Carry On
Posted on October 6th, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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If the theme songs are any indication of the quality of Bond films, obviously we already know Casino Royale is superior to its sequel. Cornell actually won an award for best original song and a Grammy nomination for that one. Speaking of Cornell, his new album release is scheduled for Election Day, which is good news for Republicans–its title is Scream.
I rather like the White Stripes but you’re right - this song sucks. On the other hand, I hated the last song too (good flick, though). Really, I don’t think there’s been a good James Bond song since “Live And Let Die” or maybe even Nancy Sinatra doing “You Only Live Twice”.
Am I the only person who remembers Alice Cooper recording a Bond song (”Man With The Golden Gun”) that they didn’t even use?
I too have a soft spot for “Live and Let Die,” especially the Guns & Roses cover.
Of course, my favorite Bond is “Moonraker” so my taste is obviously poor…
I kind of like A View to a Kill, but I’m a child of the 80s.
The instrumental title song from “The Russia With Love,” and of course personally I would rate that movie as the best of them all, closely followed by “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” My third choice is “Licence to Kill,” an underrated film and great performance by Timothy Dalton.
“Casino Royale” had some great performances, but I felt the pacing was too uneven, and the theme of Bond’s loss of humanity wasn’t always keenly established.
Bond movies are a little bit like Shakespearean sonnets, in that there’s a really demanding formalism to the effort. You’ve got to have the Villain, the Underboss, the Henchman With Distinctive Weapon, the Doomed Love Interest, the Real Love Interest, Three Locations, the Bond Car, the Bond Gadgets, Q’s Comic Scene, M’s Indignant Scene, etc etc. “Casino Royale” managed to jettison a lot of this, which I guess is fitting as they were trying to reboot the franchise.
On the other hand, that same formalism can lead to a lot of creativity. “Die Another Day” was horrible as a film, but the Henchman’s Distinctive Weapon was another Bond Car! Obvious in retrospect, but still a brilliant solution to the problem. (Also: twice as much product placement.) It also features the Villain-disguised-as-Underboss routine last seen in “Live and Let Die.” And in “The World is Not Enough” the Doomed Love Interest is also the Villain, which is another head-slappingly clever solution to the formal demands of the form.
Personally I thought “The World Is Not Enough” is a pretty good song, but Tom Jones doing “Thunderball” is way up there. And the Chemical Brothers’ remix of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” is pretty good too.
Oh! And Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time in the World,” of course.