Which Bond had the best debut movie?

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by anomaly7

For me it's a close call between Goldeneye and Casino Royale, but ultimately gave it to Casino Royale (mainly because it has the better score). Martin Campbell directed 2 of the best Bond movies IMO, the best films for Brosnan and Craig.

I actually prefer Eric Serra's score for GoldenEye. I think he got a bad rap from the producers.

See, it's clear from getting him to do the score and getting Tcheky Karyo to play Defence Minister Mishkin, that they were going for something like La Femme Nikita. Which is what Serra gave them. Then they decided they didn't want it.

Really what they should have done is just get John Barry back, which brings me to my problem with David Arnold. To me he's just a John Barry imitator. All the notes are there but his scores just lack that John Barry flavour. They're kind of bland.

But then again, I feel mostly that way about any Bond score that wasn't done by John Barry, with the exception of GoldenEye's. It's a real shame they never got Barry back to do another but The Living Daylights is probably his finest work for a Bond film.

[Adam_ME]

Since we're not including Lazenby, I'll go with Craig. He was great as Bond and Casino Royale is one of the best entries in the series.

As much as I dig GoldenEye, it does feel like it was written for Dalton.

I didn't care for The Living Daylights, although I did enjoy Dalton's debut(even though like GoldenEye, it felt like it was written for his predecessor).

Live and Let Die is my least favorite Bond movie and Moore's opening scene is an embarrassment.

Connery had a great debut in Dr. No, but I always thought that was merely a decent Bond flick. From Russia With Love(my favorite of the series) was so much better.

[unberechenbar]

GoldenEye

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Since we're not including Lazenby, I'll go with Craig. He was great as Bond and Casino Royale is one of the best entries in the series.

As much as I dig GoldenEye, it does feel like it was written for Dalton.

I didn't care for The Living Daylights, although I did enjoy Dalton's debut(even though like GoldenEye, it felt like it was written for his predecessor).

Live and Let Die is my least favorite Bond movie and Moore's opening scene is an embarrassment.

Connery had a great debut in Dr. No, but I always thought that was merely a decent Bond flick. From Russia With Love(my favorite of the series) was so much better.

I love dr. No

[sandboxgamer]

As much as I loved Goldeneye as a kid, I gotta give it to Casino Royale

[Thomas Veil]

Wow, tough crowd lol. I'm always going to dig Live and Let Die for its blaxploitation vibe so rate it high. To me Moore's best were his first two (was actually in shape and less humor).

Seems like It's gotta be Dr. No and Connery just because he started the whole thing and started the spy movie craze, though its not my favorite of the films listed and were talking debut.
.

[John1701D]

Casino Royale. So much potential squandered...

[Cruel Angel]

Tough choice, but have to go with Live and Let Die over Living Daylights and Casino Royale.

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

As much as I dig GoldenEye, it does feel like it was written for Dalton.

Yeah, a lot of people say this ('oh, GoldenEye's only good because it was written for Dalton'), and while this is partly true, it really doesn't show in the finished product.

Dalton's Bond plots were very much grounded in reality, usually centring on the sale of drugs somewhere. So in The Living Daylights, the bad guys sell opium to finance arms shipments in the Soviet-Afghan war. In Licence to Kill the bad guy is basically Pablo Escobar.

Space Lasers really don't feel like something that would be in a Dalton Bond film, and indeed, if you read the plans for Dalton's third film when it was called The Property of a Lady, they weren't.

Then there's the character. Although M refers to Bond as a sexist, misogynist dinosaur and Cold War relic, you really get the sense that this is a new Bond for the 90s and he's got a new outlook on things, he really contrasts with the way Dalton portrayed him as cold, cynical, hating his job for MI6 ('If M fires me I'll thank him for it') and having just enough energy for one last mission.

