row for the series), it still holds up as one of the best of Roger Moore's Bonds, but its faults are much more apparent than they once were. Among them is the tendency to undercut everything with unfunny little jokes (a scoreboard keeping count of thugs Bond knocks out, Bond giving a bemused royal wave to pursuing thugs, and a horrendous cameo from a Maggie Thatcher lookalike in the end), some flat studio work (no disguising the fact that the mountaintop Greek monastery is just a Pinewood set), a dated Bill Conti score and a comic relief nympho nymphet Lynn Holly Johnson constantly throwing herself at a disinterested Bond. Luckily, the pluses more than compensate - a stronger plot than usual for the Moore efforts, at least one cold-blooded murder, and a very welcome absence of gadgets until the postscript that ensures that Bond has to extricate himself with his own wits in some pretty good setpieces. Best among them is a mountaineering sequence where he uses his bootlaces - not steel bootlaces, just common bootlaces - to save himself in an old mountaineers trick.

Incidentally, with Blofeld still sporting the neck brace he wore at the end of OHMSS, and with the film beginning at Tracey Bond's graveside it's tempting to think of the pre-title sequence as a way of making amends for the jokey way Bond's nemesis was disposed of in Diamonds Are Forever were the following sequence not the proud possessor of the most surreal line in the entire Bond series, the infamous"I'll buy you a delicatessen - in stainless steel!" So, while this may be one of the Moore serious of Roge's outings, it's not exactly Bergman territory.

It's worth picking up the two-disc Ultimate Edition set despite it not having a great many more extras than the original release. However, if you just want the film this remastered single disc is a good bet, and includes a new commentary from Moore (also on the two-disc set).

It depends what you're after

Is Timothy Dalton an accomplished actor? No question. Is he an accomplised Bond? Well this jury is out on that one.

You can see what they were trying to do but for me the arguement that Dalton's Bond more closely resembles Fleming's original than anything that preceeded it is pretty much a moot point for the 15th film in a series.

Dalton plays the role too straight and is like a big black hole where charisma should be. It's not his fault though; the plot is weak, the villains are amongst the poorest in the series and Maryam D'Abo's Kara is one of the least memorable Bond girls in the entire canon.

The pre-credits sequence around Gibraltar sets the film off on an extremely entertaning note; it's just a pity that the rest of the film fails to live up to that.

Connery's Worst, but still worth your time

Connery is as good as ever in this; it's the film itself that lets him down.

Known as the"Japanese Bond" to many, not even Roald Dahl can come up with a great script for this. Indeed this film may well signal the time that Bond opened up to be a little too preposterous. (Indeed watching this film it becomes clear that Bond didn't just start becoming the over-the-top wise-cracking hero that Roger Moore portrayed in Live & Let Die).

On the plus side the sets are great (the volcano set must be Ken Adams' finest moment), the Japanese locations are gorgeous and Connery is as good as ever.

On the down side, Bond's attempts to look Japanese only leave you wondering why they bothered, Donald Pleasance doesn't quite bring the diabolical side of Blofeld's character to the fore like you would have hoped and the middle part of the film, where Bond must"become" Japanese may give us the opportunity to see some stunning scenery, but it doesn't half drag.

By now Connery is growing bored of his role as Bond, but he still puts the effort in. This isn't a bad film, but it's definately my least favourite of the Connery ones.

A good achievement

A much needed replacement for Roger Moore is found. Timothy Dalton steps in as Bond and delivers a satisfactory performance in The Living Daylights. Although by no means as funny or as entertaining as Moore, Dalton does manage to successfully incorporate at least some humour with the mainly hard edged approach he took to the part. The action- particularly the car chase with the Aston Martin V8 Volante, the scene with the chello and the concluding face off at the end between Bond and Koskov are of particular excellence. However I believe the main reason for the film's success is the culmination of good actors, i.e. Jeroen Krabbe, John Rhys Davies, Maryam-D'Abo, Joe Don Baker and of course former Shakespearean actor Timothy Dalton, the outstanding musical score by John Barry and the excellent title song by A-ha make this the one of the most memorable 80's Bond films. However I don't think it has the edge that 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'Goldfinger', 'You Only Live Twice' and 'Live and Let Die' had, i.e. it's no where near as fun or funny to watch. Timothy Dalton starts on a high note with this film, but sadly never gets the chance to prove his real worth due to his absolutely shameful performance in the following film 'License To Kill.' If Dalton had made a few more films to this standard, he might have even come closer to the unbeatably excellent standards set by Moore and Connery.

A lot better than most give it credit for

From the opening, Bond-less, sequence where Scaramanga dispatches what we presume is the latest in a long line of attempted assassinators, The Man With The Golden Gun is a rip-roaring ride.

Moore is at his wise-cracking best (admittedly this won't be to everyone's taste) and Christopher Lee is in his element as the mysterious Scaramanga (and is all the more effective considering he seems to be the one actor in the entire film NOT playing his part with tongue firmly in cheek).

The locations are stunning, there is a fantastic car chase and the general light-hearted feel actually works well.

Granted the girls are pretty useless (are we really supposed to believe Britt Ekland's Mary Goodnight would be allowed anywhere near a mission like Bond's?) and the whole thing is seemingly permanently on the verge of slipping over the edge marked self-parody, but you cannot deny that it is a funny, exciting and enjoyable film.

It may be far removed from Fleming's vision of Bond (which is enought to damn it forever in the eyes of some critics) but as a fun piece of escapism it more than does it's job. It may not be a great"Bond" film, but it is a good one nonetheless.

