Only Die Another Day, Octopussy, and Diamonds are Forever are worse. This one is plagued by stupidity and boredom. They made an effort to camp up Bond and go silly. It plagued Moore's tenure. Some people like it exactly for that. The "it's-so-bad-it's-good" crowd.
shareRoger Moore's stint -- 1973-1985 -- is easily the most all-around entertaining of the franchise. All his Bond films are kinetic, scenic, colorful, fun and thrilling.
Octopussy is my favorite of Moore's run (followed closely by Moonraker and The Spy Who Love Me) and one of the top flicks of the ongoing series. It's full of high-adventure and is the most action-packed Bond film, challenged only by the annoyingly quick-edited Quantum of Solace. I can't see how any Bond devotee or action/adventure aficionado wouldn't love it.
Die Another Day is probably my favorite of the Brosnan era while Diamonds are Forever is an entertaining set-up for Bond flicks of the 70s thru mid-80s, not to mention it was Connery's last official gig in the series (not counting the lackluster non-canon "Never Say Never Again"). That said, Diamonds are Forever is probably the least of the 70's Bond movies.
Ugh! Really? “Octopussy” is easily among one of the worst. C’mon man have some perspective! What was unforgivable is that guy played the James Bond theme on his flute! WTF was that about? An attempt to break through the “4th wall?” It’s a movie set in the Bond universe. You’re not supposed to fucking know that you have a theme song & that you’re famous the world over. There goes your cover!
What were they thinking? Yeah ‘Octopussy” is notable for one of the stupidest moments of any Bond film.
But overall I do agree with your assessment that Moore’s tenure was one of the best & most entertaining. For me, it’s “Live & Let Die, The Spy Whio Loved Ne, For Yiur Eyes Only”.
In the world of the James Bond movies there is no James Bond theme as the viewer experiences it while watching the movies. In other words, Bond & other characters never hear the musical theme in the background because, to them, it doesn't exist. So the agent masquerading as a snake charmer wasn't giving Bond away. The notes worked as a code word for the two agents to hook up, but neither of them identify the motif as being the James Bond theme because, in the world of the movie, the Bond theme doesn't exist.
Also, the creators obviously threw in that part to be amusing and so it shouldn't be over-thought or over-criticized. The Bond flicks are, after all, escapist spy/adventure fare. They're fantasy pretending to be real-life.
That is always the problem with Moore Bonds. They obviously throw in parts to be amusing. 80% of the movie turns out to be that way. Too cartoony. Not serious enough. The entire spy-intrigue is extinguished by constant rim-shot humor. The Moore films would have been sooo much better if they trimmed the comedy down by half and completely eliminated the clown shit like Pepper, the slide whistle, etc. Moore was my favorite Bond in so far as personae but his movies are my least favorite. They blew it.
But I get it. My favorite Moore film is View to a Kill (even though there are three arguably better ones from him). It has many problems but, IMO, had a better action line, one of the best Bond girls, and one of the worst.
What I don't get is your claim that DAD is Brosnan's best. This is so psychedelic to me that I have to assume that you are trolling. Presented seriously, it kills every lab rat exposed to it.
There's enough cartoonish-ness and absurdity to go around in the Connery/Moore/Dalton/Brosnan Bond flicks (that other guy too, I forget his name). Go back and watch "You Only Live Twice" and observe the eye-rolling spy-isms, for example (they reminded me of that Gilligan's Island dream parody). Or how about Oddjob's hat in "Goldfinger"?
"Die Another Day" seems to get a bad rap and I'm not sure why since it provides all the usual Bond staples. The villains are good and the Bond babes are serviceable. The best part of the film, for me, is the over-the-top sword fight at the manor. Although it's so extreme it's somewhat goofy, it nevertheless may very well be the best sword fight in the history of cinema.
The second half, which mostly takes place in Iceland, has numerous good action sequences as well, even more goofy than the sword fight, like the iceberg tsunami on which Bond surfs (Why sure!); but it's not like this was the first time an action scene was totally ludicrous in a Bond picture.
I should add that I like Madonna's title song; and I'm not even a fan (not that I DON'T like her).
"Goldeneye" and "Die Another Day" are my favorites of the Brosnan era, but I'm going to view them all again soon to reevaluate, since I haven't seen 'em for a while.
Playing Bond theme in flute is what we enjoy watching . I remember watching it with a smile and talks about
1) Vijay: [Tells Bond about Kamal's doings, and says that he, too, plays cricket] As a matter of fact, I've got a part-time job as a pro at Kamal's club.
James Bond: What have you learned so far?
Vijay: Well, my backhand's improving.
2) [Vijay has just stopped some bad guys with his tennis racket]
Vijay: Game, set and match!
This is actually one of the most underrated Bond films of all. It gets better with repeated viewings.
shareI feel this is where the Bond franchise devolved into semi-parody.
shareLike Wuchak noted, I think the campiness started much earlier with "You Only Live Twice", and then came to stay with "Diamonds Are Forever".
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