Live and Let Die
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Movie Reviews of Live and Let Die
Movie Review: I was young and my heart was an open book...
Summary: 1 Stars
I used to say live and let live. Then I saw this Roger Moore fiasco. It makes me give in and cry, This movie must die!...They had a job to do and didn't do it well, they put this fellow through hell!
Ok, enough of twisting Paul McCartney's great song to offer up my point of view. I am a recent convert to James Bond movies. I took a chance and watched Casino Royale and I was very impressed with what I saw. Then I picked up Goldfinger, followed by Die Another Day, GoldenEye, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, A View to a Kill, Dr. No, Octopussy, and The Living Daylights. Some of these movies were great and some were good or ok. But none of them made me do what this one did all by itself, none of the others made me put a temporary halt on my exploration of the Bond movies.
So where to start with this movie? Oh dear, where can I start? Since I am unable to stomach another viewing of this mess of a movie I'll just mention what sticks out in my mind. First of all the acting, mainly from the supporting cast, is so over the top and silly that it has clearly crossed the line into campiness. I grew up on Batman, especially reruns Adam West's portrayal of the character, so I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the 60s series. I could never understand why some Batman fans hated the series. But thanks to Live and Let Die it all has become perfectly clear. For someone like me, who loves Casino Royale, going back to this movie is like a Batman Begins fan picking up the Adam West Batman movie in their local store's cut out bin and hoping for more of the same. It may be possible for one to enjoy the movie, but if you don't know what you're in for, then you're likely to be disturbed by what you see. I was bothered enough that I feel like a survivor of this movie who is attempting to come to grips with what he suffered through.
Second of all are the characters involved in this production. (Well, one in particular mainly.)Ian Fleming made a bold move to have all black villains in his original novel. This caused some controversy of course and the film makers decided to attempt to counter act the move in an effort to appease the masses. How did they do this? By introducing an over zealous, white, redneck, stocky Southern Sheriff, complete with accent and chewing tobacco. I always wondered what inspired a TV series I enjoyed as a kid, the Dukes of Hazzard, and now I know. Yes, I am rather certain that we'd have no Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane if it hadn't been for the Sheriff in this movie. The big difference is that Coltrane fit in with the other characters instead of sticking out like a sore thumb.
The Sheriff here is one of the biggest, and most unwelcome, distractions to a movie since I endured Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I several years back. In both cases I couldn't wrap my head around the thought process that was going through the minds of the people who gave a green light to what was going on once they saw the dailies of the films. A severe lack of sleep must have affected the judgments of these people.
The action sequences are rather dismal as well. We are treated to a battle between Bond and the Baron towards the end of the movie, but it is brief and hardly worth what you must sit through prior to this sequence. One of the longest action segments belongs to a boat chase. Long chases can be ok if they're well planned and shot in a manner that enhances the action, but that is not the case here. Instead the chase comes across as the film maker's effort to maximize the expense of obtaining the water craft used in this film.
My own review here is in danger of becoming as long and drawn out as the actual movie, so I'll end it here. I could go on and on about how bad this thing is, but I've wasted enough time on it already and saying more about it will never get back the two hours I spent with this badly done live action Disney cartoon.
Movie Review: Nonsensical.
Summary: 1 Stars
Viewed: 1/11
Rate: 2
1/11: Live and Let Die...what a silly title. Now, what the hell is that supposed to mean? I couldn't even recall the title when I needed to. Oh well, Roger Moore replaces Sean Connery, and things are supposed to be better? I really hate films that involve voodoo practices and black magic which take place either in Louisiana or Haiti. For some reason, I fall asleep because the topic is never interesting. Is Roger Moore a better Bond than Sean Connery? Honestly, it doesn't matter to me; the franchise is a complete joke. Rather, Roger is more comparable to the phony actor Ryan O'Neil. Anyway, more women are bedded by James Bond in Live and Let Die, and if the black female agent was for real, I smell a brewing of a sexual harassment lawsuit. When will the madness ever end? Not so surprisingly, Live and Let Die is the first film to use profanity. I really lost interest watching this mindless dreck when there was an overlong scene of boat chases, and I couldn't wait to finish the movie. The action of Live and Let Die is entirely bland and uninteresting; however, I did like the scene with crocodiles. I wished that James Bond was heavily mauled by them. That would have shot the rating much higher. I'm just tired of him surviving throughout so many improbable scenes when a simple bullet through between two of his eyes would have been a lot easier to accomplish. Those scenes with the redneck cop ruined the film further. I mean, do I really care about his problem? The plot of Live and Let Die is completely senseless; drugs are literally produced everywhere, and why does this particular operation need the services of a British spy agent? All in all, Live and Let Die is another clunker for the franchise.
Movie Review: The Moore nadir
Summary: 1 Stars
This is the first and worst of Roger Moore's James Bond outings (yes, it's even worse than "A View To A Kill"). Dull, clumsily plotted, featuring a not-terribly-interesting villain (despite the fact that Yaphet Kotto is usually terrific), campy but in an overly serious way (the voodoo stuff is ridiculous), featuring a brief out-of-left-field appearance by a cliched hillbilly sheriff (who probably provided the inspiration for Jackie Gleason's performance in "Smokey and the Bandit"), this Bond film should be avoided at all costs. Even the speedboat chase is boring.