Customer Reviews

The James Bond Collection, Volume 1

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The James Bond Gift Set" is a wonderful combination of Bond movies. The set contains "Goldfinger," "Thunderball," "Live and Let Die," "For Your Eyes Only," "Licence To Kill," "Goldeneye," and "Tommorrow Never Dies." The rest of the Bond movies will be in two different sets, the first is coming out in May 2000, the second sometime in fall 2000. For those wondering like myself before I got it there is no special intro before the movies as in for example The Star Wars Special Edition Set, but you still get exciting 007 entertainment while watching these 7 classic Bond films.

About half of the reviews I've read here at amazon.com have complained that MGM seems to have selected the movies for this set at random. I must disagree with this. They obviously wanted a variety of films, so they chose from across the board. They went with two of the most popular Sean Connery vehicles ("Goldfinger" and "Thunderball"), Roger Moore's first ("Live and Let Die") and his most widely acclaimed ("For Your Eyes Only"), Timothy Dalton's better outing ("License to Kill") and Pierce Brosnan's two films: "Goldneye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies." (They excluded the recently released "The World Is Not Enough" for obvious reasons.) Although I must admit that I would rather own a set that had gone in chronological order and contained all 6 Connery outings and George Lazenby's very good (though underrated) "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," I am very happy with the set that MGM did come up with. "Goldfinger" is the best of the Bond flicks, and I truly enjoy "Thunderball," "For Your Eyes Only," and "Goldeneye." (I haven't yet seen "Live and Let Die.") I can't figure out why "Goldeneye" has received so much criticism while it's greatly inferior, semi-plotless predecessor ("Tomorrow Never Dies") is hailed as the best Brosnan film. In any case, other than "TND," this is a great set. Buy it and get the others that follow. Sean Connery enthusiasts should be pleased to learn that the final set contains three of his films, including "From Russia with Love." Enjoy this set, and many thanks to MGM for putting it out there for us.

I have just purchased the 7 DVD gift set and am amazed at the overall quality and extras that they contain. The menu screens are fantastic and the picture quality is amazing. Many of these DVD's have been remastered using THX, this is not noted on the actual covers. MGM has chosen to release the DVD's in three waves. The first set has been released, the second and third sets will be released next year covering the entire series. There have been many complaints about Disney's DVD box set and the fact that it contains no supplementary material. The James Bond Gift set contains so many extra's that it becomes almost daunting. There are various Behind the scenes stills, Active storyboard sequences, music videos, Documentaries, Original radio interviews, 007 featurettes, Digital effects reels. Every one of these DVD's has a newly created widescreen master for optimal picture and sound quality. BUY IT!

This is a god set for collectors with an attractive box and good variety of Bond films. The only thing it lacks is George Lazernby. This set has all of the Bonds except him. All of the movies have their own flavor and level of action. The Bonds are all diferent as well. Sean Connery being the rough and cool secret agent with all the right moves. Roger Moore being the more romantic and wittier. Timothy Daulton being the roughest of the Bonds with a more ruthless edge. Pierce Brosnan possibly being the best Bond with the ruggedness of Connery and the witt of Moore. All of the Bonds are great, but it still could have had George Lazernby.

When the world is threatened by evil organizations, only Ian Fleming`s James Bond 007 can save world and be back in time to watch the super station.

This set contains:
Goldfinger
Thunderball
Live and Let Die
For Your Eyes Only
Licence to Kill
GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies

It's hard to argue with anything Bond (except Never Say Never Again, of course). I don't even mind the campiness of Diamonds Are Forever.

The set is great - it's nice to see Bond in a way that reminds us of the theater experience. I have owned every Bond film on VHS - even Casino Royale. It was a tough decision to upgrade. But the DVD version is worth it. I think they have done a very good job with the quality of the transfer and the extras are kinda nice too.

The one problem (and the only reason to give it four stars) is the randomness of the selections. This set isn't chronological; it isn't a best of; they aren't separated by actor; it isn't done by box office receipts (box office is a bad way to judge good Bond). So what is it? How did they choose? What do they call the next set - Random Bond Sampler II?

