• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Worst Bond movie

Worst Bond movie?

  • Diamonds are Forever

    Votes: 6 11.1%
  • Die Another Day

    Votes: 25 46.3%
  • Spectre

    Votes: 23 42.6%

  • Total voters
    54

Schattenjäger

Gabriel Knight
For me, it has to be Spectre..

what an amazing piece of rubbish.. you have this good track record of Craig bond films and then make this crap by trying to retcon the first 3 movies and then make Blofeld his half brother... WTF
Who approved this?

I dont care how cool Bautista was.. or how pretty Lea Seydoux is...
this has got to be the worst writing in a Bond film..

Diamonds are Forever and DAD are both crap but products of their time...

I hope they can finish the Craig era on a high note
 

MrMephistoX

Member
I remember thinking Die Another Day was horrible but I honestly haven’t seen it since it’s theatrical release date. It’s possible it holds up in the way a more campy Roger Moore bond holds up like Octopussy or Man with the Golden Gun?
 
It's not the worst, but everytime anyone talks about Bond I feel a burning urge to mention how much I hate that they made Bond his real family name rather than a codename inherrited from agent to agent in Skyfall.

I get that... but isn't 007 his codename? This kind of establishes that yes, there doesn't have to be a "James Bond"... it's kind of a silly thing to have a spy have a title that is specifically gendered and easily identifiable.

"I'm James Bond"

"Oh shit it's the super spy of MI:6!!!"
 

Slaylock

Member
images


My personal pick. Moore was so old and the story was positively silly. Christopher Walken and the Duran Duran theme song were the only redeeming aspects.
 

Schattenjäger

Gabriel Knight
images


My personal pick. Moore was so old and the story was positively silly. Christopher Walken and the Duran Duran theme song were the only redeeming aspects.
Agree that he was old and was considering adding it to the list but had some redeeming qualities like you mentioned
 

kunonabi

Member
Of those 3 diamonds is my pick. Spectre is dull and pretty stupid near the end but mostly inoffensive. DAD actually works if you think of it as a tribute to the Moore era. The effects and Berry drag it down but it's still pretty fun otherwise.

Diamonds is just pure trash from start to finish.
 

Relativ9

Member
I get that... but isn't 007 his codename? This kind of establishes that yes, there doesn't have to be a "James Bond"... it's kind of a silly thing to have a spy have a title that is specifically gendered and easily identifiable.

"I'm James Bond"

"Oh shit it's the super spy of MI:6!!!"
It's even more silly to be actively on duty since 1974, almost 50 years, constantly giving your real name out to the worlds biggest super-villains, complete with a family farm with a sign at the entrance saying "Bond Family Farm"

It makes more sense that the movies are standalone stories that sometimes happen to be played with the same actors and sometimes not. Also doesn't really make sense of course, would've been a lot easier if 50 years of 007s hadn't all had the exact same name...they kind of wrote themselves into a corner.
 

DKehoe

Member
Spectre isn't a great film but it's far from being the worst Bond film. I haven't seen it in a while but Die Another Day is pretty awful.

It's even more silly to be actively on duty since 1974, almost 50 years, constantly giving your real name out to the worlds biggest super-villains, complete with a family farm with a sign at the entrance saying "Bond Family Farm"

It makes more sense that the movies are standalone stories that sometimes happen to be played with the same actors and sometimes not. Also doesn't really make sense of course, would've been a lot easier if 50 years of 007s hadn't all had the exact same name...they kind of wrote themselves into a corner.
I don't think you're really meant to think of the Sean Connery Bond films existing in the same timeline as the Craig ones. For one thing, Blofeld is in both. I don't really think they have exact rules as to how their canon works. They'll have little winks to the audience about the old films but it's not really meant to be a direct throughline.
 

0neAnd0nly

Member
I don’t see No Time to Die listed here. I would be shocked if it doesn’t take the top spot. Update this poll in October and bump again, ha.


For me, it has to be Spectre..

what an amazing piece of rubbish.. you have this good track record of Craig bond films and then make this crap by trying to retcon the first 3 movies and then make Blofeld his half brother... WTF
Who approved this?

