Review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) by John P — 17 Nov 2008
While From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service are two Bond films that I consider to be transcending of the Bond label and truly great films, this (along with A View to a Kill) one I consider to be just plain old horrible.
Why? Well, the whole fucking movie is superfluous. They made it right after Live and Let Die, trying to capitalize on its success, and instead, we get the most tired and boring entry. Absolutely no one's on their A-game here.
Roger Moore lumbers about through it, and does nothing besides hit women and then have sex with them. All the energy he brought to the previous entry is wasted here. Christopher Lee adds some pedigree to this blearly film, but he's written just as James Bond's written! Everything that could be interesting about him is just goofy and gaudy. The Bond girls are terrible. They're either dated and and submissive (Maud Adams), or just plain poorly written (Britt Ekland). They're hot, though.
Which brings me to the writing. The Fleming novel was one of the poorer entries (it was posthumous), but at least it had a point. This is just a cash-in on kung fu stuff. It starts off as Bond being targeted for assassination, but that gets forgotten about in favor of some energy crisis bullshit. Who cares? Keep it to the basics, and don't give me this dated shit!
The editing, the direction, and the score (god, John Barry must have been told to bore people) are all horrible, and the only saving grace of this shitfest is that awesome stunt with the car going off the bridge.
BUT THAT GETS RUINED BY A FUCKING STUPID SOUND EFFECT!!!
I mean, it's entertaining, but this would be one of my last choices to watch as a Bond movie.
This review of The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) was written by John P on 17 Nov 2008.
The Man with the Golden Gun has generally received mixed reviews.
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