Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bond ingredients all present and correct - but not risen to the occasion, 11 Sep 2007
After Lazenby's departure from the role following the successful but not overwhelming On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Connery is back as Bond to give the series a boost of levity.
This is a change of pace for the Bond franchise. A very obvious effort is made to pander to the American market, the bulk of the action taking place in America, specifically Las Vegas. Having said that, you can almost see the producer's cogs turning as they figure out how to make the next Bond movie successful. `Wait, wasn't Goldfinger really successful? Let's get the director from that one back!' and ` Oh yeah, that singer Bassey, she worked too...'. And then add some quirky casting - the first American actress to be a Bond girl, Jill St John (That's a nice little nothing you're almost wearing..') and ex Playboy centrefold Lana Turner, as Plenty O'Toole (`named after your father perhaps?').
Humour has been successfully if forcefully reinserted, thanks to Tom Mankiewisc script - but that's not to say action has been overlooked. It has the signature car chase, one of the better of the series, in a growling Mustang made more alive in the dts sound mix than ever before, amongst the casinos of Vegas ( watch out for how many times they drive past the same landmarks...). In fact, you have to give them credit, all the ingredients are here to while away a couple of hours nicely, thanks in no small part to the immense screen presence of Connery - he was worth the money.
However, it's all too clear that elsewhere all is not well. Charles Grey is about as bland an actor as could play the role of Blofeld, bringing nothing to the role except a plummy accent. In fact, none of the villains appear to be of any danger to Bond except for the brief appearance of the smuggler Peter Franks, played by the man who taught Connery Judo. Their fight in the elevator is closest in tone to any of the best moments of previous movies. Jill St John does very well, when her character is in charge - sexy and confident - until the shooting starts and all she is required to do is gasp and go `ooohh' and `ahhh' and be the butt of various sexist jokes (`what wonderful cheeks they are.. if only they were brains..' says Blofeld). And the climax is a let down. The final confrontation on the oil rig is embarrassingly small scale and the enemies ludicrously easily overpowered. It's a shame, since it starts out with helicopters swooping in to attack an oil rig, and it appears that part of the highlight of OHMSS is about to be recreated, the attack on the fortress at the end. Alas, a few obviously placed charges and swooping helicopters later, and all is over. The accompanying extras suggest this was due to budget cuts to finance Connery's pay packet - what a shame. At least the coda at the end to finish off Mr Kidd and Mr Wint, is pulled off to leave a better taste at the end of the movie.
The extras as always are full to overflowing, with the 40 minute doc, documentary on the life of Cubby Brocolli and the feature commentary the highlights. Also included are some vintage interviews with Connery which are interesting if not fulsome - they at least indicate Connery's reluctance to accept the role and his generosity in giving his sizeable fee to a good cause. DTS mix is an improvement on the original for sure, but I found the surround mix to be imperfect, with voices of conversations with people off screen sounding unbalanced in volume - the first time in this Ultimate series I have had anything but praise.
All in all, not Bond's finest hour, but thanks in large part to Connery, a satisfying way to spend a couple of hours of action and fun.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bond and Vegas are a perfect match, 6 Sep 2008
Diamonds Are Forever saw the welcome return of Sean Connery as 007. This was his 6th and final (official) outing in the role. Based on some elements of the original Ian Fleming novel, Bond follows a diamond smuggling 'pipeline' and goes from Amsterdam to Las Vegas, and then on to the finale on an oil rig off the coast of Southern California.
The film is rather offbeat in nature compared to more 'serious' spy stories such as 'From Russia With Love'. Still, Diamonds Are Forever, as well as having a great title song, has its classic moments, such as: the fight in the Amsterdam lift with Peter Franks, the crematorium scene, Bambi and Thumper, moutaineering up a Vegas hotel, the moon buggy chase and, of course, the leftfield (but sinisterly effective) bad guys in Mr. Kydd and Mr. Wint.
Some of the Bond purists may not appreciate this film, but for me, it's still a solid Bond movie with the usual features (glamour girl, quips, car chases, grand locations etc).
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Connery jogs on in a final wacky affair, 19 Feb 2009
Like an el nino crashing into the sea, the 70's hit 007 too hard for some peoples liking. In many respects, this is understandable - the major change of pace from O.H.M.S.S is quite brow-raising, and probably gave way to the 'fashionable' Bond era.
An often hunch-back Connery has the quite light task of discovering who's smuggling large quantities of diamonds, rather than the usual impossible task of just killing Blofelt. Yet the SPECTRE member may be closer than he thinks, as his journey takes him through a whole spectrum of bad actors, brown wallpaper, brown cars, brown clothes, brown buildings, brown plains, and of course, two fine young ladies. Who are also questionable actors.
Q's input into this mission is rather a restrained one, but given the ever changing locale and Bond's reliance on yet another different-looking Felix Lighter (who suddenly is 20 years younger and has brown hair), it would be difficult to tie him into a settlement.
This is perhaps the story 'of' the story. Unlike previous missions were he tackled warfare and global-power issues, D.A.F made itself of it's time by merely countering diamond smuggling. This leads to less action scenes, and more reliance on daft props, such as the questionable 'getaway' in a rather card-board looking Moon Buggy. The addition of the 'Two-Wierdos' is also a sign of the times as they have absolutely no relevance to the plot. This isn't to say you won't find them entertaining...
D.A.F in my eyes has never been a classic 'Bond', but as a standalone feature, its particularly fun. The stealth, tension, and male-dominance had clearly been washed out, and in its place, a much more laid back affair with enough question marks to fill a joke book.
On a product basis, the restoration as usual from this series of Bond DVD's is impeccable, and the features disc is a welcome addition, given many unfortunately don't, yet they're the same price...
Thumbs Up
- Thank god Connery packed it in after this; He was already hunching his back!
- It's fairly entertaining for a Sunday afternoon
Thumbs Down
- The film hasn't aged particularly well
- Too many anomalies and loops holes leave it feeling incomplete, or left short
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