Thoughtful CR Review

[Felix Leiter]

From AJB I think. I thought it was quite interesting and well put.


Well I’ve been very tight-lipped about my feelings concerning CR ever since it premiered. I know it’s considered by many to be the best Bond ever. I couldn’t disagree more.

I tried ranking the movie with all the others, but I simply couldn’t. Not necessarily because I think it’s so bad it’s like an Ed Wood production, but more because it seems nothing like a Bond film. It’s just a real oddity to me, like the 1954 TV version of CR, or the 1967 headache-inducing spoof.

Even more puzzling is how so many Bond fans for decades have insisted NSNA isn’t canon, but I don’t see how that can be a legitimate argument anymore. CR actually does more to legitimize NSNA then Kevin McClory ever imagined. Ironic, since Eon would like you to believe NSNA never happened. (And they even have the uncanny distinction of being the only two Bond films where Felix Leiter is black! ) NSNA may not be a very good Bond film, but at least it seems more like a Bond film than CR.

Some reading this post will surely come to the conclusion that I’m unfamiliar with the original novels. Not true. I’ve read every one by Fleming and Gardner. My favorite Fleming novel is DN. In the movie TLD, I thought Timothy Dalton really nailed the character, and felt he was a worthy successor to Roger Moore. I enjoy catching little references to the books in the movies. And my three top favorite films are very faithful to the Fleming versions – OHMSS, FRWL and GF. (Actually, the movie GF is even better than the book.)

So what is it? Why am I so negative towards this movie? I think some of it has to do with the utter contempt CR seems to have for any past tradition with the Bond series. It makes me wonder why the producers still make Bond films if they are so ashamed of the last 40 years that they have to pretend like it never even happened. I just see cheap shots made at the legacy all over the place – from the PTS to Bond’s choice of car rental to his response for how he wants his martini prepared to the film’s unenthusiastic score.

You could argue that this was how Bond was always supposed to be. But I maintain that Fleming’s DN novel was even more fantastical than the movie based on it, so I don’t really buy into the whole theory that James Bond is supposed to be more grounded. And I see no proof that Daniel Craig is the way Fleming wanted his agent portrayed.

I might still be a little bitter about how the whole thing was handled with Brosnan. If you want to reboot the series, fine – reboot the series. But at least give the guy who saved your franchise a proper send-off. The fanboy in me would have loved to have seen one final adventure with Brosnan that actually brings closure to the entire series. (A revenge tale involving Irma Bunt would have had me giddy with anticipation.) Instead, DAD ends like any other Bond film, and most will say not exactly on a high note.

Maybe if I could have said goodbye to the James Bond I’ve known my entire life, I would have been more accepting of CR. Instead, CR strikes me as being more guilty than MR of wanting to be something it’s not. MR was a Star Wars wannabe, and CR desperately wants to be Jason Bourne. I like the frantic seriousness of Jason Bourne and I like the escapist fun of James Bond. These two tastes don’t have to be mutually exclusive, and it is possible to like both.

I truly wonder how other life-long James Bond fans can say this is the best Bond film ever when it resembles nothing like the wit and charm of the character that made us fans in the first place.

[Kristatos]

But I maintain that Fleming’s DN novel was even more fantastical than the movie based on it, so I don’t really buy into the whole theory that James Bond is supposed to be more grounded.

Yup, no giant squids in the movie, though I believe this was due to budgetary restrictions rather than a desire to make it "realistic". Good review, very much in line with my own feelings.

[Skywalker]

Great find and an excellent, well written and thought out review.

[Dr. No]

Thanks Felix! Good find.