The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Review

 "Take Mr. Bond to school."
-Hai Fat




James Bond (Roger Moore) is pulled from his assignment when a golden bullet arrives at MI6 with "007" engraved in it.  MI6 assumes that Bond has been targeted by the world's most dangerous hitman, Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), who uses a golden gun and golden bullets.  Bond goes after Scaramanga, hoping to get the man with the golden gun before he gets Bond first.


What Works:

Christopher Lee is hands down the best part of this movie, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen a movie with Lee in it.  He is absolutely magnetic and has a wonderful screen presence.  He's a match for Bond and the best villain of the Moore films.  I especially like his relationship with his henchman, Nick Nack (Hervé Vilechaize).  Nick Nack likes to hire assassins to try and kill Scaramanga so he can inherit his vast estate.  Scaramanga doesn't mind.  He actually welcomes the challenge.  I love it.

The funhouse sequences are both really solid.  They are creative set pieces filled with tension.  Seeing the layout of the funhouse at the beginning of the movie sets up the ending nicely.  We see Bond hit some of the same points as Rodney (Marc Lawrence), and we remember what happened to him.  Then Bond flips the script in a really cool way to outfox Scaramanga.

While most of the action is relatively unremarkable, the corkscrew car jump is incredible.  They use a terrible sound effect to accompany it, but that doesn't change how badass this stunt is.  They actually did that!  That's insane!

Finally, we have Lt. Hip (Soon-Taik Oh), Bond's ally in the fight against Scaramanga.  He might be the least competent ally Bond ever has, which is a running theme of this movie, however, I like the performance.  Hip has some sincerity and genuine quality that makes me like the guy.  Sure, he decides to bring his nieces along on the mission for some reason and makes a million and a half mistakes, but I've always found him endearing.


What Sucks:

You know who I've never found endearing?  Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland).  She might be my least favorite Bond girl of all time.  Bottom two for sure.  She does almost nothing to help on the mission and is actually more of a hindrance.  The same can be said of Hip, but Ekland's performance is very good either.  

As I mentioned, the action really isn't anything to write home about in this film.  Sure, there are a few moments, but nothing all that memorable.  At least not for the right reasons.  This movie focuses more on the comedy than the action and it could have and should have been much better balanced.

The pacing also has some issues.  There are a few stretches where the movie isn't very interesting.  Bond spends too much time doing nothing with Goodnight, which drags the energy of the film to a halt.

Finally, Nick Nack is a mostly annoying villain.  I like his interactions with Scaramanga, but he doesn't do much else for me.  Maybe if he had actually been killed off, I would have been okay with the character, but he survives the movie, which is extremely unfortunate.


Verdict:

While I still like the film, The Man with the Golden Gun is certainly a bottom tier Bond film.  Christopher Lee is great, the funhouse sequences are fun, the corkscrew is incredible, and I enjoy Lt. Hip, but Nick Nack and Mary Goodnight really drag the movie down.  Plus the pacing is bad and the action is unmemorable.  It's not my least favorite Bond film, but it's close.

 6/10: Okay 

#1. From Russia with Love

#2. Goldfinger

#3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

#4. Live and Let Die

#5. Dr. No

#6. Thunderball

#7. You Only Live Twice

#8. The Man with the Golden Gun

#9. Diamonds Are Forever


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more