It may have started the whole series, but I never bother about this non-entry in the series. Same goes for "From Russia with Love".
To me, the series starts proper with "Goldfinger", the best first movie.
Funny, my favourite Bond film is From Russia with Love, and I think I prefer Dr. No to Goldfinger as well (though I have a deep love of Goldfinger).
What makes you say that this isn't Bond? What's holding it back?
I should read the full synopsis of Dr. No, but I chanced upon it when it was on TV the other day, and it was during the beach scenes, where Bond is teaming up with some superstitious man, then they meet a shell-collecting woman, they both go on about a dragon that Bond scoffs at, then they are under attack by armed men, then the flamethrower dragon comes, superstitious man is burned to a crisp, and then, for some reason, they are treated extremely well after being captured and treated for radiation. I turned off after that.
I remembered the climax of Dr. No, where the villain is in a radiation suit and somehow dies, hand and all going underwater, and I thought, is that it? Where is the ridiculous huge super-lair of Blofeld in You Only Live Twice? I thought it was all very sub-par, and I don't care if it was the first movie.
Very, very disappointing. And too many beach scenes.
Well, while I'd argue that a full evaluation of Dr. No couldn't be had without watching the full film, you're probably right based on the last third of the movie that you wouldn't like the first two-thirds.
For me, I like those first Bond films because, although they have their share of Bond's slick, larger-than-life style, they seem more like classic spy stories (Dragon Tanks notwithstanding). From Russia with Love is about Cold War stuff, it's almost entirely internal to the spy world. It feels grounded, which makes the fantastic elements pop more without getting too carried away.
Moonraker is a good laugh - it's certainly fun - but it gets too far on the campy side of things for my taste.
It's a fine line, I think, between too goofy and too serious for my Bond enjoyment. But, I think this is part of the fun of Bond. It's like Batman. There are goofy, campy versions, and there are serious versions, and everybody's got a favourite.
What's your favourite Bond flick?
I don't have a single all-time favourite, I like about half of them.
I was just curious which ones you thought were top of the game. You mentioned Moonraker elsewhere here. Of the Roger Moore Bonds, I always like Live and Let Die, Spy Who Loved Me, and For Your Eyes Only.
shareOK, my favourite Bond movies are the ones I have on Blu-ray and on Google video, namely:
Goldfinger
You Only Live Twice
The Man with the Golden Gun
The Spy who Loved Me
Moonraker
Octopussy
A View to a Kill
The Living Daylights
Licence to Kill
Goldeneye
For Your Eyes Only
Live and Let Die
That's all of them. I'm not really a fan of Brosnan nor Craig.
I'd just like to point out two things:
1) The Bond films didnt have the budget for really spectacular lairs, until the first had made money.
2) There's goofy unrealistic shit in ALL the Bond films.
Curious as to why you don't like Dr. No or From Russia With Love. FRWL is the 2nd best Bond movie....
shareFrom Russia With Love? I remember poisoned-shoe stabby lady, and I think Spectre was in it the most, but I didn't care for it. It could be that I don't think I've ever seen the two of them from start to finish, but I haven't got time, nor the inclination.
To be honest, I preferred later Bond with Roger Moore and the cars and gadgets, and the increasing silliness of it all, and maybe Moonraker just shows how silly the premise of the franchise is, and besides, it's Bond 007 meets Star Wars! What's not to like about that?
Again you say that you haven't even finished watching these Bond films. Hard to take you seriously. You "haven't got time, nor the inclination" but you have the time to post in a forum about how you don't like these movies that you haven't seen.
You should force yourself to watch the entire catalog and then have opinions based on exposure.
DNO and FRWL are not really 'Bond movies.' The formula started with GF and continued until the end of the Brosnan era for the most part. It doesn't mean they're bad films, but they do feel very out of place in the series as a whole.
shareFRWL my favourite. They should have had all the films as close as possible to the books.
Dr. No has no established formula, so it doesn't fit in with the rest, but its def. a Bond movie. The Bond formula we know and love was established in Goldfinger, but this is still a great movie. Its weird the Bond theme constantly plays, even when Bond is doing mundane things like walking around.
shareI really like this Bond. Sean Connery was the only James Bond for me.
shareI like to watch Dr No and From Russia with love back to back kind of like one long film i think they are perfect together
I personally don't love Goldfinger maybe because it's the most familiar one and i over watched it as a kid but the first 2/Thunderball and OHMSS are the best because i like the SPECTRE plotline Goldfinger is a standalone
And who are you to say? This is the 1st Bond movie and From Russia with Love is the 2nd. Goldfinger is the best 3rd movie
share"Dr. No" is first-class Bond.
share