The 1980s brought some of the best James Bond films, such as License to kill and the hugely underrated For your eyes onlybut it also brought some of the worst, like octopus and A view to kill. The ’80s were a time of many ups and downs for Hollywood, as the experimentation of the American New Wave was replaced by flashy, big-budget studio films, and by extension, it was a period of ups and downs for Bond. franchise. The decade began with the final years of the Roger Moore era, when many critics complained that Moore had aged out of the role.
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After Moore’s tenure ended, they brought in Timothy Dalton with a radical reinvention of the character. The silly, tongue-in-cheek humor of the Moore era was replaced by a darker, more grounded tone, more in keeping with Ian Fleming’s source material. Dalton’s two Bond films were the polar opposite of Moore’s seven record-breaking films. His cold-blooded portrayal of 007 was more faithful to the original stories and a precursor to the gritty realism of Royal casino. Amid all that, Sean Connery returned to the role of Bond for one last unofficial outing. The Bond films of the ’80s were a mixed bag.
6 A sight to kill
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Moore’s tenure as 007 ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. Bond movie plots don’t need to be 100% realistic, but the nonsensical premise of A view to kill really takes the cake: an industrialist sets out to destroy Silicon Valley in order to monopolize the microchip industry. Christopher Walken’s performance as industrial villain Max Zorin is really great, even for this franchise. It makes Dr. No and Auric Goldfinger seem underrated in comparison. Grace Jones’ May Day is iconic, but that’s not enough to save the film.
All of Moore’s Bond films had featured moments of comic relief that elicited more eye rolls than laughs, but A view to kill He goes overboard with humor. In the opening snowboard chase, there’s a strange moment where 007 pretends to surf in the snow and a riff from the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” plays on the soundtrack. That joke would have been too stupid to spy hard. At the time, Moore and the filmmakers weren’t taking Bond seriously at all. If they don’t take anything seriously, they can’t expect the public to take it seriously.
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5 octopus
Although it is not as terrible as A view to killMoore’s penultimate appearance in Bond, octopushe exemplifies all of his Bond’s worst qualities: silly one-liners, slapstick jokes, and unnecessarily complicated plots. The scene in which 007 goes undercover as a clown symbolizes the biggest problem with the comedic approach of Moore’s tenure: it turned Bond into a joke. The villain, General Orlov, is not as cartoonish as Zorin, but he is a one-dimensional, clichéd caricature of a Soviet general. It runs about 10 minutes longer and is too extravagant in tone for a Bond film.
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Still, there is a lot to love in octopus. It showcases the pure sense of fun and escapism that people love about this franchise. Maud Adams’ performance in the title role received mixed reviews, but is undeniably memorable. The climactic scene, in which Bond fights a villain outside a mid-air plane, is one of the most exciting action sequences in the entire franchise; Remember the stunts in Christopher Nolan’s movies. It’s especially impressive that this airplane sequence was made long before filmmakers could use CGI to digitally remove safety harnesses.
4 Never say never again
More than a decade after his last official outing in Diamonds are forever (and well into Moore’s tenure), Sean Connery decided to reprise his role as Bond one last time, this time, in an unofficial non-Eon production. Due to a loophole with the story rights, producer Jack Schwartzman was able to make a Bond film outside of the official Eon canon by adapting thunder ball. Connery had already adapted thunder ball as his fourth film for Eon, so he essentially remade his own Bond film with Never say never again in 1983.
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While it borrows the basic plot from thunder ballsince Connery was much older, Never say never again has a lot of meta jokes about how Bond has aged in his work (although, ironically, Connery was younger than Moore, who still had two more Bond films). But jokes about Connery’s age aside, he’s still perfectly suited to the role of Bond, and Never say never again is surprisingly strong for a cash grab built on a loophole. The dialogue is witty, the action scenes are exciting and The empire strikes backIrvin Kershner does an excellent job as director.
With his silly, self-aware humor, Never say never again It’s more like one of Moore’s Bond films than one of Connery’s. All of Connery’s Bond films had fun with the character and never took themselves entirely seriously, but they were never as outlandish as Never say never again. There’s a scene in this movie where 007 incapacitates a bad guy by spraying him with his own urine sample, which is a good indicator of what kind of movie this is.
