Your list of the pretty-much dead-serious Bond movies

chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
edited October 2012 in Bond Movies Posts: 17,691
Mine are:
DN
FRWL
OHMSS (fourth wall breaking in the PTS aside)
TLD
LTK
CR
QOS
SF (I'm betting!)

Would YOU include TB, or any others?
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Comments

  • FYEO should be in there, and good portions of OP.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    LTK
    QOS

    That is all.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Definitely LTK. Some stuff in that film is just amazing to see in a Bond picture. FRWL for sure as well. TLD is played straight, so I would add it to that list as well. DN has some dark content, as does CR and QoS so those would be there as well. OHMSS I agree on. GF has some very striking content too. The murders, Bond's own fright at almost dying that is visible in Sean's eyes while on the table as the laser gets closer and closer. I don't know if TB would fit. It has been a while, but that has some very stark and shocking moments as well, especially with Bond being shot and injured, and of course there is Britain/MI6's worry over being blackmailed against the threat of nuclear action if Bond doesn't succeed. I would add that too. I think GE is rather serious too, when you get down to it, along with some aspects of TWINE with Bond and Electra at the center of those provocative moments.
  • edited October 2012 Posts: 624
    Dr. No
    From Russia With Love
    Thunderball
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Licence to Kill
    Casino Royale
    Quantum of Solace
    Skyfall (from the looks of it)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    w2bond wrote:
    LTK
    QOS

    That is all.
    Wow... you are hardcore!
    B-)
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    DN
    FRWL
    TB
    OHMSS
    FYEO
    TLD
    LTK
    CR
    QOS
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited October 2012 Posts: 17,691
    Dr. No
    From Russia With Love
    Thunderball
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Licence to Kill
    Casino Royale
    Quantum of Solace
    Skyfall (from the looks of it)
    TLD a little silly for you then? I find it mainly serious in the extreme, aside from the laser in the Aston Martin hubcap... :O
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    Kerim wrote:
    FYEO
    To tell the truth, I *almost* included that in my list, but the whole revenge-is-bad speech by Bond ruined the seriousness of it for me...

  • Posts: 4,762
    Dr. No
    From Russia with Love
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    For Your Eyes Only
    The Living Daylights
    License to Kill
    GoldenEye
    Casino Royale
    Quantum of Solace
  • chrisisall wrote:
    Dr. No
    From Russia With Love
    Thunderball
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Licence to Kill
    Casino Royale
    Quantum of Solace
    Skyfall (from the looks of it)
    TLD a little silly for you then? I find it mainly serious in the extreme, aside from the laser in the Aston Martin hubcap... :O
    The gadgets are why I didn't add it. I still love the film though.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited October 2012 Posts: 17,691
    The gadgets are why I didn't add it. I still love the film though.
    Interesting note: as a kid I hated in GF how the DB5 was all that, then Bond got captured after deploying all its tricks anyway! In TLD, HIS AM did its job, got destroyed as well, but aided in the escape! =D>
  • Posts: 1,310
    chrisisall wrote:
    Kerim wrote:
    FYEO
    To tell the truth, I *almost* included that in my list, but the whole revenge-is-bad speech by Bond ruined the seriousness of it for me...
    The pre-titles sequence and Margaret Thatcher would've ruined it for me. ;)
  • I didn't add FYEO because of Bibi hitting on her grandpa.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    chrisisall wrote:
    w2bond wrote:
    LTK
    QOS

    That is all.
    Wow... you are hardcore!
    B-)

    Well both of those have zero, zilch, nada time for humour/lightness whereas all the others people have mentioned have a wink and a smile in them somewhere

  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    chrisisall wrote:
    Kerim wrote:
    FYEO
    To tell the truth, I *almost* included that in my list, but the whole revenge-is-bad speech by Bond ruined the seriousness of it for me...

    For Roger standards, that was serious.

  • By Roger's standards a whoopee cushion is dead serious. None of his films make the list for me
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    hmm... it's kind of hard with some of the earlier stuff - because some camp was always thrown in... but in my opinion, i think they would be..

    Dr. No
    From Russia With Love
    Thunderball

    These are the only 3 in the Connery era that I would consider as close to being serious.. I would almost put Goldfinger in there, but i think in comparison to the other 3 mentioned above, it's a little more lighthearted..

