THE WATCHERS on GTFM's James Bond Special Last Sunday!!

We were guests on the local radio stations 007 special last sunday, the interview was recorded the Friday night, while doing our Bondathon. Take a listen & you can still donate? Thanks

Bondathon Podcast Part 4

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We review the last 3 films of Moore's era. Then we take some time out and talk about the experience so far and also we chat about the longest serving agent 007 - Roger Moore. Enjoy

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A View To A Kill (1985)

Investigations into a horse-racing scandal leads Bond to Max Zorin, a French industrialist and ex-KGB agent who has plans to destroy Silicon Valley.

Microchip technology was a big talking point in the mid-1980s so, once again, it’s an interesting take using a contemporary issue.

It’s real action-a-go-go in this one. The pre-credits sequence features another frantic ski chase (even if the brief snippet of ‘California Girls’ by the Beach Boys as Bond snowboarding down the hill was unnecessary) and an ingenious boat shaped like an iceberg. After only twenty minutes in, there is the breathless chase up the Eiffel Tower, May Day’s skydive off and the subsequent car chase. The steeplechase scene, with the moving jumps, is also brilliantly done. Bond’s escape from the sunken car is similarly excellent as is the fire engine chase through San Francisco and the finale atop the Golden Gate Bridge.

Christopher Walken is inspired casting as Zorin. Already an Oscar winner by this point, he brings his trademark intensity to the role which is refreshing after a run of lacklustre villains (Kristatos and Kamal Khan). His encounters with Roger Moore really spark and he’s a fitting adversary for Moore’s last hurrah. His off-hand quip after disposing of a business rival from his airship- ‘So would anyone else like to drop out?’- is delivered perfectly. Grace Jones is a perfect match for Walken; they’re both as crazy as each other. Her May Day is also full of intensity; she is Zorin’s confidante, lover and pet assassin, dispatching people unquestioningly. Zorin turns on her at the end, leaving her to die in the flooded mine and she sacrifices herself to save the day. A traditional trope but done well.

It’s a shame that Tanya Roberts doesn’t have the same spark in her performance. That said, the character of Stacey Sutton is thinly written, much more of a damsel-in-distress type of Bond girl. There’s also, perhaps more crucially, very little chemistry between Roberts and Moore. He seems to be constantly chiding her or telling her what to do, acting more like a father or a boss than a romantic interest, which becomes quickly intolerable for the audience.

The DVD release is rated 12 (a rating that didn’t exist when the first was first released; it was either a PG or a 15); it is easy to see why the film has been re-rated from PG. There’s a particularly graphic moment with someone being sucked into a propeller and when Zorin blithely but mercilessly guns down the workers in his mine.

All in all, this is a very fitting swansong for Roger Moore, even though he himself does not rate this film highly (due to the excessive violence amongst other things). It redeems the godawful mess that was Octopussy and provides a decent coda to his twelve-year tenure as 007.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Countdown: The Watchers' 10 Worst Henchmen

Some henchmen (and henchwomen) are loyal, efficient, ruthless and occasionally terrifying; they may be the blunt tools but they do it in style. Sadly, this shower of ineffective miscreants would make even the most distant megalomaniacal supervillains get their own hands dirty.

For your consideration, The Watchers' 10 Worst Henchmen

1. THE THREE BLIND MICE
(played by three uncredited actors in Dr. No)

There's something borderline offensive about these three assassins misappropriating a physical disability as a means to murder someone. Much like the slightly racist portrayal of Julius No, the attitudes of the time may be writ large across the film- but that doesn't mean we have to like it.






2. ZAO
(played by Rick Yune in Die Another Day)

The only thing differentiating Zao from any other hired thug are the diamonds in his face. That's it.

3. NECROS
(played by Andreas Wisniewski in The Living Daylights)

Bond henchmen are supposed to be menacing, exuding an air of danger. They are not supposed to be dressed up as milkman and use exploding milk bottles.






4. TEE-HEE
(played by Julius H. Harris in Live And Let Die)

The laugh isn't sinister. It's just annoying. Adding a prosthetic claw doesn't add to the menace either. Another example of lazily equating the villains with being physically disabled.