Connery's Best...Hell, THE best in the series

One reviewer states that some consider From Russia With Love to be the best Bond film of them all...well I'm certainly one of those people.

From start to finish this is an absoilute delight.

Connery's Bond is at his best here, having grown into the role since Dr. No and not yet veering towards the slight over-the-top bent that he would show in future films; the villains are superb - Blofeld manages to be supremely eerie despite his face never being shown, Rosa Klebb is a frightening adversary for Bond (witness her come on to Tatiana Romanova when she outlines the mission) and Donald"Red" Grant, despite his relative lack of screen time, manages to become one of the most memorable characters in the entire series.

It also has some of the best set pieces (the fight at the gypsy camp, the opening sequence where"Bond" is killed off) and one of Bond's most memorable friends in the form of Kerim Bay.

Quite simply, nothing else in the series quite manages to match this one.

Despite it's flaws I like it

I am not going to insult anyone's intellegence by suggesting that this is a great film but it's one that I enjoy despite it's flaws.

Moore is definately past his best here and seems on the verge of slipping into self-caricature at times, Maud Adams does almost as little as the title character as she did when appearing in The Man With The Golden Gun, and Stephen Berkoff's General Orlov is played SO over the top that it's a wonder he doesn't literally turn into a ham.

I could also have done without the multitude of Bond's disguises which include a mechanical crocodile, a clown costume and dressing up as a Gorilla.

Still the action is well up to scratch, be it on planes, trains or automobiles, and the pre-credits sequence is right up there too. I enjoyed the chemistry between Moore and Vijay Singh and whilst I doubt it's meant to be funny, Kamal Khan's pronunciation of"Hock-toe-pussy" makes me laugh every time.

So the plot's a mess, the villains are weak and the girls do even less tha usual...but I still think this is an enjoyable film, even if it isn't one of the highlights of the series.

THIS BOND HAS ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

Let me give it to you straight, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is an absolute 100% triumph. All the elements work well, firstly there is Peter Hunt's direction. Hunt should have been handed the Directors reigns on a Bond movie well before this. He adds action and excitement and blends this into the most stilted and calm manner. In truth On Her Majesty's Secret Service returns to the less gadget and comic book laden world of the like of Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice and echoes the Flemmingesque world of Dr. No and From Russia With Love. Those who don't like the first two additions to the Bond series don't flinch, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has a strength and style beaming with energy and excitement twinned with realism never seen in a Bond film before or since.

This will always be remembered at George Lazenby's go at Bond. It will also be remembered as the Bond film that flopped at the box office. Well, on a budget of $[...] million and with worldwide grosses of $[...] million, hopefully the notion of disappointment will disappear. There is also the fact that the Video and DVD versions consistently outsell all other Bond titles worldwide. George Lazenby is an absolute revelation as Bond. I had my doubts but I was still interested to see how he did. Lazenby rivals Connery in the romantic and action scenes and he also does pretty well at the dramatic scenes. In truth he is the most underrated Bond. He makes a very believable Flemmingesque playboy. He looks good in a tuxedo, on ski's, with women, in punch ups and Lazenby is helped by a strong supporting cast. Diana Rigg is beautiful and belivable as Contessa, Tracy whom which James falls in love with, and eventually marries. Rigg displays a full range of acting and beauty to make her one of the most memorable Bond girls. Telly Savalas is a very creepy, chilling and enjoyable Blofeld. It could be said that he is the most memorable of Blofelds. There is also the return of M, Q (in a rather quiet outing this time) and Miss Moneypenny (heartbroken that Bond could marry anybody but her).

If you add all the above and some of the finest action set pieces in motion picture history you have an idea of the scale of this epic. The Alpine sets, the Skiing and the bobsled chases really bring out the purest sense of adventure. The movie has thrilling ski chases, you really do believe the man can ski, and once more you take the ski with him and every thrilling second he experiences you experience too. This very much is THE Christmas Bond film (with all the snow and Christmas themes).

But its the realism between the characters and the story that makes On Her Majesty's Secret Service work. By far the most underrated of the Bond films. See it for yourself and see what you think.

A highly underrated Bond in which people turn their noses up simply because Bond is played by George Lazenby and not Sean Connery. Lazenby does a good job at playing Bond in my eyes. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the longest of all the Bond adventures and on of the best so look past another actor playing Bond and there is plenty to enjoy here.

Thank you for reading mt review.

Bond Bond Bond

My absaloute favourite Bond Film..... this has got everything a action film should have- gadgets, explosions, A tank and beautiful bond girls. this is Brosnans first & best performance as 007 and its more than a match for Goldfinger , Dr No 7, live & let die etc.
The extras are great... The special docuemtnry with liz hurley is brilliant.. Plus she looks HOT HOT HOT!!!
Made in '95, luks even better in '06 for every Bond Fan its a must have
If your thinking of watching a bond for the first time its a mus have & if your looking for a great action fim this is a must have.

It would be good if it was a bit less boring or silly.

This would be a good film if it wasn't for the boring bits and bad jokes. Roger Moore is a bit wooden, but less so than the others. The villain is cool with an amazing weapon, and he causes some violent and bloody scenes. His henchman, Nick Nack, is comical, and not quite villainous enough. His 'surprise' appearance was totally predictable as it happens at the end of every film. There is a lack of action, and Mary Goodnight is the worst female in the series. Scaramanga is quite sinister and the funhouse scenes are good, but otherwise this is one of the least memorable Bond films.