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    I think the tone in this film is very gritty and somber (for the time) and it ends on an extreme down note..

    For Your Eyes Only
    Other films like The Man With The Golden Gun, Octopussy or A View To A Kill almost made the cut for me - but all fell victim to more than enough scenes of levity or humor, that i couldn't consider them... For Your Eyes Only was Moore at his most serious as Bond, even though it's a film still with traditional Moore era gags - the grounded nature of this film offset any of those..

    The Living Daylights
    Licence To Kill

    The 2 Dalton entries are no question on this list... while Daylights is the more traditional Bond movie - but with an edge - Licence To Kill ramps up what Dalton does best, look pissed and kill people lol.. Licence To Kill is by far STILL the most serious Bond movie to date IMO..

    Casino Royale
    Quantum Of Solace

    Pretty much in the same vein as the Dalton films... Casino is the more traditional (though rebooted) Bond outing, while Quantum takes more risks - and goes for a more serious 24 meets Bourne type of film..
  • Posts: 1,310
    I didn't add FYEO because of Bibi hitting on her grandpa.
    Maybe Bibi is into OLDER men...you know, men who are nearly triple her age?
  • edited October 2012 Posts: 624
    SJK91 wrote:
    I didn't add FYEO because of Bibi hitting on her grandpa.
    Maybe Bibi is into OLDER men...you know, men who are nearly triple her age?
    That's kinky.
  • chrisisall wrote:
    Dr. No
    From Russia With Love
    Thunderball
    On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    Licence to Kill
    Casino Royale
    Quantum of Solace
    Skyfall (from the looks of it)
    TLD a little silly for you then? I find it mainly serious in the extreme, aside from the laser in the Aston Martin hubcap... :O

    The gadgets aren't what makes it silly: cutting a hole in the ice with your blown-out tire? 'We have nothing to declare... just a cello'?, 'The Ghetto-blaster'?, the janitor in the toilet? TLD is pretty serious, but it has just enought silly moments to NOT qualify for a dead-serious film.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    FRWL
    OHMSS
    LTK
    QOS

    Aside from these I'd say most of the others feature elements that couldn't be called serious.
  • TLD
    LTK

    Definitely more darker, harder edged.
  • Posts: 172
    FRWL
    TLD
    LTK
    GE
    CR
    QOS
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Don't agree with all the CR mentions. Yes it has its moments but in no way is it serious on a QoS level. The foot chase, Bond's heart being re-started, a villain who weeps blood. All pretty outrageous. Bloody good fun but not to be taken seriously.
  • FRWL and LTK. That is all imo

    DN,OHMSS, FYEO, OP, TLD, TWINE, CR and QOS are serious...they just aren't as serious and as straight as the top 2
  • edited October 2012 Posts: 12,837
    Basically every Bond film has some humour in but the most serious are the early Connery films, OHMSS, TLD, LTK, FYEO, GE, TWINE, CR, QOS.

    I love OP but I don't think that can be included because of the jungle chase. All the cold war stuff doesn't really start until the 2nd half.
  • edited October 2012 Posts: 1,817
    As I understand this is a classification of the most serious, not the more down to earth or realistic.
    So based on that I would say: DR, FRWL, OHMSS, TLD, LTK, CR and QOS.
    FYEO has many funny moments, not only on the pre-title and the end scene with Thatcher (which I like... the scene, no the real politician!), for example in the car chase in Spain.
    GF, TB, YOLT, and GE are very serious indeed (in the stated sense).
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,550
    Interesting question!

    Serious Bonds

    DN
    FRWL
    TB
    OHMSS
    FYEO (except for the PTS - let's be honest ;-))
    TLD (glad they didn't go for the magic carpet ride...)
    LTK (except when Q shows up...)
    GE
    TWINE (well, they tried - I guess)
    CR
    QOS
    SF (or so it feels like to me.)
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    Die Another Day seemed to want to tackle a serious plot with the opening act of the film and decided to abandon that later on, so does that count? At time, I reckon every Bond film could be argued as being 'serious'.
  • The very presence of Georgi Koskov in TLD is why TLD can't be a serious Bond film
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