I have completed my Bondathon! All the Bond films from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig have been watched and reviewed so now it’s time to have a look at which films are my favourites, who’s my favourite Bond and which Bond song is my favourite. You can check out all my James Bond reviews here in the Bondathon tag.
Favourite Bond Film(s) – I’m going to cheat and break it down into my favourite film featuring each Bond actor.
Sean Connery – Goldfinger (1964)
Goldfinger is the definitive Bond film and the template of all Bond films to later follow. It’s got great action, great gadgets and a great Bond girl in Pussy Galore. It also has a clever yet simple plot and an iconic villain in Oddjob.
George Lazenby – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
OK so George Lazenby only had one outing as Bond but On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is such a great film it deserves a mention. It has Tracey, one of the best Bond girls, and some great action scenes in the snow. It’s also one of the more grown-up and touching Bond films.
Roger Moore – Live and Let Die (1973)
Live and Let Die is a great starting point for Roger Moore and it’s definitely the best film in his tenure as Bond. The speed boat chase still lives up to today’s standards, the villains great and it’s both fun and funny.
Timothy Dalton – The Living Daylights (1987)
To be honest, I found it really hard to pick my favourite Timothy Dalton Bond film because I love both The Living Daylights and License to Kill so much. But I had to go with The Living Daylights even though License to Kill has a lot of Q in it and I love Desmond Llewelyn as Q. The Living Daylights is more of a dark and gritty Bond film compared to Roger Moore’s films before it and it really stands out because of that. It has great characters and the final act in Afghanistan is one of my favourites.
Pierce Brosnan – GoldenEye (1995)
Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as Bond is his best. Sean Bean makes an excellent villain and the introduction of Judi Dench as M is wonderful. The scene with the tank! It’s pure Bond and a stand out moment for Brosnan’s run as Bond.
Daniel Craig – Skyfall (2012)
Skyfall is such a great, modern Bond film. It looks amazing, has a great theme song, brings iconic characters back, adds depth to characters and has some great action set pieces.
Now for my favourite Bond actor…
My favourite Bond is Timothy Dalton. He has an advantage as he’s only Bond twice but I love both films a ridiculous amount (so maybe that’s why I like Dalton as Bond so much) and I like Dalton’s Bonds attitude towards women in them. Dalton is suave and sophisticated as well as being smart and resourceful. Sean Connery is definitely the archetype of what Bond should be but that’s not just because he was good as Bond but because he was the first and so he’s the sort of thing we expect. Dalton does a great job on emulating Connery’s kind of Bond but still puts his own stamp on it.
Now for the Bond songs – many of which are more memorable than the actual film they’re for. My five favourite Bond songs in no particular order are:
Live and Let Die by Paul McCartney
You Know My Name by Chris Cornell (Casino Royale)
A View to a Kill by Duran Duran
Licence to Kill by Gladys Knight
So what do you think? Have you watched all the Bond films? Which is your favourite and who’s your favourite Bond actor? Do you have a favourite Bond song? Let me know below. I have to say I feel a bit lost now I’ve finished watching the Bond films, I had been watching one nearly every Saturday this year. Well I’m sure I’ll manage and I suppose I only have three months to wait until SPECTRE.
Not all of them, but most of the Pierce Brosnan ones. I really like James Bond.
Before I started this sorta project I’d only seen the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig films so it was great going back to the beginning and watching them all. Also it’s definitely made me like James Bond more and now I want to read the books.