The most disappointing Bond movie?

edited April 2013 in Bond Movies Posts: 14,797
I don't think there is a thread about this one. I am not asking which is the worst Bond movie, but which one is the most disappointing, i.e. which one promised so much more than it delivered, either at development stage or during shooting. Of course, all the Bond movies one deems bad is disappointing to a degree, but some are more than others. DAD is by far the one I consider the very worst of the franchise, however it was sadly to be expected, somewhat, with the direction the series was taking during Brosnan's tenure. A much superior movie, TND, is in a way more disappointing. I will extend on it later, but right now I want to read your thoughts on it.
«1345

Comments

  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Disappointing ... I have about 3 to choose from. This time I'll go with The Man with The Golden Gun. I remember being exactly that, rather disappointed. I didn't like Bond in it, I couldn't stand the theme song, I detested the total dimwittedness of the main Bond girl, I didn't find it very exciting, I found parts stupid and I left the theatre unsatisfied.

    I'll give it more thought, but those are my first feelings on a "disappointing" Bond film.

    (Personally, I love TND, even more than GE, so that one was not disappointing for me.)
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    Diamonds are Forever, which wasted a lot of potential and virtually destroyed a well constructed character arc, was always the one I was most disappointed with.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Quantum of Bourne was easily the first time I wanted to leave the cinema in the intermission. As a 007 fan I decided against it and was not surprised to see how half of the audience did not return after the intermission. The owner of the cinema did tell me that this was not a one of but in every showing people walked out during the break and that a lot of complaining was about the editing, the unBondlike story and the incomprehensible actionscenes.

    There were some great ideas in the movie and Craig was easily the best part of the movie but the story, the editing, the badly chosen director (more the artfull director than having any idea how to shoot an actionmovie), the borrowing of keypersonal of the succesfull competition (the Bourne movies). The carchase in the beginning was so-so, the boatchase was mmmweh, the plainjump was BAD CGI and beyond impossible, the killing of Mathis a waste of a good character for nothing really.
    QoS was an idea when the filmed it but lacked the finishing touch by a real writer and the talent of a decent director to make it a movie worthy of the 007 franchise.
  • Casino Royale, QofS, SF....Pick any one, any one...
  • MrBondMrBond Station S
    Posts: 2,044
    There is two movies which i consider "dissapointing". The first one is DAF, it could have been very good if it had Lazenby in it and if it was the follow up to OHMSS as it were meant to be.

    The other one, that started of good in the first 20 minutes or so and could have been very good but failed immensly is TWINE. It's such a shame that it throws away everything that could've been good. Instead we got a muddled action/soap drama.. Good for us that it only became better afterwards!
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    Well, two of you so far are coming up with my other "disappointing" ones: DAF and QOS, yep.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    YOLT was largely dissapointing, QoS, TWINE, DAD, MR, AVTAK and DAF.
  • Posts: 14,797
    SaintMark wrote:
    The owner of the cinema did tell me that this was not a one of but in every showing people walked out during the break and that a lot of complaining was about the editing, the unBondlike story and the incomprehensible actionscenes.

    QOS has its share of flaws but unBondlike story? It is suitably large scale enough and just out there yet believable enough to be pretty much spot on as a Bond story, IMO.
    doubleoego wrote:
    YOLT was largely dissapointing, .

    This is one that fits perfectly: it is not a bad movie, not an irredeemably bad one anyway, but it is the first of the series with a serious drop in quality and with elements that would plague it in the future.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    Out of the movies I saw when they were new in the theater, I'm going to have to go with TWINE. It was Brosnan's third film and I wanted very badly for it be his Goldfinger or his The Spy Who Loved Me. Needless to say it wasn't and I left feeling very disappointed. I have since come to appreciate the film much more in recent years now that I have accepted it for what it is. I think it probably gets a little more criticism than it deserves amongst Bond fans because of it's enormous wasted potential. Disappointing? Certainly. Terrible? No.
  • Posts: 14,797
    pachazo wrote:
    Out of the movies I saw when they were new in the theater, I'm going to have to go with TWINE. It was Brosnan's third film and I wanted very badly for it be his Goldfinger or his The Spy Who Loved Me. Needless to say it wasn't and I left feeling very disappointed. I have since come to appreciate the film much more in recent years now that I have accepted it for what it is. I think it probably gets a little more criticism than it deserves amongst Bond fans because of it's enormous wasted potential. Disappointing? Certainly. Terrible? No.

