The "ION" James Bond 007 Movie List

This movie is the ultimate low point in the entire franchise. As a lifelong fan of James Bond I find this movie disgusting, or at least large parts of it. The whole 'Star Trek' thing, gondola-hovercraft and Jaws finding a retarded girlfriend really was the epitome of stupidity. There is some, or maybe even a lot of unbelievable stuff in the entire franchise. Like the "dragon-tank" in Dr. No. But most of those things are, if placed in their own time period, a little more believable. I once saw a sci-fi movie from the 50's, depicting the 2010's - everyone has a portable phone (how real), only they are carried on your back and are the size of a large cool-box. Now this seems stupid, but at the time this was great writing. Most of the more unrealistic things in the Bond franchise are much like this. But Moonraker really takes the cake, and then some. Laser-guns in a semi-realistic world? Come on. I think most fans walked out the cinema right after Jaws got a retarded girlfriend or the first bad-guy took out his laser-gun.

The first Bond movie or action movie I ever saw. I first saw this film at my aunt's house, together with my cousin. I couldn't have been older than 8 years. I was hooked. In my young minds eye, it was a formula for success. The movie started with essentially a short movie with an exciting helicopter chase, after that a dream-like sequence with a catchy song that echoed in my head for days after. The story of the heroic playboy getting all the chicks after killing all the evil masterminds was very appealing to me. As an adult I know better, but as a child, a pre-teen, these movies were the epiphany of adventure (together with Indiana Jones). The underwater sequence was and is one of the most exciting scenes I ever saw in a movie.

Right after this visit to my aunt's house, I told my father about this exciting movie I saw with my cousin, a girl two years older than me, in her room that night. My father told me he thought about Bond as really fun too. After a few days, my father told me that this television channel was essentially doing a re-run of all the Bond movies, with one showing every friday night. According to him, this re-run had started many weeks prior, but was showing the movies in chronological order. So next in line was this one. My dad promised me he would tape the lot of them. My obsession with James Bond was born.

The third Bond I ever saw. Not as fun as For Your Eyes only, but fun nonetheless. As young as I was (8), I found the lead Bond girl (Tanya Roberts) very hot and sexy. Her breathless voice in the shower, made me breathless.

When this movie hit the theaters I was 13 years old. My parents were largely against me watching violent films. But also, according to them: the James Bond franchise wasn't on par or keen to the ultra-violence some action movies had, that I grew up with (like RoboCop or The Terminator). Unbeknownst to me, or my two younger brothers, my parents devised a little scheme wherein we were told to have a family dinner in a restaurant, but in stead of going home after that, we went to the local theater. It was one of the most fun evenings of my young life. Later on, a family tradition had formed. From then on, we never missed a Bond flick in cinema again.

Growing up I was most familiar with Roger Moore, to a lesser extent with Timothy Dalton and in my teens I watched Pierce Brosnan. All these Bonds were from the same chronology. ION came to the conclusion they had to reinvent the franchise. Being a fan, liking all Roger Moore's stuff and liking some of the stuff Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan did - I thought to myself; why renew something that isn't broken? - but needless to say, they did. And with consequence. But I liked it. No, I loved it, the finished project. In my teens I familiarized myself with Sean Connery and the films he made. My biggest problem with those movies was this: Bond, the best spy in the biz, when in combat, always loses his gun and gadgets in the process and needs up to half an hour of fist fighting, arm wrestling and hair pulling to take out his nemesis. Even as a child, I thought to myself, a really good spy would need only one bullet per enemy, if that. Roger Moore always was a bit more comedic in a way, with his sarcastic grin when facing enemies and his dirty grin when meeting ladies. But when push came to shove, he dropped, pushed or even kicked guys into the ravine without hesitation. If there was but one real Bond, I would have to choose between Connery or Moore. Connery was more of a guy's guy, where Moore seemed a bit more at ease. That was.. until someone decided it was time to hire Daniel Craig. This movie brings some, much needed, believability back to the franchise. Well done. This movie made my jaw drop within the first ten minutes and I feel this movie needs much praise.