With ‘No Time to Die’, the twenty-fifth film in the Bond series, now finally showing in UK cinemas, and 'Dr No' due to celebrate its sixtieth anniversary next year, I could not resist taking a look back at the franchise and reminiscing over some of my favourite 007 adventures.
Goldfinger - 1964
“Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr Bond, it may be your last”
Sean Connery’s third outing as the famous spy sees Bond investigating the gold smuggling operations of bullion magnate Auric Goldfinger, played with ruthlessness and steel by Gert Fröbe. The film also stars Shirley Eaton and Honor Blackman as Bond girls Jill Masterson and Pussy Galore.
For me, ‘Goldfinger’ is one of the classic films of the Bond universe, and introduced a lot of the elements that we have come to associate with and love about the films. Notably, it was the first film in the series to feature the famous Aston Martin DB5 car, which has made a reappearance in six more Bond films to date (‘Thunderball’, ‘GoldenEye’, ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, ‘Casino Royale’, ‘Skyfall’, and ‘Spectre’). Complete with smoke screen and oil slick capabilities, interchangeable number plates, as well as that all important passenger ejector seat, the DB5 really encapsulates the love of gadgetry and technology that has been a hallmark of the Bond films over the years. The nighttime car chase scene, in which Bond and Tilly Masterson are attempting to evade a group of Goldfinger’s henchmen, is one of the stand-out sequences in the film.
In terms of Bond opening songs, does it get any better than Shirley Bassey’s spine tingling rendition of ‘Goldfinger’? The opening notes to the song (which were subsequently reused in Gladys Knight’s title song for ‘Licence to Kill’) have arguably become as synonymous with Bond as Monty Norman and John Barry’s main theme for the films, and the lyrics are dripping with foreboding and suspense.
The film arguably features some of the most iconic lines from the series, including the well-known scene in which Bond finds himself strapped to a table and almost has a close encounter with Goldfinger’s industrial laser. When Bond asks him “Do you expect me to talk?”, Goldfinger bluntly retorts “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die”. The mounting of tension during the scene is brilliant, as Bond attempts to bluff Goldfinger into believing that he has knowledge of his Operation Grand Slam, and therefore is worth keeping alive. The scene in which Bond awakens to discover Jill Masterson dead, and covered from head to toe in gold paint, is one of the most striking and chilling of the series, and arguably set the precedent for Bond girls meeting sticky ends in subsequent films (Gemma Arterton’s character, Strawberry Fields, has a similar fate with oil in ‘Quantum of Solace’).
When it comes to evil henchmen, one of the most memorable characters of the Bond universe has got to be Goldfinger’s silent, lethal bowler hat wielding manservant, Oddjob. The scene in which he uses the bowler hat to decapitate a statue in a blatant demonstration to Bond of the fate that awaits him, should he continue to pry into Goldfinger’s affairs, is one of the stand out moments of the film.
Licence to Kill - 1989
“You have an assignment, and I expect you to carry it out objectively and professionally.” “Then you have my resignation, sir.”
Timothy Dalton’s second and final outing as 007 sees Bond go rogue and embark on his own mission of revenge after the wife of his friend and CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter, is murdered on the orders of drug baron Franz Sanchez. Leiter himself is also left mortally wounded after having been the victim of a shark attack orchestrated by Sanchez’s henchmen. Relinquishing his licence to kill, Bond teams up with pilot Pam Bouvier (played by Carey Lowell), who is also one of Leiter’s informants at the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA), to go after Sanchez and his accomplices.
“Licence to Kill” has a very different feel to it compared to the previous Bond films of the Sean Connery and Roger Moore eras; its gritty, violent, and arguably has a lot more realism to it. Franz Sanchez is very interesting contrast to the classic megalomaniacal villains such as Auric Goldfinger and Ernst Stavro Blofeld; yes, he is ruthless and sadistic, but he doesn’t have a grand scheme to take over the world, he simply wants to accumulate a lot of money and power from his drug smuggling operations. For me, this makes him a lot more dangerous and believable. A young Benicio del Toro also gives a chilling performance as Sanchez’s deranged henchman, Dario. This character is, to put it frankly, a nasty piece of work, and comes to a suitably sticky end during a tense scene with Bond involving a shredder.
The darker tone of “Licence to Kill” is definitely well suited to Timothy Dalton’s steely, more detached portrayal of Bond, which is strongly reminiscent of the original character from Ian Fleming’s novels. This is a Bond who is prepared to dispatch of a traitorous DEA agent using the same shark tank that was used to torture Felix Leiter, and also has no qualms about setting up a member of Sanchez’s crew to be vaporised in a gas decompression chamber (incidentally, one of the most gruesome send offs for a Bond character I can think of).
The film does, however, have its lighter moments as well, particularly when Desmond Llewelyn’s Q (posing as Bond’s Uncle) shows up in the field to assist Bond and Bouvier, sporting the usual gadgets and gizmos, including an explosive alarm clock (“guaranteed never to wake up anybody who uses it”) and a laser camera.
“Licence to Kill” also has some impressive action sequences, including the opening aerial pursuit of Sanchez, in which Bond is able to capture him by hooking his plane to a Cost Guard helicopter, before parachuting down with Felix Leiter to attend his wedding. I also think the tanker chase sequence towards the end of the film, which includes Bond performing a balancing act in the vehicle to avoid a rocket launcher, is one of the best action sequences of the entire series.
GoldenEye - 1995
“Well, I must say, I’ve had a lovely evening! You?” “Once again, the pleasure was all yours!”
