It's one of the few where all the villains are equally memorable. Trevelyan, Xenia, Orumov and Boris.
The James Bond Film Discussion Thread (With Bonus Lazenby!)
- Thread starter cooleddie74
- Start date
Yes, a perfect storm of villains
LALD almost reaches the same level with Kananga (and Mr Big?) Tee Hee, Whisper and Baron Saemdi (plus the wonderful cab driver who it's criminal doesn't have a name!) Adam lets the side down, he's good but he's a tad ordinary compared to everyone around him!
Films that should have had a perfect storm of villains. Spectre. Waltz, Scott, Bautista. How the hell do you fuck that up!
LALD almost reaches the same level with Kananga (and Mr Big?) Tee Hee, Whisper and Baron Saemdi (plus the wonderful cab driver who it's criminal doesn't have a name!) Adam lets the side down, he's good but he's a tad ordinary compared to everyone around him!
Films that should have had a perfect storm of villains. Spectre. Waltz, Scott, Bautista. How the hell do you fuck that up!
GoldenEye is splendidly cast top to bottom. All the villains are great, Scorupco is one of the best Bond girls in the franchise, even the woman playing the psychological evaluator in that one early scene is pitch-perfect.
Poor Boris. He was invincible.
But he wouldn't know a woman if she sat on his head.
She and d'Abo are two of my favorite Bond girls (in two of my favorite Bond films). I think there's something to be said for pairing Bond with "ordinary" women from outside his world of violence and intrigue. It's kind of like The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s concept of including an "innocent" in every story. Not that you necessarily want to do it every time -- variety is the spice, after all -- but it makes for a fresh dynamic compared with, say, another agent or a femme fatale.
I would say "No Time To Die" is also one of the Bond movies that has a great cast; Teri Hatcher being the only weak link.
Guessing you mean Tomorrow Never Dies, since Hatcher isn't in No Time to Die. 
Looking at your avatar it almost like you were summoned!Guessing you mean Tomorrow Never Dies, since Hatcher isn't in No Time to Die.
I actually think Jonathan Pryce is not very good in TND. I can barely bring myself to type that sentence because it should be nonsense. But it's true. (He's terrific in Slow Horses, though.)
I think Pryce starts out great – I totally buy him as a megalomaniacal media baron – but by the film's final act he just doesn't have that last bit of oomph to get it across the finish line. It also doesn't help that compared to the last two villains (Trevelyan and Sanchez), he's not very physical in a "mano a mano with 007" kind of way. In that sense, Carver is sort of a throwback to Moore-era villains like Stromberg and Drax. Fortunately Götz Otto is there to pick up the slack as Big Hulking Teutonic Henchman. 
You know, the very first thing I thought of was Stromberg. Which is odd because my favorite Moore villain is Drax. I mean, I think my favorite villain is Drax, full stop.
"You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."
But Stromberg might be the scariest Bond villain of all time. IMHO.
"You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."
But Stromberg might be the scariest Bond villain of all time. IMHO.
Moonraker comes close to having four equally memorable villains but stops at three: Drax, Jaws and Chang.
Moonraker manages to have the best and the worst of Moore era Bond. (It's the Die Another Day of Moore.) But unfortunately unlike in The Spy Who Loved Me where he was a point in favor, Jaws is one of the points against Moonraker.
Who was your almost fourth?
I don't know why I typed that. I looked at the Wiki entry before I posted.Guessing you mean Tomorrow Never Dies, since Hatcher isn't in No Time to Die.
Technically Dolly is on the enemy team until the final battle of the movie, but she's never really a BAD character with malicious intent.
Drax is definitely the most quotable Bond villain.
"You have arrived at a propitious moment, coincident with your country's one indisputable contribution to western civilization: afternoon tea."
"Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him."
"Frederick Gray! What a surprise. And in distinguished company, all wearing gas masks."
"Mr. Bond, you defy all my attempts to plan an amusing death for you."
"Jaws, Mr. Bond must be cold after his swim. Place him where he can be assured of warmth."
"You have arrived at a propitious moment, coincident with your country's one indisputable contribution to western civilization: afternoon tea."
"Look after Mr. Bond. See that some harm comes to him."
"Frederick Gray! What a surprise. And in distinguished company, all wearing gas masks."
"Mr. Bond, you defy all my attempts to plan an amusing death for you."
"Jaws, Mr. Bond must be cold after his swim. Place him where he can be assured of warmth."
Then there's his speech to the space station crew which begins with, "First there was the DREAM" and ends with "there is LAW AND ORDER IN THE HEAVENS."
I've said this a lot. I'm tired of the 'Bond's equal' style Bond girls, there's something to be said for the ordinary woman who rises to the occasion. Natalya and Kara definitely fit that bill.
I like as well that Natalya has her own mission/agenda.
Michael Lonsdale is truly wonderful, he elevates Moonraker dramatically. I love him in The Day of the Jackal as well. Two radically different performances.
TSWLM is the superior film, but Moonraker has the superior lead villain by a hundred miles. Drax leaves Stromberg in the dust, and that's not just a rocket takeoff exhaust joke.
Similar threads