So yeah, opinions may vary but I really don't see GoldenEye as a Dalton film without Dalton

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I didn't care for The Living Daylights, although I did enjoy Dalton's debut(even though like GoldenEye, it felt like it was written for his predecessor).

This is most definitely not true. Moore was out as Bond going into making The Living Daylights. They knew from day one it was going to be a different Bond and that's reflected in the script. The opening with Bond and the sniping is almost a completely faithful recreation of Fleming's short story, which never would have happened under Roger Moore because Moore he did not like Fleming's books. He found them lacking in humour, he preferred something more like Leslie Charteris whose Saint character he famously portrayed.

The Living Daylights definitely feels kind of 80s in the same way that For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill did, but that's because you've got largely the same people working on them.

[Jorvic]

Easy – Moore in Live and Let Die.

Best theme song ...

Most beautiful bond girl ...

Best boat chase ...

[Prog5000]

Casino Royale. All down hill after that.

[kwisatzhaderach]

The Living Daylights

[DR Herbert West]

Connery

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Zechs Merquise

Yeah, a lot of people say this ('oh, GoldenEye's only good because it was written for Dalton'), and while this is partly true, it really doesn't show in the finished product.

Dalton's Bond plots were very much grounded in reality, usually centring on the sale of drugs somewhere. So in The Living Daylights, the bad guys sell opium to finance arms shipments in the Soviet-Afghan war. In Licence to Kill the bad guy is basically Pablo Escobar.

Space Lasers really don't feel like something that would be in a Dalton Bond film, and indeed, if you read the plans for Dalton's third film when it was called The Property of a Lady, they weren't.

Then there's the character. Although M refers to Bond as a sexist, misogynist dinosaur and Cold War relic, you really get the sense that this is a new Bond for the 90s and he's got a new outlook on things, he really contrasts with the way Dalton portrayed him as cold, cynical, hating his job for MI6 ('If M fires me I'll thank him for it') and having just enough energy for one last mission.

So yeah, opinions may vary but I really don't see GoldenEye as a Dalton film without Dalton

I didn't say GoldenEye was good only because it felt like it was written for Dalton. It's a good movie, period. It just felt more like a natural followup to Licence To Kill with the way M was scolding Bond about vendettas in her office and Bond telling Alec "for me" before dropping him to his death at the end.

[Damon1281]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107

[Gizz]

Goldeneye but Casino Royale is a close second.

[harry o]

Has to be the original and best 007 Connery ( with a sentimental mention for sir roger ! )

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

I didn't say GoldenEye was good only because it felt like it was written for Dalton.

I know you didn't say that. I'm saying OTHER people have said that

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

It just felt more like a natural followup to Licence To Kill with the way M was scolding Bond about vendettas in her office and Bond telling Alec "for me" before dropping him to his death at the end.

But...it's a completely different M, one not privy to the events of the previous film, and Licence to Kill wasn't the first time in the movies that Bond went on vendetta, Diamonds are Forever comes immediately to mind.

If it was still Robert Brown as M I could take your point, but because it's an almost completely new cast with the exception of Desmond Llewelyn, GoldenEye is probably the best example you could give of a soft reboot. It doesn't feel, to me, like a continuation of anything.

[50strat54]

In any James Bond poll Sean Connery will always be the best.

It was nice to have other actors step into the role to further the franchise but Sean Connery is James Bond end of story.

[Benoit Blanc]

Originally Posted by Zechs Merquise

I know you didn't say that. I'm saying OTHER people have said that

Your wording in that earlier post could be easily interpreted as you saying that Adam did say that.

But...it's a completely different M, one not privy to the events of the previous film

Not privy? She's M. Surely she'd be privy to all the significant events of Bond's past. I know you call GoldenEye a "soft reboot" (there's no such thing; a reboot is a reboot is a reboot) but if it's at all connected to prior films (which it is, just by virtue of it not being a 'hard' reboot, the only kind of reboot there is), then Dench's M would have to be "privy" to all there is to know about Bond.