View Poll Results: Who is the best James Bond actor except for Sean Connery?

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  • George Lazenby

    3 3.37%
  • Roger Moore

    7 7.87%
  • Timothy Dalton

    4 4.49%
  • Pierce Brosnan

    9 10.11%
  • Daniel Craig

    66 74.16%
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Thread: Best Bond actor (except for Sean Connery)

  1. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by CSW View Post
    Grew up watching Bond, Man from UNCLE, the Saint, Mission Impossible and the rest. It was all about the wayyyyy cool gadgets
    Thats one of my biggest complaints with the Craig era Bonds - they've almost entirely done away with the James Bond gadgets, which were a hallmark of the entire franchise.

    I think all we've gotten from the Craig films was a car built poison detector/defribralator in Casino, and the tiny Radio in Skyfall.

    Ironically this lack of gadgets occurs in a digital age where Bond's gadgets would be increasingly plausible. Pretty easy to stick a Bluetooth explosives detonator in Bond's watch today, or have his smart phone be usable to drive his car, etc.

  2. #32
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    Part of the fun the bonds for me as a kid was the jokes.

    Now it’s a bit painful to watch.

    I do miss the gadgets and fun / playful aspects of the older Bond movies.

    I haven’t watched the new ones beyond Casino Royale and the one with the evil villain from no country from old men.

    I’m also working in a new-ish more challenging job professionally and having a second baby later on this month - serious movies or shock value for the sake of shock value just don’t appeal to me right now.

    I think as others have said I think it might be the Jason Bourne movies influencing this. Before Jason Bourne there was talk about spy movies perhaps not having a market towards the end of the Brosnan era.

    That being said!

    I do appreciate elements of the new movies for realism of gun handling. Beams of sun coming off of a reflective satellite dish by the North Koreans was probably a low point.

    That being said a go go gadget wrist watch never hurt anybody!

    ETA: I also grew up and have tons of memories playing Golden Eye the video game. Brosnan probably gets a pass from me for sentimental reasons for that. That being said I don’t like any of his other movies a ton.
    God Bless,

    Brandon

  3. #33
    Site Supporter JSGlock34's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    Yea. They're supposed to be dull, cold, unfeeling, and unencumbered men, who put country and duty before all else. Humor, in as much as it is found, is a distraction from work. These characters are meant to be fundamentally flawed and broken humans who do the jobs they do, because it's the job that fits them. Fleming himself said in several interviews he conceptualized Bond to be a neutral party, at best.
    Sure, and it was probably inevitable that a post 9/11 Bond would take a darker turn. But in doing so the franchise formula - which had been often copied by other films over the previous decades - seemed derivative for the first time.

    I still think Casino Royale is one of the best Bond movies - and certainly the best adaptation of one of Fleming's books - in the entire series. But many of the actual Bond elements seem forced. The Craig era has never been able to incorporate gadgets - the tracking device in Casino Royale only seems to exist so that Le Chiffre can inexplicably remove it. It's just bad writing. Similarly, they seem incapable of moving on from the Walther PPK or Aston Martin DB-V. Undoubtedly I am in the minority, but I'm tired of the latter's continuous resurrection. I think the producers cling to these elements because they are reliable Bond call-backs.

    Quote Originally Posted by P30 View Post
    I doubt Pierce Brosnan would have endured a kindergarten fight in reality. Poor gun handling reinforces this suspicion. He was a womanizer, OK, but not a believable James Bond for me. Also the action scenes in Brosnan movies were so unrealistic, I could not take it seriously.
    I give Brosnan a lot of credit for reviving the franchise with Goldeneye. I blame the writing, direction, and casting of the later Brosnan era films for taking the turn towards camp.

    His portrayal of the Russian spy in The Fourth Protocol is far more cold-blooded and ruthless than any take on Bond that has appeared on the big screen. Unfortunately, this film is hard to find, even in the internet era, but I think it has held up well and recommend it.
    Last edited by JSGlock34; 04-10-2021 at 12:27 PM.
    "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."

  4. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by JSGlock34 View Post
    Sure, and it was probably inevitable that a post 9/11 Bond would take a darker turn. But in doing so the franchise formula - which had been often copied by other films over the previous decades - seemed derivative for the first time.

    I still think Casino Royale is one of the best Bond movies - and certainly the best adaptation of one of Fleming's books - in the entire series. But many of the actual Bond elements seem forced. The Craig era has never been able to incorporate gadgets - the tracking device in Casino Royale only seems to exist so that Le Chiffre can inexplicably remove it. It's just bad writing. Similarly, they seem incapable of moving on from the Walther PPK or Aston Martin DB-V. Undoubtedly I am in the minority, but I'm tired of the latter's continuous resurrection. I think the producers cling to these elements because they are reliable Bond call-backs.



    I give Brosnan a lot of credit for reviving the franchise with Goldeneye. I blame the writing, direction, and casting of the later Brosnan era films for taking the turn towards camp.

    His portrayal of the Russian spy in The Fourth Protocol is far more cold-blooded and ruthless than any take on Bond that has appeared on the big screen. Unfortunately, this film is hard to find, even in the internet era, but I think it has held up well and recommend it.
    I agree, that was an excellent, highly underrated film.