I dont care how cool Bautista was.. or how pretty Lea Seydoux is...
this has got to be the worst writing in a Bond film..

Diamonds are Forever and DAD are both crap but products of their time...

I hope they can finish the Craig era on a high note

In all actuality I agree with this I think. Some Brosnan films did suffer from the awkward CGI of the late 90s/ early 00s, which have made them age badly, but overall considering the context of time they weren’t awful. Moore films were fun, a product of their time and campy. I think there is a charm there that keeps them in a warm place for me at the very least.

Spectre however had massive hype. Was the movie following IMO Craig’s best film in Skyfall (yep, I said it). Had a great cast. Should have been a slam dunk. Clunky story and an unenthused Craig ruined it. Really, IMO, Craig totally ruined the film. His anti-Bond stance baffles me as to why he wanted to continue with NTTD. Dude whines and hates the character. I have enjoyed his movies as a whole, but it is time to move in. Spectre proved that.
It's not the worst, but everytime anyone talks about Bond I feel a burning urge to mention how much I hate that they made Bond his real family name rather than a codename inherrited from agent to agent in Skyfall.

Ummm....

hey man, everyone is entitled to an opinion - but you know Bond is based on a book series, correct? A book that has a slight bit of truth of secret agent life from Ian Fleming’s time as one, combined with a ton of fiction to be interesting. There are books referencing much of Bond’s life and backstory which help bolster his lore. Even a collection of books called “Young Bond” which I have also read that go into his life in adolescence.

For the film series to do something like that would be a total divergence from the lore, and 99.9% of hardcore Bond fans and even just casual Bond fans probably would have turned on the series.

I’m going to use this last paragraph to Stan for the books. If you have never read Casino Royale, please - please do. It’s a great read. Many people don’t realize how good the books are. They are great period pieces with brutality that even the movies don’t touch and excellent action and detail. Seriously, underrated.
 
Last edited:

SirTerry-T

Member
It's not the worst, but everytime anyone talks about Bond I feel a burning urge to mention how much I hate that they made Bond his real family name rather than a codename inherrited from agent to agent in Skyfall.
Bond is his family name, 007 is the codename, as created by Fleming.
The idea of different agents being "James Bond" is a terrible, terrible idea created by folk who need some continuity for all the Bond movies.
Each time the character is recast, the series gets a reboot essentially.

The Best Bond film is the version of OHMSS that exists in my head with Sean still playing Bond ;)
 
Last edited:

Relativ9

Member
Spectre isn't a great film but it's far from being the worst Bond film. I haven't seen it in a while but Die Another Day is pretty awful.


I don't think you're really meant to think of the Sean Connery Bond films existing in the same timeline as the Craig ones. For one thing, Blofeld is in both. I don't really think they have exact rules as to how their canon works. They'll have little winks to the audience about the old films but it's not really meant to be a direct throughline.
Yeah that's what I mean, I would agree with that (why I said that each Bond should be treated as standalone), but it makes no sense to go around giving out your real name either way.
Ummm....

hey man, everyone is entitled to an opinion - but you know Bond is based on a book series, correct? A book that has a slight bit of truth of secret agent life from Ian Fleming’s time as one, combined with a ton of fiction to be interesting. There are books referencing much of Bond’s life and backstory which help bolster his lore. Even a collection of books called “Young Bond” which I have also read that go into his life in adolescence.

For the film series to do something like that would be a total divergence from the lore, and 99.9% of hardcore Bond fans and even just casual Bond fans probably would have turned on the series.