5. BLOFELD'S ANGELS OF DEATH
(played by various in On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

They come under this list due to the utter ridiculousness of Blofeld's plan in this film; even as Bond villain plans go, it's an absolute nonsense and- as such- the unwitting pawns deserve to go on the list.

6. GOBINDA
(played by Kabir Bedi in Octopussy)

Big. Dumb. Lots of muscle but no brain. An archetypal thuggish henchman. Nothing to get excited about.




 
7. MIRANDA FROST

(played by Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day)

Duplicitous snake-in-the-grass. So far, so-so. There's more sexual chemistry between garden gnomes than there is between Frost and Bond. Kick-ass fight at the end with Jinx, though.

8. MR. STAMPER
(played by Gotz Otto in Tomorrow Never Dies)

Again, an identikit Bond henchman. Blonde, muscly, slight tendency towards violence; a carbon copy of 'Red' Grant but, sadly, with a tenth of his charisma.

9.  RENARD
(played by Robert Carlyle in The World Is Not Enough)

As soon as Elektra is revealed as the mastermind behind the plot, Renard quickly reverts to the 'standard henchman' role; a shame because he's been pretty good up to that point.






10. MAY-DAY
(played by Grace Jones in A View To A Kill)

Completely out there (much like Ms Jones herself), May-Day's outrageousness- skydiving off the Eiffel Tower, for example- strikes a slightly jarring note in the film, although she's still pretty cool.







There seems to be stiff competition for this list. Who would you put on? Let us know in the comments below.

Video Countdown: Top Ten Bond Stunts

When you think about Bond films, there are certain elements which spring to mind. One we'd like to focus on today is the action sequences and stunts. There have been some truly amazing stunts throughout the Bond franchise and we've put together our Top Ten. Click the video below to find out what we rated as the best stunt in a Bond movie:

Bond At The Oscars: Part One - The Actors

Skyfall's main antagonist, Raoul Silva, is played by Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Bardem won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in No Country For Old Men (and has also been nominated for his performances in Before Night Falls and Biutiful). 

However, Bardem is not the first Oscar-winning actor to appear in a Bond film.

Sean Connery

OK, so his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Untouchables was years after he hung up the tux (even if you include Never Say Never Again), but the fact still remains that- to date- Connery is the only actor to play Bond to have been nominated or has won a competitive acting Oscar.

Christopher Walken

Walken had already walked away with his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Deer Hunter before he took on the role of Max Zorin in A View To A Kill. He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Catch Me If You Can.

Benicio Del Toro

Del Toro played Dario, one of Sanchez's henchmen, in License To Kill. It was one of his first film roles and he would go on to have a very successful career, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Traffic (and being further nominated for his role in 21 Grams).

Judi Dench

The third incarnation of M, Dench won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Shakespeare In Love in 1999 after she had already appeared in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies. She has also been nominated for Best Actress for Mrs. Brown, Iris, Mrs. Henderson Presents and Notes On A Scandal, and for Best Supporting Actress for Chocolat.

Halle Berry

Berry made history when she became the first African-American actress to win a Best Actress Oscar (on her first nomination) for her role in Monster's Ball. She then went on to play Jinx in Die Another Day.

Other Oscar nominees that have appeared in Bond films are:

• Lotte Lenya (Rosa Klebb in From Russia With Love; nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone)

• Robert Shaw (Donald ‘Red’ Grant in From Russia With Love; nominated for Best Supporting Actor for A Man For All Seasons)

• Telly Savalas (Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Birdman Of Alcatraz)

• Topol (Columbo in For Your Eyes Only; nominated for Best Actor for Fiddler On The Roof)

• Minnie Driver (Irina in GoldenEye; nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Good Will Hunting)

• Giancarlo Giannini (Rene Mathis in Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace; nominated for Best Actor for Pasqualino Settebellezze [Pasqualino: Seven Beauties])

• Ralph Fiennes (Mallory in Skyfall; nominated for Best Actor for The English Patient, and Best Supporting Actor for Schindler’s List)

• Albert Finney (Kincade in Skyfall; nominated for Best Actor for Tom Jones, Murder On The Orient Express, The Dresser and Under The Volcano, and Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich)

In the next post, we look at which Bond films have been nominated for an Oscar... and which films have won!