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However, a terrific actor doesn't make for a terrific Bond necessarily. Overall, I was never too happy with his more brutish and perhaps more everyman variation on Bond. I'd like my Bond to be refined and elegant, and I found that largely missing in his portrayal.
In CR, even though a great film, he's a bit too overly arrogant at times (at least until we get to Venice), in SF he's so washed up and depressed I almost feel the same way watching him, in NTTD he's a bit more jovial but scenes like the ones where he's facing Blofeld or Safin are cringeworthy for me.
Controversially, I think his best Bond performances came in his two least-liked (not by me though) entries: QOS and SP. Love the down-to-business approach to QOS, when he chuckles when Mathis and his companion are arguing over the wine, when he refuses to stay in a bad hotel, when he wants Fields' bravery mentioned in the report, when he goes up on the roof in Mexico, when he waves to the baddie sidekicks, when he says he's "Topolino", during Madeleine's questionnaire, etc.
I really love his portrayal in these two films, and SP is for my money his most Bondian film partly also because he himself is at his most Bondian, the only one also where he's neither a rookie or a relic of the past, he's Bond in his prime in this single film, wish he had more films like it.
Alas, that's not the case. Craig came in penultimate for me. I'm sorry. I like all the cinematic Bonds, but I just like the others better than him. Regardless of his obvious qualities as an actor. I suppose I'd take his Benoit Blanc over his 007.
Sounds like you and I are in a bit of alignment on this one @GoldenGun. I see the merits in his performance of course but it’s a bit too much of a departure for my tastes. I’ll always hold CR and SF in high regard but the rest of his tenure is a bit tricky. I too also hold the opinion that his best performance as Bond was in QOS - it’s actually the best element in that entire film (sort of like how I always leave DAD thinking Pierce was the best thing about that movie.)
It would appear so indeed :)
Personally I would put his SP performance at the top, followed closely by his QOS one.
Well that depends on what you're expecting :p kidding of course ;)
I will proceed soon. Will continue with the next reveal this weekend :)
From his brutish debut in CT to his more refined SP, Craig, IMHO, never put in a poor performance. Craig has that ability to carry off the more taticurn aspects of Bond, alongside the usual charming persona. As others have said, Craig isn't a refined as my Bond should be, but hey ho.
Cheers mate! Was just bumping the thread back up, no pressure 😁
ROGER MOORE
Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in
Live and Let Die (1973), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985)
With the most EON Bond films under his belt out of all of them, Sir Rog has always been more appreciated by fans such as ourselves than by contemporary critics.
Almost as if only true Bond fans were able to see past the more jovial nature of his 007 and recognise those incredible moments that did need quite some acting range (i.e. confessing to Anya he killed her lover, confronting Orlov, etc).
Underrated perhaps by critics and general audiences, but not by us as he comes in 3rd best in total.
He received one gold medal, four silvers and four bronzes, in addition of another four 4th places and two 5th places.
No-one ranked Roger lower than 5th, only one other actor managed to do the same, and only one other one did better than that.
In total Roger Moore obtained 104 points.
20yrs ago I have no doubt Roger would have been my second favorite Bond, but while I don’t think he ever delivered a subpar performance, his age really started to show starting with FYEO, plus he was by far the less convincing Bond when it came to fight scenes.
By a hair, I put Rog 3rd. He may have been a bit too old in AVTAK, but he still does bring his a A-game actingwise, while Sean in YOLT just looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. In the end, that's where I decided to give the edge to Rog for the 3rd place.
Not saying that to compare Rog and Sean negatively to one another, but I think it's one of the reasons why Moore is a very important Bond. I know fans often like to claim that, say, without Dalton we never would have gotten Craig's portrayal of Bond. Perhaps, but I think without Moore it would have been difficult envisioning subsequent actors consciously giving Bond their own spin, nor can I see the character developing the way he did (I have a tricky time imagining, say, John Gavin or even Lazenby if he'd continued being able to do what Moore did).
Not the greatest of actors, but he carried off the role with great aplomb, and he did have strong dramatic moments ( wincing at Anyas mention of wife killed, confronting Orlov on the train!) The humour was always a sticky one, he could carry off a good one liner, but some of it got too silly to be present in a Bond movie! As a footnote, and I cant give him higher praise than this...if I'm ever conflicted on what Bond movie to watch, I inevitably go for one of Rog!