Above Average Joe Blogs

With OHMSS proving to be a divisive entry in the series, at the time of its release at least, EON were keen to get Bond back on his best behaviour. And in their minds, the only way of doing this was to pay a record breaking $1.25 million to Connery to return to the role (that amount should really give a good indication at the animosity producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and the returning Connery). Diamonds are Forever, on the surface at least, seems like a return to the more bombastic Bond films, with director Guy Hamiliton wanting to strike gold again, reportedly taking inspiration from his own time directing Goldfinger (Bassey even returns for her second Bond theme). However, for me, this is easily one of the worst in the series, with a lead actor on cruise control, wreaking havoc in a cartoon world full of nonsensical ne'er-do-wells. The story again takes its basic premise from the Fleming's book of the same name, with Bond investigating a diamond-smuggl...

On Her Majesty's Secret Service Of all the films in the series, this is probably the most controversial of the lot. Starring Australian George Lazenby, in his one and only Bond film, with the unenviable task on taking on the role after Connery briefly departs, initial audience reactions was muted. Although it raked it plenty at the box office, it was still less than its predecessors, and so it was followed up with Connery being lured back in once more for Diamonds are Forever, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (henceforth OHMSS) was relegated to the back room of the series, an unfortunate blip, best forgotten about. And yet, this is the film in the series that Christopher Nolan ranks as his favourite (one only needs to look at the snow-bound finale of Inception and compare it to OHMSS to see the inspiration). Putting aside some slightly wooden acting from Lazenby, this easily ranks as one of the best in the series, mixing some of the more flamboyant aspects of Connery...

With You Only Live Twice (henceforth "YOLT" as opposed to "YOLO") the world had reached peak Bond mania (with Connery hounded by throngs of fans during filming in Japan) and also peak camp. This is the film in the series that gifts us with the full reveal of the original Dr Evil - the head of SPECTRE, bald, scarred, and cat stroking Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a volcano lair, tricked out attack helicopter ( named Little Nellie), a ninja training academy, and another denouement involving Bond and Bond girl #34582 ensconced in some sort of life raft, declining to be rescued. Whilst this film certainly feels like one of the more archetypal Bond films, the original book couldn't be further from what made it to screen. In the novel, Bond is recovering after a personal tragedy (that will serve as the end of the next film in the series), and is sent to Japan to assassinate the absurdly named Dr Shatterhand. Shatterhand is running a "Garden of Death" in an an...

I'd say (and in fact have said in the past 3 reviews) that the first three Bond films stand as some of the best in the series. Each ones giving a slightly different flavour of Bond (underground lairs, low key sleuthing, and finally a megalomaniac industrialist [they come up a lot in the world of Bond]). So it is somewhat disappointing that upon reaching Thunderball, it feels like the series is simply treading water (pun very much intended in this waterlogged sequel). Perversely, the long fought saga over the rights to the characters in Thunderball is vastly more interesting that the conflict at the heart of the movie. You see, before the Bond films were even a thing, Fleming had his eye on translating Bond from page to silver screen. In doing so, he collaborated with writers Jack Whittingham and Kevin McClory. McClory devised many of the key elements of the plot of Thunderball, including that the vast majority of the action would take place underwater. However, most crucially...

A Plague of Darkness  Considering how quickly the darkness enveloped the world, I feel it is necessary to work backwards from when the blight started to infect our globe to date. If humanity emerges from this cataclysm one day, it is important that there is some form of text, record, or evidence of what humanity was before it fell. Looking back now, I can see the signs clear as day. People started to disappear overnight. More frequently that one would expect. And in more gruesome fashion than your run of the mill kidnapping. The news would report a missing person, be it man, woman, or child, and delve into the gory details, ravenous for views and clicks of their latest grotesque display. A carpet of blood trailing down a car park stairwell. A car filled with viscera. A child's ear and arm found on a playground slide. Of course if all these atrocities occurred in one city in a short space of time, the resultant public and government panic would be swift and decisive. But no,...

Goldfinger Review In many ways, this is "the" Bond film. This is the film where the various archetypal elements that had been on and off in the previous two films, all come together in a lightning in a bottle moment, that all subsequent films have tried to replace or subvert in order to match it. This is the film that was so popular that it broke box offices records around the world, at one point was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest grossing film of all time, and even required a cinema in a New York to remain open 24 hours a day. The plot hews particularly close to that of the novel: through an act of happenstance, Bond becomes involved in a minor bit of card cheating by the gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, which then puts him on the road to a more significant criminal enterprise headed by the villain, which will see him travel to Switzerland, Kentucky USA and Fort Knox. For the first time in the series, we have the true, traditional pre-cred...

From Russia With Love  Week two and it is a review of the second Bond film and adaptation of one of JFK's favourite books, From Russia With Love. Acting on the foundation laid by Dr No, yet spinning a more grounded tale of cloak and dagger espionage, FRWL (as it will continue to be referred to) finds Bond the target of a revenge plot from SPECTRE, whilst he goes about what appears to be standard spy business in the labyrinthine Turkey before realising that things are not as they seem. Somewhat contrary to perceived wisdom with sequels, whilst the budget of the film was vastly increased from Dr No to FRWL, the scope and action are more grounded. Where in Dr No we had underground lairs, here we have sleuthing in the backstreets of Turkey. Dr No had metallic hands, whereas FRWL's villains are fairly non-descript in appearance, encompassing the shrouded first appearance of Blofeld (with hair at this point in time, but also with white Persian cat), the deceptively diminutiv...