    This is certainly another good one. I loved it when it was released, now I see more that it is flawed, and on the whole yes disappointing.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    doubleoego wrote:
    YOLT was largely dissapointing, QoS, TWINE, DAD, MR, AVTAK and DAF.

    Add in The Man With The Golden Gun and that would be my list as well. All these films disappoint because of what came before.
  • Posts: 4,813
    It's hard to call the older movies disappointing, since the first time I saw any of them (pre-GoldenEye) was in the summer of 1997 on VHS- seriously if there was one that didn't really impress me it was no big deal because I knew I'd just rent another one next week! :D

    I'd rather go by the ones I saw in the theatre. The most disappointing one was Tomorrow Never Dies. I had caught up on all the movies and was so excited to see the BRAND NEW ONE- especially since GoldenEye was my favorite, I thought TND would be even better.

    I was tempted to say Die Another Day, but I actually saw that movie opening night with a big crowd of friends. It was such a fun event that it didn't actually 'hit me' that the movie was terrible until a couple days later :))
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    Ludovico wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    The owner of the cinema did tell me that this was not a one of but in every showing people walked out during the break and that a lot of complaining was about the editing, the unBondlike story and the incomprehensible actionscenes.

    QOS has its share of flaws but unBondlike story? It is suitably large scale enough and just out there yet believable enough to be pretty much spot on as a Bond story, IMO.

    I've never heard of walking out during the break either. It's a film! What break?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,447
    It must have been TWINE for me. Going to the theatre, I had expected something big, balsy and smart, all this based on the trailer of the film. What I got let me down in terms of 'big' (the PTS ended up being the biggest thing in the film for me), 'balsy' (nothing too daring or bold IMO) and even 'smart' since the unnecessarily complex script felt more like incompetence than brightness.
  • Posts: 14,797
    Samuel001 wrote:
    doubleoego wrote:
    YOLT was largely dissapointing, QoS, TWINE, DAD, MR, AVTAK and DAF.

    Add in The Man With The Golden Gun and that would be my list as well. All these films disappoint because of what came before.

    That says something about DAD, disappointing after a disappointing movie. When I went to see it in theaters, it was the first Brosnan Bond I was disappointed in at the time.
  • Posts: 14,797
    DarthDimi wrote:
    It must have been TWINE for me. Going to the theatre, I had expected something big, balsy and smart, all this based on the trailer of the film. What I got let me down in terms of 'big' (the PTS ended up being the biggest thing in the film for me), 'balsy' (nothing too daring or bold IMO) and even 'smart' since the unnecessarily complex script felt more like incompetence than brightness.

    Am I the only one who thought TWINE's PTS was NOT the best part of the movie? Some of it was good, but waaaayyyyy overlong and I did not find the boat chase that great.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,417
    I'm afraid I'm going to go with the obvious, but Die Another Day gets my vote, as the most disappointing Bond film. After such a great first half (up there with the best imo), the second half is such a massive let down; crappy CGI, terrible script, woeful performances by the girl and villain respectively etc, etc, etc......

    Now DAD is 21st in my rankings (ahead of Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun), whilst I find them not as good as the other Bond films, DAD is a disappointment.
  • QsAssistantQsAssistant All those moments lost in time... like tears in rain
    Posts: 1,812
    I just can't see why TWINE gets so many votes. For a short while it was my most favorite Bond film. I find it to be great fun and is in my top 10 Bond films.

    Anyway, my most disappointing Bond film has to be QoS. After seeing CR (which was my second Bond film in theaters) I was really excited to see QoS. When I left the theater I didn't feel it was a bad Bond film but it just didn't live up to my expectations.
  • Posts: 1,405
    I just can't see why TWINE gets so many votes. For a short while it was my most favorite Bond film. I find it to be great fun and is in my top 10 Bond films.

    Anyway, my most disappointing Bond film has to be QoS. After seeing CR (which was my second Bond film in theaters) I was really excited to see QoS. When I left the theater I didn't feel it was a bad Bond film but it just didn't live up to my expectations.

    Same here. Although I must point out that had ANY of the previous Bond directors worked on QoS instead of the terrible Marc Forster, I feel I would have been more than satisfied with QoS.
  • Posts: 14,797
    I just can't see why TWINE gets so many votes. For a short while it was my most favorite Bond film. I find it to be great fun and is in my top 10 Bond films.