  5. #35
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    Good thread

    As a kid I read all of Ian Fleming's Bond books, and I'm old enough to have seen most of the films. Daniel Craig is my favorite, by a long shot. And Casino Royale is his best Bond film, by a mile. The foot chase was epic - much better than the usual tedious car chase:



    And the bathroom fight scene (Craig's first "kill") is the best Bond fight - gritty, ugly, and violent - like most real fights.



    I don't care that the gadgets are not a big feature now. When Fleming wrote the books, electronic gadgets were still scarce and unique. Now they're ubiquitous in daily life and not worth much attention.

    As for Craig's somewhat grim and cold portrayal of Bond, I've spent a small amount of time around guys who's job was to shoot people in the face on behalf of the government. In many ways, they're not dissimilar to Craig's depiction of Bond - athletic, intelligent but not cerebral, highly committed, patriotic, unemotional and serious.

    Unfortunately, I expect the Bond movies will be become increasingly woke and lame in the future.
    Last edited by Mark D; 04-10-2021 at 01:14 PM.

  6. #36
    Site Supporter Coyotesfan97's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    It really depends on what you think of as a "Bond movie" and what you think of as "Bond".

    The first two movies, Dr. No and From Russia with Love; and Craig's first movie (Casino Royale) are the truest movies to their original books. Aside from updating Casino Royal to fit the modern era, that movie is almost the book verbatim.

    It's also only those first two movies where Ian Fleming was alive to provide context and help with film production. He died before Goldfinger was completed.

    For me the Craig films are the truest Bond films after the first two.

    The remainders are campy fluff that are fun to watch, but are in many ways a distinct subset of Bond films.
    Rob sums up why I like Craig’s Bond. I read all the books. Craig and Connery are Bond to me.
    Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.

  7. #37
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark D View Post
    I've spent a small amount of time around guys who's job was to shoot people in the face on behalf of the government. In many ways, they're not dissimilar to Craig's depiction of Bond - intelligent but not cerebral, highly committed, patriotic, unemotional and serious.
    That's probably because even though the era changes the characteristics of men do not. Bearing in mind that Bond is a compilation of different people that Fleming worked with during his time in OSS, it's not at all surprising to me that he captured the core of them as people so effectively. Write what you know, right?

    In that realm Fleming merely wrote Bond as an extension of people who were "Lifers" in Intelligence and Direct Action services post-war.

    My take, post-9/11 Bond is merely the same man different era.

    --
    We'll see how No Time To Die actually is when it comes out.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    That's probably because even though the era changes the characteristics of men do not. Bearing in mind that Bond is a compilation of different people that Fleming worked with during his time in OSS, it's not at all surprising to me that he captured the core of them as people so effectively. Write what you know, right?

    In that realm Fleming merely wrote Bond as an extension of people who were "Lifers" in Intelligence and Direct Action services post-war.

    My take, post-9/11 Bond is merely the same man different era.

    --
    We'll see how No Time To Die actually is when it comes out.
    I did not know, or had forgotten, that Fleming was in the British Intelligence. So your connection between WWII Intelligence hard men and modern Tier 1 face shooters makes perfect sense.
    Last edited by Mark D; 04-10-2021 at 01:58 PM.

  9. #39
    Member Shotgun's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BigD View Post
    I believe no one could wear a safari suit with the same degree of casuality as Roger.
    I took out the "sort of" in BigD's original to convey my thought. Roger was the most aristocratic of the bunch.
    "Rich," the Old Man said dreamily, "is a little whiskey to drink and some food to eat and a roof over your head and a fish pole and a boat and a gun and a dollar for a box of shells." Robert Ruark

  10. #40
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    Which Bond you like kinda depends on how seriously you see movies. I remember thinking as a kid that all the cool gadgets were basically why you watched James Bond. As a kid I couldn't care less for the womanizing or the vodka martinis. I was there for shootouts, car chases, and cool toys.

    That meant as a kid, Pierce Brosnan was the fucking man. He was just so effortlessly cool. Way cooler than Roger Moore...and really they were both the campiest Bonds.

    But damn do I remember watching Casino Royale and in particular, that foot chase where the bad guy is parkour-ing over walls and how my view of who James Bond was changed when he just ran right through that wall. Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore...hell even Sean Connery would never do that. I hated Craig's Bond for a while as a kid.

    As a kid, you believe in whizz bang gadgets and wristwatch lasers and evil villains with bizarre henchmen.

    But when you grow up, you realize that the villains are more banal than the dude with the cat. You realize that quippy one liners are less about you showing your cool and ironic affect and more about a refusal to show vulnerability, and that winning involves involves knowing your limits.

    Can't parkour over life's problems? Then it's time to suck it up and run through them.

    It'll hurt.

    But when you're taking a beating or three you accept that life has pain and the things that get you through it aren't gadgets or wry one liners and arched eyebrows, but rather the shit you know how to do and your will to do them even when it sucks.

    I love Daniel Craigs Bond now. Because I am a grown up, and he is the Bond for grown ups. Pierce Brosnan is the Bond for kids.

    But Sean Connery reigns supreme.

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