In ‘GoldenEye’, Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as 007, Bond is sent to Russia and tasked with retrieving a satellite nuclear weapon stolen by the fictional Janus crime syndicate. In a surprising plot twist for a Bond film, the leader of the syndicate is revealed to be none other than former British agent Alec Trevelyan (played by a menacing Sean Bean), who Bond (and the audience) believes was killed in a previous MI6 operation.
As a child of the nineties, who spent many an hour being entertained by the ‘GoldenEye’ game on the Nintendo 64 console (and still does, from time to time, let’s be honest), this film holds a lot of nostalgia value for me. It was my first introduction to the Bond universe and, in my opinion, remains one of the staple films of the series. Following the more comedic films of the Roger Moore era, and the brooding portrayal of 007 by Timothy Dalton, ‘GoldenEye’ ushered in a fresh, new take on Bond, and is packed with the sharp dialogue and witty one liners that are characteristic of the Pierce Brosnan era films. Notably, his first line as 007 is “Beg your pardon, forgot to knock!”, as Bond appears, suspended through a vent in the ceiling, and dispatches a utility worker sat on a toilet.
The film features a host of new actors reinventing familiar characters, including Dame Judy Dench’s debut as M, and Samantha Bond’s first outing as Miss Moneypenny, and sets the bar in terms of Bond’s relationship with these characters for the films going forward. Dame Judy’s M is tenacious and sardonic, with a wit to match 007, and a determination to prove her critics wrong. Her description of Bond as a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur”, and blunt retort to a colleague who questions her methods (“If I want sarcasm, Mr Tanner, I’ll talk to my children, thank you very much!”), are brilliant, and pave the way for the mutual respect and understanding that she develops with Bond. Samantha Bond as well brings wit and intelligence to the role of Moneypenny, and is more than an equal to Bond in their verbal sparring (“I know you’ll find this crushing, 007, but I don’t sit at home every night praying for some international incident so I can run down here all dressed up to impress James Bond”).
Robbie Coltrane and Joe Don Baker also provide plenty of comedy as Valentin Zukovsky, an ex-KGB agent turned Russian mafia head, and Jack “Yo Jimbo” Wade, a CIA officer, who assist Bond with his investigations into the Janus Syndicate (both actors returned to reprise their roles in ‘The World is Not Enough’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, respectively). Famke Janssen also gives a memorable performance as Xenia Onatopp, an assassin working for Alec Trevelyan whose preferred way of dispatching her enemies is to crush them with her thighs.
‘GoldenEye’ also boasts some thrilling action sequences, including the opening sequence, which sees Bond sprint along a dam and perform a daring bungee jump to arrive at the fictional Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility (the jump was filmed at the Verzasca Dam at Lake Locarno in Switzerland, and performed by stuntman Wayne Michaels). There is also a brilliant chase sequence through the streets of St Petersburg featuring a tank commandeered by 007, which is used to ram Trevelyan’s armoured Soviet missile train.
Skyfall - 2012
“Well, I’ll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pyjamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.”
With Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond having now come to an end with the release of “No Time to Die”, I could not finish without commenting on one of his stand out performances as 007. “Skyfall” explores Bond’s character in a way that has arguably not been done before in the films; we get to see him at one of his lowest points, following his disappearance after the opening sequence in Istanbul, with the film also exploring the mental and physical toll that working in the field for MI6 is taking. Craig’s Bond in this film is definitely a more hardened, battle weary version of the character, however, “Skyfall” is also an ode to his loyalty and grim determination.
“Skyfall” is Dame Judy Dench’s last outing as M, and her character takes on a much more prominent role in the film. The central plot of the film revolves around the plan by former agent turned cyber terrorist Raoul Silva (played with gusto by Javier Bardem) to discredit and assassinate M as revenge for disavowing him to the Chinese government after he started to operate outside of his mandate as an agent. The film brilliantly touches on the ethical issues surrounding M’s relationship with and authority over her agents. We, as the audience, are constantly reminded of the parallels between Bond and Silva, in terms of their connection with M; as Silva himself points out, she was prepared to send Bond out on a mission to capture him knowing that he had failed the relevant evaluations and may not be fully prepared (“She sent you off to me, knowing you’re not ready, knowing you’ll likely die”). While the concept of former agents going rogue and attempting to wreak revenge on MI6 is not new to the Bond franchise, “Skyfall” is able to tackle this in a way that shines new light on the relationship between the characters, and adds depth to our understanding of them.
“Skyfall” also heralds the return of some familiar characters who were absent in “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace”. Ben Whishaw is inspired casting as the returned quartermaster, and his witty exchanges with 007 throughout the film are superb. In the introduction scene between the two, which takes place at the National Gallery in London, Q wryly observes “What did you expect, an exploding pen? We don’t really go for that anymore”, when Bond is dismissive of the radio transmitter and Walther PPK pistol he is supplied with. This exchange is also a brilliant illustration of the balance that “Skyfall” strikes (successfully, in my opinion) between respecting the Bond legacy, whilst also applying a modern day outlook to the franchise. We also see the return of Miss Moneypenny to the MI6 fold, brilliantly played by Naomie Harris, who proves to be just as equal a match for 007 as an agent in the field as she does when out of active service.
Perhaps one of the most striking features of “Skyfall”, however, is the cinematography. From the bright neons during the fight sequence between Bond and Patrice in Shanghai, to the bleak but beautiful scenery at Glen Etive, as Bond travels with M to his ancestral home in Scotland for a climatic showdown with Silva, “Skyfall” arguably ranks as one of the most visually stunning films of the series.
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