    TWINE could have been so much better, that said I always thought it was better than the one before and the one after, therefore I do not find it disappointing in that sense. I do also think that it already shows elements that will be used and explored more successfully during the Craig era, which already makes it less disappointing IMO.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    edited April 2013 Posts: 16,328
    Die Another Day It had a lot of great potential to be a great Bond movie but it has a lot of flaws. I think the 40th anniversary hype is biggest contributing factor to it's downfall.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited April 2013 Posts: 13,879
    Probably QOS. Not so much because of the script or tone of the film, but because it was so darn short. Minimum two hours please, EON. Or maybe the most disappointing was AVTAK- it was one of the last Bond films I had to watch to get up to date, which really doesn't help. TND was the first one I saw in cinemas, and enjoyed it thoroughly- but then TWINE felt like a slight step backwards. Nowadays, I respect TWINE'S dramatic approach, but it's lacking the action TND provided. I can't decide which is the better of the two. I wasn't disappointed with DAD when it came out (saw it twice). Only since growing up, getting to know the real Bond through the novels, and the advent of Craig's era have I re-evaluated DAD. Certainly a missed opportunity with the idea of Bond imprisoned.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited April 2013 Posts: 23,447
    Murdock wrote:
    Die Another Day I had a lot of great potential to be a great Bond movie but it has a lot of flaws. I think the 40th anniversary hype is biggest contributing factor to it's downfall.

    I can agree with that, @Murdock! They themselves tried to manoeuvre in too many references to past Bond films, some so bleeding obvious and at the same time painfully lacking in subtlety, some even downright blasphemous, that it threw a large shadow over DAD from the start. SF, by contrast, managed to find the proper balance IMO.

  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    edited April 2013 Posts: 16,328
    DarthDimi wrote:
    Murdock wrote:
    Die Another Day I had a lot of great potential to be a great Bond movie but it has a lot of flaws. I think the 40th anniversary hype is biggest contributing factor to it's downfall.

    I can agree with that, @Murdock! They themselves tried to manoeuvre in too many references to past Bond films, some so bleeding obvious and at the same time painfully lacking in subtlety, some even downright blasphemous, that it threw a large shadow over DAD from the start. SF, by contrast, managed to find the proper balance IMO.

    Also I think EoN decided to play the subtly card and work on crafting something that will be along the lines of Casino Royale, rather than try to be the best we can be and throw everything on screen approach with DAD.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    I'd have to say SF was the most disappointing for me... to the point where I am considering purchasing DAD (I don't own it) because suddenly it doesn't seem so bad any more....
    Not that I hate SF- it's still above MR in my mind. But it tried to pump the fun (Logan) into a drab & rehashed plot (Purvis, Wade) with a director that had clearly seen Home Alone one too many times (Mendes).
  • Posts: 12,837
    I came out of QOS feeling really let down and I had high hopes for DAD before I saw it, but it has to be TND.

    It's not bad, it's a fun, slick but generic Bond movie and I've always enjoyed it even though the story isn't great (as if we could ever take on China ffs) and there's too much action.

    But before it we were in a golden age. We had the Dalton films and Goldeneye. TND just doesn't compare to those brilliant movies.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,687
    Actually, I came out of MR very angry. After SF I felt sad. I don't know which is worse....
  • Seven_Point_Six_FiveSeven_Point_Six_Five Southern California
    Posts: 1,257
    DAF - After an excellent 1960's era, DAF really came up short. Even more disappointing considering it was Connery's return to the franchise.

    QOS - Following the awesomeness of CR and the new direction the franchise was heading, I couldn't wait for QOS. Unfortunately, it just fell flat on its face. For me, QOS is the most disappointing.
  • edited April 2013 Posts: 12,837
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    SaintMark wrote:
    The owner of the cinema did tell me that this was not a one of but in every showing people walked out during the break and that a lot of complaining was about the editing, the unBondlike story and the incomprehensible actionscenes.

    QOS has its share of flaws but unBondlike story? It is suitably large scale enough and just out there yet believable enough to be pretty much spot on as a Bond story, IMO.

    I've never heard of walking out during the break either. It's a film! What break?

    It's not very common at all now (at least in the UK it isn't, they still do it in some villages and small towns but you won't find a cinema in a big city having one) but intervels during films at the cinema used to be a fairly common thing.

    Gave people a chance to stretch their legs and go to the toilet while the cinema try to make some extra cash by sending people in with ice cream to sell.

    I think they still have them in some countries. So they probably still have intervals where @SaintMark lives, and so when he went to see QOS there were people walking out during the break.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    They had intervals when I was growing up in the U.S., but I think (except for local or specialty theatres) the habit ended many years ago.
Sign In or Register to comment.