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3 license to kill
Dalton’s second and final Bond film, License to killis one of 007’s darker outings. It’s essentially Bond versus Scarface, as it sees 007 pursuing revenge against a ruthless drug dealer. The plot is more emotionally involving than the average Bond film, because it doesn’t send 007 on a mammoth mission to save the world; sees him embark on a personal revenge mission to avenge his friend’s girlfriend. License to kill It’s the Bond movie equivalent of death wish either foxy brown; It’s more of a revenge exploitation film (and a very satisfying one at that) than a spy thriller.
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License to kill is one of the most action-packed Bond films. Since 007 is out for revenge, the action never stops. It has some of the most impressive stunts in the series, such as 007 running away from an exploding tanker, and has an amazing plane heist sequence. tonally, License to kill is one of the Bond films most faithful to Fleming’s source material. Most Bond films have toned down the violent content of Fleming’s books, but License to kill relies on it. There’s a scene where a henchman is fed legs first into an industrial-sized cocaine grinder.
Frankly, Bond is a more interesting character as a rogue agent. In a typical Bond film, 007 receives a briefing from M, embarks on an adventure with the information in his file, and defeats a megalomaniacal villain bent on world domination. But that plot model can make the franchise feel like a formulaic procedural that follows the same outline. When he left his MI6 mission behind and went rogue License to killIt also left the formula behind and jumped into a much less predictable story.
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2 For your eyes only
After Lunaraker had taken Bond to outer space (in an attempt to capitalize on the then-recent success of star wars), fans and producers alike agreed that it had gone too far. So the filmmakers corrected course by making Moore’s next 007 adventure a darker, more grounded affair that harkens back to Connery’s early films. This refreshing approach resulted in one of the most underrated Bond films: For your eyes only. It gets off to a crazy start by cramming all of Bond’s previous iterations into the same canon, but after that, it launches into a grim tale of revenge.
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For your eyes onlyThe harsh tone is much closer to Royal casino either From Russia with love that the implausible absurdity of octopus and Lunaraker. There are moments of Moore-era slapstick in For your eyes onlylike a car chase involving a ridiculous-looking yellow Citroën 2CV, but the comic relief never enters eye-rolling territory and takes away from the excitement: it’s just a sly wink to the audience. This is by far Moore’s most faithful performance as Bond. He finally captures the seriousness and coldness of the character Fleming wrote on the page.
1 The living lights of day
After the disappointment of Moore’s later films, Dalton’s debut as 007 in 1987 The lights of day alive – was a welcome return to form for the Bond franchise. The lights of day alive It may not have a particularly memorable Bond villain, but it makes up for it with a great Bond girl in Kara Milovy, a devilishly stylish performance from Dalton, and wildly original action sequences like a chase up a snowy mountain inside a cello case. The plot is relatively based on the Bond franchise, and Dalton’s dark and daring version of 007 is a perfect adaptation of the source material.
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This film has some of the biggest stunts in the franchise: Bond clings to the roof of a speeding truck during a chase and hangs from a cargo package dangling from the back of a plane like Nathan Drake in uncharted 3. The lights of day alive has a surprisingly sweet love story for a Bond film. 007’s romantic gesture in the final scene of Kara’s performance wouldn’t be out of place in a cheesy romantic comedy. There were many great James Bond films in the 1980s (and some not so good), but without a doubt the best of them all is The lights of day alive.
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James Bond
The James Bond franchise follows the adventures of British secret agent 007 as he fights global threats. Licensed to kill, Bond takes on various villains and criminal organizations, employing high-tech gadgets, espionage and charm. The series spans several films and features exotic locations, exciting action sequences, and memorable characters. Bond’s mission to protect the world and uphold justice remains central, making the franchise an enduring icon in the spy genre.
Created by Ian Fleming, Albert R. Broccoli First film Dr. No Last film No Time to Die Upcoming James Bond films 26 Cast Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig