On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969)
This is certainly the most visually compelling and stylish film in the series thus far and it really needed to be because its paired against maybe the least compelling story in the series thus far. Even with the wonderful camerawork doing a more than admirable job carrying the film it does still start to drag through the middle. Fortunately, it starts to pick up in the back end and actually has the strongest finish of the films up to this point. Would have been nice if Lazenby had a pulse outside of the fight scenes (a loop of him throwing and uppercut should be hanging in a museum somewhere) but it helps that he's undercover as a dweeb for most of the film so he doesn't always feel miscast, though its not like Connery is that much less of a dweeb tbh. Overall, I was always entertained enough by the shot composition to at least be on board and I marked out enough times during the final act to make up for the duller bits and the conclusion was genuinely emotionally moving.
Diamonds are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971)
Probably the most wall-to-wall entertaining film of the series thus far. A great cast of side characters, great fights, a super dope car chase and an abundance of genuinely funny writing are the many highlights here. While not the strongest film of the series visually its certainly an improvement from Mr. Hamilton's previous go at the franchise in that regard and more than gets the job done, even having its fair share of flashy moments. Though the one unfortunately holdover from Goldfinger is just how underutilized the music is which unfortunately sucks the air out of a few key scenes, most notably in the final act. It's a blast for sure but it losing that bit of steam in the third holds it back from being a truly great Bond film.
Current Bond rankings:
01. From Russia with Love
02. Thunderball
03. Diamonds are Forever
04. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
05. Dr. No
06. You Only Live Once
07. Goldfinger
This is certainly the most visually compelling and stylish film in the series thus far and it really needed to be because its paired against maybe the least compelling story in the series thus far. Even with the wonderful camerawork doing a more than admirable job carrying the film it does still start to drag through the middle. Fortunately, it starts to pick up in the back end and actually has the strongest finish of the films up to this point. Would have been nice if Lazenby had a pulse outside of the fight scenes (a loop of him throwing and uppercut should be hanging in a museum somewhere) but it helps that he's undercover as a dweeb for most of the film so he doesn't always feel miscast, though its not like Connery is that much less of a dweeb tbh. Overall, I was always entertained enough by the shot composition to at least be on board and I marked out enough times during the final act to make up for the duller bits and the conclusion was genuinely emotionally moving.
Diamonds are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971)
Probably the most wall-to-wall entertaining film of the series thus far. A great cast of side characters, great fights, a super dope car chase and an abundance of genuinely funny writing are the many highlights here. While not the strongest film of the series visually its certainly an improvement from Mr. Hamilton's previous go at the franchise in that regard and more than gets the job done, even having its fair share of flashy moments. Though the one unfortunately holdover from Goldfinger is just how underutilized the music is which unfortunately sucks the air out of a few key scenes, most notably in the final act. It's a blast for sure but it losing that bit of steam in the third holds it back from being a truly great Bond film.
Current Bond rankings:
01. From Russia with Love
02. Thunderball
03. Diamonds are Forever
04. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
05. Dr. No
06. You Only Live Once
07. Goldfinger