DBWI: Was Sean Bean the Best Bond?

Pretty much in the title but what are your feelings on Sean Bean as the famous character, James Bond? True enough, him taking on the role in the mid-90's for a total of six films of the franchise saw it taken to a more gritty feeling akin to the Connery period but without some of the sparkle from that. I know people compliment Bean's own darker take on the Bond character in such films as Goldeneye, Ulster's Creed and Live to Kill (With Goldeneye being seen as the last of the 'glitzy' Bond films by many) was aided greatly aided by Pierce Brosnan who played the well known 005 Agent and a recurring villain throughout four of the films.

What are your own thoughts on the franchise under Bean? Good or bad? And how do you think the next Bond will live up to Bean's influence on the character?

(OOC: Just finished watching Golden Eye and thought, why not? I suppose the POD I'm looking for is the Troubles sort of retain their violence a bit and move the Bond films towards a darker path in the mid-90's like the Daniel Craig films are doing now. But feel free to ignore that if you like.)
 

Japhy

Banned
Ulster's Creed, is all the controversy aside, with fellows like US Congressmen Pete King Calling for a Boycot, my favorite Bond Movie ever. Seeing 005 defect to the Unionist Terrorists with that Plot! The Car Chase in Dublin too, just fantastic, I was so glad to see the DB5 back for at least one time durring the Bean years. Plus the darkness of being in Ulster, Bond on patrol with an Army Company in the countryside, thats when I realized Bean was sending the franchise in a new, so much better direction.
 
I think Nobody lives Forever was probably my favorite, because not only was there Sean Bean as Bond, there was Blofeld and SPECTRE done right. Not cartoony, not spill the beans stupid, but sadistic, successful, and frankly, far more menacing than Blofeld has ever been done before.

Perhaps it was the edginess that made it such a strong sell--A Bond Girl is tortured to death on camera; Bond himself nearly dies to Blofeld's manufactured plague, and there is real symbolism over the whole "nobody lives forever". I guess it was kind of a treat for the Bond Fans of old, but Blofeld was so much more formidable, more dangerous than he was ever before.

Some people said the whole Tracy flashback was a little long, and I'd agree--and I think that Bond losing another GF to Blofeld--well, finding a mangled corpse in a display case--everyone there felt the hate.

I also thought that Live to Kill was particularly evocative, because the roles were reversed. I know that some people still hate the film because it says bad things about the UK and MI-6, but it was like a campy sensative "old Bond" as the rival to Sean Bean's new bond--a wuss versus a hammer. It almost seemed to mock the old Bond Movies, it certainly ended the idea that Bond's masters are always benevolent. Killing a UK defector to Russia was kind of anti-clamatic, but Russia's GRU agents played a long, hard game against Bond and I found the spy vs. spy to be very well done.
 
I guess it was kind of a treat for the Bond Fans of old, but Blofeld was so much more formidable, more dangerous than he was ever before.

I know, Ian Mckellen's performance as Blofeld really made the role his own. A shame he was killed off in Bean's last film but I doubt the chemistry could have been maintained by anyone else as Bond. Especially in the scene from Bean's third film where Blofeld is finally unveiled.
 
I'm a big fan of Tomorrow Never Lies, it seemed to be the ideal compromise for me between "old" and "new" Bond. Judi Dench's performance as M was superb as ever, and the introduction of Michael Caine as Desmond Llewelyn's replacement as Q seems to me to have been the ideal choice... the new Q strikes the perfect balance between fun and seriousness. The plot also seemed interesting to me; a US-Chinese war being started by India, all under the sinister guidance of the mass media.
 
I'm a big fan of Tomorrow Never Lies, it seemed to be the ideal compromise for me between "old" and "new" Bond. Judi Dench's performance as M was superb as ever, and the introduction of Michael Caine as Desmond Llewelyn's replacement as Q seems to me to have been the ideal choice... the new Q strikes the perfect balance between fun and seriousness. The plot also seemed interesting to me; a US-Chinese war being started by India, all under the sinister guidance of the mass media.

Agreed. The Chinese air attack on LA was a bit thick though.
 
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Seriously, Micheal Caine as Q? Pure Genius I tell you. Besides, the earnings of this one were the death knell for the relaunch they had planned. Have you seen the plans that were leaked? Horrible to say the least. The new ones ( from Glorious Meanings onwards ) are IMHO the perfect balance between new and old, especially since they got John Barry to do the Bond scores again for the last three.


OOC: The new, Craig Bonds are so damn BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! :(
 
GoldenEye was a welcome surprise, I really thought that the James Bond series was over after Dalton's third film Property of a Lady. The industrial robots designed by Disney Imagineering really weren't that credible. John Barry's score for the film is probably one of his best of the 1980s, but not as good as his classic Bond scores and at times it did sound like his score for the The Specialist.

Bean is probably the best Bond since Connery. Though I am disappointed that Bean's success caused him to leave the Richard Sharpe television movies and the role was recast with Sean Pertwee in Sharpe's Regiment.

I also didn't like the fact that Eon Productions signed the three picture product placement deal with the Toyota Motor Company during the production of GoldenEye. There really isn't much mystique from a gadget-laden Lexus even when the action scenes are accompanied by the James Bond Theme.
 
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GoldenEye was a welcome surprise, I really thought that the James Bond series was over after Dalton's third film Property of a Lady. Even though John Barry's score it probably one of his best of the 1980s, but not as good as his classic Bond scores.

Bean is probably the best Bond since Connery. Though I am disappointed that Bean's success caused him to leave the Richard Sharpe television movies and the role was recast with Sean Pertwee in Sharpe's Regiment.

I also didn't like the fact that Eon Productions signed the three picture product placement deal with the Toyota Motor Company during the production of GoldenEye. There really isn't much mystique from a gadget-laden Lexus even when the action scenes are accompanied by the James Bond Theme.

True. But imagine if they had signed the offer BMW had on the table. But alas, the Astons are back, so everything is fine. Micheal Caine + Astob Martin + massive Gadgets = win, no matter the Bond.
 
OOC: Just getting down all the Sean Bean Bond films:

Goldeneye
Ulster's Creed
Nobody Lives Forever
Live to Kill
Tomorrow Never Lies
Live to Kill
 
Caine as Q was inspired. I heard they considered John Cleese. I know the web fandom was up in arms over that, but truth be told it could have worked as long as they didn't attempt to "Python" up his character. Cleese is more than capable of serious, underplayed humor ala Llewelyn and could have done a superb job. Still, Knowing Hollywierd they'd probably have him go all "ministry of funny walks" like they did to him as Cleuseau in the Pink Panther remake.

OOC: Just lamenting on the Cleese Q that could have been... :(
 
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