I’ve been a bit busy and missed the last couple Blogalongabond’s. Hopefully, I’ll get caught up during this last week of Xmas vacation.
September’s Bond was The Man with the Golden Gun
and what a Bond it was.
The Man with the Golden Gun has a lot of problems. The opening credits weren’t too strong. The opening credits were interesting, with everything being projected on water. But the song was super cheesy. They are still trying to improve upon sexy silhouettes and failing. On my trademark notes page, I use the phrase “the stupidest thing ever” 4 times. 4 times! But if you take the story idea – mistress of the world’s best assassin pits 007 against the assassin in a game of cat and mouse through the far east that culminates in a duel at the assassin’s island fortress. It’s a very compelling idea. No amount of contrived karate schools, boat chases, racist southern sheriffs, and fun house mirrors can ruin it. Though they try very hard.
The Man with the Golden Gun is a very fun Bond where the action moves from one location to another keeping things interesting. All of the locations are amazing. You have Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand plus some super cool bases. Scaramanga’s island base is leading the green initiative for bad guys everywhere, being entirely solar powered. But my favorite of the movie has to be the MI6′s base on the wreck of the Queen Elizabeth. I love how everything is slanted. Reminds me of that level in Jedi Knight. You know the one.
I also enjoyed the Bond girls. Weirdly, Andrea Anders had a very unpunny name (and was sidelined for being such an important part of the story). So to address the balance, the film makers threw in an Asian girl named Chew Mee. And then there was the most amazing Bond girl yet, Mary Goodnight. She is played mainly for comic relief – a sort of ditz with values. Luckily, she doesn’t end up dead and still gets to sleep with Bond.
The Man with the Golden Gun also has one of the coolest stunts paired with a slide whistle ever
So overall, I really enjoyed The Man with the Golden Gun. Some of the movie doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the parts that do work really work and it is an enjoyable watch. There were no silly gadgets (I completely bought the flying car). Scaramanga was supremely cool, though he had the faults of your traditional Bond villain (enough with the talking, just ice Bond already). And I wasn’t bored by tedious investigation. These are all things I look for in a good Bond movie.
My trademark notes page:
On the Official Bond Chart
- From Russia With Love
- On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
- Dr. No
- Goldfinger
- The Man with the Golden Gun
- Live and Let Die
- Thunderball
- Diamonds Are Forever
- You Only Live Twice
Raishad will return later this week with Blogalongabond #10, The Spy Who Loved Me.