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Mark Bubien reviews
Octopussy, From Russia with Love, A View to A Kill
MGM
- Cert: PG
- Cat.no: Cat.no: 1001091
- Running time: Various
- Year: Various
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: Varies
- Sound: Dolby Digital
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish
- Widescreen: 1.85:1, 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $123.99
- Extras: Making-Of Featurette, Commentary, Theatrical Trailers
Director:
- Various
Cast:
- Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pearce Brosnan.
Writers:
- Various
Here is the final set, the culmination, of the “canon” Bond films on DVD. I’m certainly glad to see MGM getting these discs out, and doing such a great job on them too – as their predecessors, they all have punchy new anamorphic transfers and loads of great extra features. But I must admit, I’m a bit perplexed; I’m honestly not really sure why James Bond is so popular.
From a modern perspective, Mr. Bond runs the gamut of sexist, exploitive, ruthless, promiscuous, and if that ain’t enough, he has a relatively, um, casual attitude about killing. All this stuff certainly runs against current Y2K sensibilities. But I swear, ask around and you’ll find one thing to be true: most guys want to be him, while most women want to be with him!
Well, finally, you get a chance to explore this great mystery on your own because you now have access to all the Bond flicks on DVD. In the Bond Giftset #3, you’ll see some of the best and worst Broccoli has offered over the years. Spend quality time with a load of gypsies (before and after the shootout) in From Russia with Love, guess ahead of time that Bond will score bigtime, even with a pig-faced wife in You Only Live Twice, argue about the resemblance, or lack thereof, between Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan in The Living Daylights ,or wonder why Connery would return to the famous role for what certainly ranks as a treatise in pure, unadulterated campiness (could it have been the money?) in Diamonds on Forever.
Also included in this set is my most hated Bond movie, A View to A Kill. Bond tackles (ahem) his first, really, really ugly leading lady, a lanky and nearly hairless Grace Jones (I swear she used to be a guy). And it’s such a boring flick that even the bizarrely sinister Christopher Walken – typically a great bad guy – can’t save it.
Fortunately, MGM also threw my favorite into this set as well: Octopussy (no, it’s not because of the title). Forget ugly chicks, Bond bounces between Maud Adams and Kristina Wayborn while he’s not running from alligators or tigers. This one mixes just the right amount of camp to be humorous – dig that yo-yo wielding madman – with a gaggle of great action sequences. These include the opening with the Acrostar Mini Jet, and the final “bookend” where Bond fights the evil Gobinda on an airplane fuselage in mid-flight. And if that isn’t enough, we get to hear Louis Jordan’s suave accent as he repeats “Octopussy, Octopussy, Octopussy…” Great stuff, all of it.
Visually, the films all look very nice. Some show their age, such as From Russia with Love, but I must say that MGM has worked hard to give us some top-notch transfers. The audio also ranks pretty nicely, though MGM tended toward original theatrical mix for these discs (meaning largely mono). While purists argue for this type of treatment, I really don’t think it would’ve hurt too much to whip up a 5.1 remix of some of the newer movies at the very least. Be that as it may, these are still quality discs.
They’re also packed with features. Five-star stuff all around. The best part is that these all include documentaries in some form or another. And these are the juicy, informative type that go into the honest details behind the movies. On Octopussy‘s alone, I learned that one of the stuntmen was seriously injured – they even show the scene! – but fully recovered. Heck, they even talk about the name of the film being a minor (ahem again) sexual innuendo – I’d always wondered if Broccoli noticed that.
Any Bond fan out there can buy this set without a single qualm. MGM has created a near-perfect collection for the world’s only perfect secret agent.
Oh yes, and I haven’t forgotten a bit of diversion…
It’s a little-known fact that Albert Broccoli and Eon Productions toyed with the idea of gay secret agent (maybe this explains the whole Grace Jones debacle). In the end, of course, they decided to forego that route, offering for posterior’s sake not one, but ten reasons. And here they are…
The Top 10 Reasons Why James Bond Is Not Gay
- 10. It’s already bad enough being nicknamed Albert “Cubby” Broccoli.
9. Way too tempting to add an “s” to the end of “Thunderball.”
8. Applying the “have sex with evil villain to bring them over to side of good” rule eliminates captivating story line.
7. Way too tempting to add an “age” to the end of “Bond.”
6. Not enough conflict in the recent movies: a female “M” would have simply understood Bond.
5. Impossible to change the title sequence silhouettes for the British Censors.
4. Too hard to substitute Moneypenny’s annoying sexual banter with Felix’s annoying sexual banter.
3. Creates awkward camera angle whenever using magnetic watch trick on someone’s fly.
2. Way too tempting to refer to “Q” as “QT.”
1. A male version of “Octopussy” is just too horrible to imagine!
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL Check out Mark’s homepage: www.storybytes.com.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.