I’m going to use this last paragraph to Stan for the books. If you have never read Casino Royale, please - please do. It’s a great read. Many people don’t realize how good the books are. They are great period pieces with brutality that even the movies don’t touch and excellent action and detail. Seriously, underrated.
I have never read the books no, and yes I am aware of them and always have been. But correct me if I'm wrong, but they left the books long ago, pretty much the plot of every book Flemming wrote has already been covered by past movies, played by past bonds, and set in a far less information-savey time (50s to 70s). If you're going to keep bringing Bond forward into the modern world, with modern technology, modern gadgets, and modern espionage (highly data-based), shouldn't you also adapt the core premise a bit to still make sense in the modern setting? Hugo Drax from Moonraker can be forgiven for not having any idea who Bond is and not be able to (initially) see through his cover, and Bond and M can be forgiven for reasonably assuming that Bond's cover would work seeing how slowly and detail-sparse information traveled in those days. But now? Bond, his name, his face, his fingerprints, his DNA, everything would be all over the "international-badguy" subreddit. Not saying it wouldn't be a divergence from the books, and I'd actually be totally down for new Bond films being set in the era the books were written for, but as long as they're not, haven't we already gone past the point of no return anyway?
 
Last edited:
Easy choice. Die Another Day is complete trash, Diamonds at least has Sean Connery, and Spectre is ok/middle of the road.

P.S. Spectre isn't even the worse Craig movie.
 
Last edited:

thegame983

Member
Diamonds was my favourite as a kid. I re-watched it a few years ago. It is dogshit.

DAD has a charming 'so bad it's good' kinda vibe going on and Rosamund Pike is outrageously hot in it.

Both Dalton Bonds are fantastic and I rewatch them every few years or so.
 

fatmarco

Member
I still feel the opening scene of Die Another Day is good. The rest, no.

I think Spectre and Quantum of Solace were worse just because they are so boring that I can't really even remember what happened in them.

Roger Moore stuff is absolutely the worst though, I just cannot agree with their tone, plus the fact they're poorly directed, written etc. Great great theme songs though.
 

Dr.Guru of Peru

played the long game
It's not the worst, but everytime anyone talks about Bond I feel a burning urge to mention how much I hate that they made Bond his real family name rather than a codename inherrited from agent to agent in Skyfall.
It was never a code name. Or do you think every agent has to start calling their dead wife Tracy?
 
Last edited:

DKehoe

Member
Yeah that's what I mean, I would agree with that (why I said that each Bond should be treated as standalone), but it makes no sense to go around giving out your real name either way.
I mean, sure. But it's not like Bond is a realistic depiction of espionage. It's a power fantasy, which I don't mean in a bad way. Just that Bond is the ultimate "men want to be him, women want to be with him" type figure. If it was just some nameless guy efficiently doing his job he'd be a lot less aspirational than someone who is known worldwide for being a cool badass that hooks up with hot women.
 

dr_octagon

Banned
spectre and quantum of solace try to maintain a serious tone which doesn't work because there are stupid plot points and uninteresting characters.

die another die has a diamond face villain, giant sun laser, ice hotel, disappearing car, and face transplant baddy. it's fantastically stupid, even though it kills the franchise's credibility.
 

nush

Member
Not saying it wouldn't be a divergence from the books, and I'd actually be totally down for new Bond films being set in the era the books were written for, but as long as they're not, haven't we already gone past the point of no return anyway?

Period Bond movies would be great. Actually first time I saw Dr No on Blu Ray it looked like it was a modern made period piece due to the restoration. They would just have to be careful not to go down the campy Austin Powers route.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
The correct answer is Quantum of Solace
Correct. It remains the only film I’ve ever seen in the theatre that I considered walking out of. And I was present for Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen on opening night.
 

pramod

Banned
Specter has no redeeming qualities I can think of. Every great casted character was wasted. Every other Bond movie has a memorable scene or two. Like the sword fight in DAD or the elevator fight in DAF. Specter had none.
 
Maybe i need to rewatch the films but they all seemed boring to me as a kid

I guess asking them to be John Wick would be a bit too much to ask for?
 
Last edited:

YCoCg

Member
images


My personal pick. Moore was so old and the story was positively silly. Christopher Walken and the Duran Duran theme song were the only redeeming aspects.
This is mine too, with a few changes here and there it could've been a decent start for the Dalton era.
 

Lupingosei

Banned
Die another day of course.

That movie was so mindblowingly stupid it almost killed the franchise.

Casino Royal and Quantum had to be more grounded afterwards, but now they turn on the crazy dial again.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom