License to Kill (1989)

Rating: 80%
Bond film # 16 and the second and final film from Timothy Dalton, here's my review for Licence to Kill

Plot: After Bond and his friend Felix capture drug lord Sanchez shortly before Felix gets married, Sanchez escapes and kills Felix's wife and has Felix maimed by a tiger shark. M reassigns Bond to another assignment, but Bond refuses and thus has his license to kill revoked causing him to flee and become a rouge agent. So Bond is out for revenge with the help of ex-CIA agent pilot Pam.

This is another Bond film that more or less has a lot of different views in its viewers, and one that I more or less find a little surprising. There's the people who really like it, but there's people who remarkable dislike it to the point  where some think it's the worst Bond film next to A Need to A Kill. But in my case, I really enjoyed it. In fact it's probably somewhere around my third personal favorite of the series (well...so far. I mean I still have 7 more movies to go.) And quite frankly even if I found it bad, I think it's very easy to say that going so far as second worst film after some of these movies I've seen is rather utterly, hilariously too far. The main problem everyone seems to have with this film is that Dalton's Bond is being way too serious and that the film itself is too dark and all of that is really off from the Bond formula. Okay I can understand it against off the formula, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. I meant it when I said in my last review that The Living Daylights worked a lot when there was little to no humor and it brought back the realism and suspense to the series. And here, I got a lot more then that with it being so dark and serious and as an action film and a spy thriller, that's great to me. I mean the story for one was more unique; Bond gets his license to kill revoked and become a rouge agent just to go on a vendetta. That's very new to these Bond films. In other words, they decided to take a different turn from most Bond films just like On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Which is always a good thing with these films. Then there's the villain who...yeah is still no Goldfinger, but in my opinion stand out very well - which is saying a lot compared to a lot of past villains who are drug lords or something like that. I mean rather then killing a guy who captures him, he just has him maimed by a shark and leaves him to die or get found...that's very new. I mean I expected Felix to die getting eaten by that shark without a thought. But no, this guy just wants him to survive in misery by losing some of his limbs. That's just awesome. And Pam was a very good Bond girl too. She worked more into how most people feel a Bond girl should be - beautiful, smart, dangerous, all that jazz. There's another Bond girl named Lupe who...was a little weak during her dialogue. Which is a shame because considering the problems she faces with Sanchez, I feel that she could've been a very complex and entertaining character. The action and the suspense was also great. It was bigger, darker, had way better effects, and mostly more realistic (yeah to be fair, he does that driving on just one side of tires while driving trick again only this time with a truck). We also get new gadgets and even Q sticking around helping Bond throughout a lot of the second half. And you know what? That's also awesome. It was completely different and Q was a very nice addition to the story.

And that's my review for License to Kill. I can understand why a very dark and serious Bond film will throw off people. But what they might see as a big negative use of Bond, I saw as a movie that I could take seriously and get very well into while also really enjoying how they took different turns at some certain aspects from Bond films. It's a really enjoyable film, I recommend it, and its so far one of my personal favorite of the James Bond series. 

The Living Daylights (1987)

Rating: 75%
Well now that we finally have Roger Moore's Bond finally out of the way, let's move on to film #15 which starts Timothy Dalton's short time as Bond with The Living Daylights

Plot: When Bond is sent to aid the defection of a KGB officer, he disobeys orders to kill a KGB sniper trying to kill the officer just because the sniper is a woman. The officer later informs M of an old plan from KGB called Smiert Spionam, meaning Death to Spies, but is later abducted by a KGB agent and presumably taken to Moscow. So Bond is ordered to find General Pushkin - the new head of the KGB, and kill him to prevent the death of other spies.

I can very easily say that this is a very refreshing start from moving on from Moore's Bond. With this Bond we get more gadgets, the action is bigger, the realism in the franchise has more or less returned, the villains and their evil plan...still aren't quite as memorable as Goldfinger and Bolfeld, but they were still good. And then you have Timothy Dalton as Bond. Dalton brought us back to how Bond should be, young, charming, and surprisingly even brought back some of Bond's dark side that we haven't really seen since Connery's Bond. Roger Ebert however didn't like how there wasn't really any humor from Bond, but to be perfectly honest, I can really do without any of that. After Diamonds are Forever and...basically most of Moore's films, I feel we can do with way less humor to help us take the films a bit more seriously. I have also noticed that this film also has a certain lack of Bond girls which naturally a fair amount of people also find to be an issue. While I can clearly see why, I also kind of find this to be refreshing...to an extent. Sure some Bond girls can be entertaining characters to these films - the Bond girl in this one, Kara I liked because of how despite how she can be a little dumb on one or two occasions did show way of trying to be helpful, strong and stand her ground as best as possible if she's being attacked by one of the bad guys. But there also wasn't all that much sexual content unlike most of the other Bond films, which...to be honest, is fine with me since I'm not a huge fan of that...and even then, it's a little nice to see them take a different turn from the rather noticeable aspect in most of these films of Bond sleeping with at least two women.

And that's my review for The Living Daylights. It was more serious, it was bigger with its action and gadgets, and Dalton gave us a very strong and refreshing movie that gives more realism and suspense that make The Living Daylights a big improvement and a very enjoyable movie.

A View to a Kill (1985)

Rating: 30%
The last film with Roger Moore as Bond...whew. Here's my review for A View to a Kill...I feel I shouldn't be the only one who thinks that title sounds dumb.

Plot: After Bond recovers a microchip from the dead body of 003, M send him to investigate on Max Zorin who own the company that makes the chips that the one that was found is a copy of. Eventually Bond learns that Zorin is planning to destroy the Silicon Valley to gain a monopoly on the market with the help of a Nazi scientist. So with the help of a geologist named Stacey, it's up to Bond to find out how Zorin is going to destroy the valley and stop him.

Ugh, I'm not really sure how to begin with explaining what it wrong with this movie. I guess the one way to start is really how of all people to be the main villain in ANY Bond film, it turn out to be Christopher Walken. That...just doesn't fit to me at all. He wasn't very menacing or anything like that...well I guess he was when it came to what his evil plan is, but to me, all I saw was Christopher Walken and not really anything else. Anyway, the story wasn't all that exciting, and the action was hardly thrilling, and Moore...well...actually let me explain this in a way that basically summarizes the last 6 films as well as this one. Now when I say "whew" that this is the last film where he's Bond, it's not that I super hate the guy or something like that, it's just that it's more or less how Roger Ebert put it once: he was mostly an impersonator of James Bond. He did get better during The Spy Who Loved Me and sort of Moonraker, but on the whole his performances as well as his film were between decent to just bad and I felt that the only reason he  played Bond this long was because his films kept making a lot of money. And as I've brought up with my last two reviews, he is starting to get older and apparently audiences have started to officially notice that too seeing as he was 57 when making this film. Heck, even for him this was the least favorite of his film because he noticed how he was apparently even older then his female co-star's mother. The whole thing seemed to have left him horrified. And while it's not quite as painfully shown (at least not for me) this film did have a little slapstick during a car chase in San Fransisco.

And that's my review for A View to a Kill. It had an unexciting story, a villain played by Christopher Walken which just...doesn't work, and it generally showed how it was high time for Moore to give the role to somebody else. It's currently the worst Bond film I've seen so far, and I sincerely hope the last 9 are nothing like that. So next up we have Timothy Dalton to take Moore's place for the next two films. How does he compare? Tune in for when I review The Living Daylights.

Octopussy (1983)

Rating: 45%
Second to last Moore film, here's Octopussy.

Plot: When Agent 009 is murdered while carrying a fake Fabergé egg, M sends Bond to go to the auction in London and track the person who buys the real egg to find out if they're behind it. The person who buys it is an exiled Afghan prince named Kamal Khan, who is in league with a renegade Soviet general named Orlov who plans to start a conquest against conquest Europe as a way to expand the Soviet Union's boarders. 

Okay so what is easily good about this particular Bond film is that it manages to have really good action and a sort of suspenseful climax, it gave us new gadgets too look at even though Bond rarely used any, and while the villains themselves didn't really stand out, their evil plot was considerably big and menacing. That last positive thing in particular, I have found to be something to always value comparing to other evil plots in some of these film that are mostly just smugglers and things like that. But that doesn't help from this movie still being bad. Because again, the villains didn't really stand out, and the climax - while still enjoyable - did still fall in line to acting more like an ordinary action film and not really like something from a big franchise like Bond. But the biggest issues seem to revolve around the moments where the movie tried to be funny or just don't really work in a Bond film such as Bond wearing a Gorilla suit (no, I did not make that up), dressing up as a clown (still didn't make that up) and worst of all, swinging through trees and emitting a Tarzan yell (boy I really with I completely made that one up). Also Moore doesn't make this better because he's acting less like Bond then he was a couple of films ago and is sadly starting to show that he's aging.

And that's my review for Octopussy. The action and the climax is enjoyable as well as the evil plot as a whole, but it had villains that weren't all that interesting, it acted more like an ordinary action film, and had moment like Bond making a Tarzan yell that...just...no.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Rating: 70%
Bond film #12 and the 5th one wi- oh screw it, you get the drill: For Your Eyes Only.

Plot: A British spy boat that contains an Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator is sunk by a mine, so Bond is sent to find where it is and collect it before the Soviets do. Meanwhile, a marine archaeologist and his wife are killed for trying to locate the ship and his daughter Melina swears revenge against him. This complicates things for Bond as she start to kill his leads to the sunken ship.

This has a fair share of issues, but I think this one's the second best of Moore's films. This particular Bond film I noticed has a few aspects that have been used before from some of the other Bond films like having a ski chase and trying to retrieve a important item. But this film still manages to make those moments enjoyable with what they do differently with those certain aspects. Also Melina managed to be a decent Bond girl because of how she is deadly and has a certain personal goal that is interesting unlike some of the other Bond girls. Other then that, it has some decent action and a fairly enjoyable climax. But again, it has a good amount of issues. While enjoyable, the story is one that isn't that particularly big and doesn't have the most menacing villain for Bond to come across. Also it does contain some attempted humor that is thankfully minor and not all slapstick like some of the other Bond films, but is still not all that great. Plus we do get Bibi Dahl who is...kind of a Bond girl...I don't know, I wouldn't call her that but everyone else does so there. Anyway, she wasn't there a lot but when she was, she wasn't all that great - mainly because for me, it was really weird that a girl that young was trying to seduce Bond who is played by a guy who... is kind of starting to get old. Plus while some seem to praise the beginning, I thought it to be really dumb as far as who Bond was fighting in that scene and how it turned out.

And that's my review for For Your Eyes Only. It's not the biggest or the most well done Bond film, but it gives us a Bond girl that is a little more interesting then some of the others we've seen, had some decent action and an okay climax that makes it just a nice film, and yet the second best I've seen from Moore.

X-Men 2 (2002)

Rating: 85%
Let's take a break from the Bond movies, and review X-Men 2...or X2 or X2: X-Men United, whatever you want to call it.

Plot: As Wolverine returns from trying to unlock the secrets to his past, a mutant named Nightcrawler attempts to assassinate the President of the United States. As a response to this, Professor X sends Storm and Jean Grey to find him while he and Cyclops investigate to find out is Magneto is behind it. But unbeknownst to the professor, Colonel Stryker uses the failed assassination to attack the mutant school and kidnap the children there. While most escape, Wolverine, Rouge, Bobby (a.k.a. Iceman) and John (a.k.a. Pyro) attempt to regroup with the other X-men and try to stop Stryker.

Better. Way, way, way, better. The story was much more clever and complex then the first, the action was so much better and they did such a great job with handling the characters. They gave us more development with characters like Storm and Wolverine, and introduced us to some brand new characters. Nightcrawler especially I liked seeing him in this film because of how they gave us how he shows his deep faith in God which as a Christian myself, I really liked about him in the 90's TV show and I'm glad that they went a fair bit into that too. We also went a little more into the romance into Rouge and Iceman as well as a little bit of the relationship between Jean Grey and Wolverine. There are a lot of other X-men characters that get very brief cameos like Kitty Pryde a.k.a. Shadowcat and Colossus who were mostly there just to show their powers to the audience, but I'm actually okay with that because at least by their short appearances, they really helped the audience explore more of the world of X-Men with the different kind of mutant that are in the school, and as far as introducing a franchise that has countless characters, that's a decent way to handle so much of them...unlike some other films. *glares and the Transformers trilogy* But I digress. The story is also much more loyal and deep to the comics, getting us more into the conflict between the X-Men, Magneto, and humans who want to rid the world of mutants like Stryker. And we went more into Wolverine's past. I can only think if one or two things that don't really make sense, but most of them are very minor compared to everything else.

And that's my review for X-Men 2. It was bigger and better with its characters, plot, showing more of the world of X-Men, and altogether is a very enjoyable film that surpasses the first movie with ease. It's a great superhero film that is very enjoyable to watch.
  

Moonranker (1979)

Rating: 65%
Bond film #11 and Moore film #4 (yay we're about halfway done with him!) Here's Moonraker.

Plot: A Drax Industries Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked and Bond is reassigned from a mission to investigate. As he searches for clues, he comes across Dr. Holly Goodhead and the owner of the shuttle manufacturing company, Hugo Drax. He suspects that Drax may somehow be behind the hijack but has trouble finding proof and is also facing Jaws again who is working for Drax.

This is better then the first two Moore movies, but it has a fair share of good and bad stuff. The story takes a while to really make sense, but it is really exciting when it finally does, Moore is not as good as he was in the last film but he's still holding his ground as Bond fairly well, and Dr. Goodhead is a decent Bond film. This film also has from pretty good space effects and really enjoyable action that went with it. In fact, the next Bond film was suppose to be For Your Eyes Only, but was later moved to be the film after this one so Moonraker can basically be James Bond's response to Star Wars. Even if it's easily not as grand as Star Wars by any means, it does manage to still be enjoyable...at least for what it is. However we also get slapstick comedy again and unsurprisingly, it's not all that great. We also get a change with Jaws' character that turns out kind cute but a generally stupid and cheesy turn with where they were going with him.

And that's my review for Moonraker. It gives us more of the unnecessary humor and a story that takes a while to be really interesting, but it also has good effects and action despite most of it being another response to Star Wars, and a decent performance from Moore as well as a decent Bond girl that makes this film not great, but manages to be a nice time.