"JAMES BOND: ULTIMATE EDITION – VOLUMES 3 AND 4"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Sean Connery as JAMES BOND George Lazenby as JAMES BOND Roger Moore as JAMES BOND Pierce Brosnan as JAMES BOND Rated PG and PG-13 Studio: MGM Created by: Ian Fleming Back to DVD Review Home |  |
With this year’s release of “Casino Royale” featuring a brand new James Bond and revamping of the franchise, MGM has released the entire Broccoli Bond collection on DVD. Last month saw volumes one and two of “James Bond: Ultimate Edition.” Each volume contained five Bond films from various points in the franchise. Now is the time to complete the set with volumes three and four.
It’s not that the James Bond films are inaccessible. Just surf through cable periodically (especially around the holidays), and you’ll find your obligatory marathon on TBS or elsewhere. If you don’t like to sit through commercials, you can always rent them on DVD as well.
But the true Bond fan needs to pick up these box sets, which is the best way to get all the films collected together, full of special features. Each DVD in the set comes with two discs – one with the film and the other with an assortment of special features. Anyone who has watched Bond on DVD in the past should recognize many of the features, including director commentaries, behind-the-scenes documentaries, music videos, trailers and storyboard sequences.
For the “Ultimate Edition,” the studio has packaged more, brand new special features. The most impressive is a new allotment of audio commentaries by Roger Moore. (Sorry folks, Connery has left Bond behind and doesn’t lend his voice to a new commentary.) There’s also multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes in the “Declassified: MI6 Vault” section.
But in reality, the reason to own these discs is to own the films. With “Casino Royale” marking the 21st Bond film (from the Broccoli franchise at least), it’s a nice packaging of the films, and it’ll make a great Christmas present for the guys in the family.
VOLUME 3:
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE - *****
This is quite easily the best James Bond film with Sean Connery. Before the series fell into gadgets and tricks, Connery brought a fresh, and somewhat unrefined Bond, to the screen. It’s still one of the best written films in the series.
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE - **1/2
Let’s face it – George Lazenby was a lousy Bond. And while this film gets listed as one of the best by fans mainly because we see Bond’s humanity when he falls in love and gets married, it’s still a goofy sex-filled romp from the 60s that never quite fit. And Telly Savalas as Blofeld? What were they thinking?
LIVE AND LET DIE - ***1/2
This film marked Roger Moore’s introduction as James Bond, and it also is one of the few films that show him ordering something more than a martini or using the famous “Bond, James Bond” line. Still made when the movies were adapting the Fleming books more closely, this shows Bond battling voodoo and getting it on with a young Jane Seymour.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY - ****1/2
This is one of the best Roger Moore films, second only to “The Spy Who Loved Me” (not included). Bond’s mission is to retrieve a nuclear launching device from a sunken submarine before the Russians get to it. It’s really the last Roger Moore Bond film that took itself somewhat seriously.
GOLDENEYE - ***
It wasn’t Pierce Brosnan’s best outing as Bond, but it was a pretty solid debut in the franchise. Bond treks across the globe to find a powerful weapon being sold by ex-00 agent Sean Bean. Oh, and Famke Janssen is probably the hottest she’s ever been on film in this movie.
VOLUME 4:
DR. NO - ****
There are some rough edges in the first Bond film to hit the screens, but it was still excellent. Sean Connery makes his debut in the role of a lifetime, and the evil Dr. No provides plenty of fodder for the Austin Powers films. Ursula Andress sets the bar for all Bond girls of the future with her incredible entrance.
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - ****
Okay, Sean Connery didn’t make the most convincing Japanese guy, but if you can get past a really crummy make-up job, this is a pretty good flick. Serving as inspiration for most of the Dr. Evil jokes in the Austin Powers series, Donald Sutherland plays a great Blofeld trying to conquer space.
MOONRAKER - ***
This is easily the funniest film in the James Bond franchise. It’s an absolute mess, but it holds a soft spot in my heart because it was the first Bond film I ever saw. Roger Moore makes a caricature of himself in this ridiculous “Star Wars” knock-off. Bond tries to take down a power-hungry madman who wants to eliminate all human life on earth and repopulate the world with his own super race.
OCTOPUSSY - **1/2
The follow-up to the excellent “For Your Eyes Only” shows Roger Moore in decline, with the humor taking the forefront. Maud Adams returns from the dead to be another Bond girl. It was a weird film about falsifying Faberge eggs to fund Russian nuclear proliferation, but not nearly as weird as Moore’s swan song “A View to a Kill” (not included).
TOMORROW NEVER DIES - **1/2
This second installment of Brosnan was a slight slump before he really took off in the role for “The World Is Not Enough” (not included). However, the film gets points for Michelle Yeoh upstaging Teri Hatcher as the new Bond girl. The far-fetched villain leading a media empire was a stretch, but it’s fun nonetheless.
Specifications: DTS Surround Sound. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Anamorphic (1.66:1) and widescreen (2.35:1). French language tracks. French and Spanish subtitles. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