It seems that this type of a set should include On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

For the afficianado, it doesn't matter. He/she would acquire all of them anyway. (And there isn't one in here you wouldn't want to own.) So I think the math works out so that buying the set is cheaper.

The problem is for the uninitiated. This really isn't even a starter set, for of course that would include Dr. No. If you are looking to spend big bucks or this is a gift - no disappointment. But it's kind of a big chunk all at once.

I would recommend doing it this way: Start with Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only, and Tomorrow Never Dies. After that, if you become a true Bond addict like me, read on.

Next, you want to pick up the rest of the early Connery's: Dr. No (the film that started a revolution), From Russia With Love (my personal favorite), and Thunderball (absolutely fantastic - and gives great SPECTRE). Also, Goldeneye is excellent, and Brosnan is a great Bond. For the Moore's: Spy Who Loved Me is second best, and after that Live and Let Die (Moore's first), and Moonraker (which is quite good despite the silly space laser stuff).

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is probably the most underrated Bond (despite a glaring plot hole - Blofeld doesn't recognize Bond even though they met in the movie before - which isn't too bad if you don't think about it). It is also one of my favorites

I think the Dalton's are very good. More spy stuff than big explosions, which I like. Cute Bond girls too. Dalton is rougher and has difficulty with the comic timing, but effective as a spy. Of the two, License to Kill is better. A very nice break from the "I want to rule the world" villians.

For the rest: I think it is personal preference. You Only Live Twice has the worst special effects of all, but has some of the best Moneypenny/Bond chemistry and a great opening sequence. However it is not true to one of the best of the Bond books. It was replaced by a rather flimsy plot penned by Roald Dahl, of all people. Diamonds are Forever is kind of an anomaly. Connery returns to go to - Vegas? However, don't miss Bambi and Thumper. Watch it - you'll understand. View to a Kill is good but suffers from bad fashion and my least favorite Bond girl - Tanya Roberts (beautiful, but a petroleum engineer?). Grace Jones, as Mayday, is great. This also has one of Moore's best lines. Moore, who's been out spying, can not get back into his bedroom, because Walken, the bad guy, and Mayday are inspecting his room. So he sneaks into Mayday's bed. When she returns . . . you get the idea. While talking to Bond the next morning, Walken asks him if he slept well. Bond responds, "It was a little rough, but I got off eventually." Classic Moore. Man With the Golden Gun, one of the best books, along with Octopussy are the worst of the series, but still watchable for an addict like me.

There you go.

You'll notice the Bond box sets are out of print and selling at astronomically high prices here. DON'T BUY THEM! The entire set is being re-issued in October, 2002 and you'll be able to buy on Amazon.Com for less than [price]. Unless you like to overpay just wait. These DVDs are a must for any serious Bond fan, but not at these prices.

The James Bond 007 Collection on DVD is something ALL fans MUST have! The films transfers are beautiful! The extra features are so cool! This is the best Bond set of the three, due to the wide variety of different films. I don't care if the films aren't in correct order (as I said in my reveiw of James Bond 007 Colllection Volume 2). Thus, this boxed set is a very interesting mixed bag of different Bond actors. Personally, my favorite would have to be Roger Moore. My least favorite? Without any thought, surely Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan's a great actor, but just can't do Bond to well. He's also to Pretty for me. Bond's sopposed to be tough. Well, Brosnan's NOT! But, it's nice to have his two films in this set. The World Is Not Enough is an OK entry, but II consider it a plus it isn't in here. Anyway, you get seven very good Bond films on EXCELLENT DVDs! The first is Goldfinger, directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Sean Connery as Bond. In this film, Bond must go after Auric Goldfinger, because he's smuggling gold. He comes in contact with three gorgeous woman, Jill Masterson (the golden girl), Tilly Masterson, her sister out for revenge because Goldfinger had her killed, and Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman), who's tough as nails and doesn't mind getting in a fight with Bond. Goldfinger's a great Bond film. It was the first Bond to introduce to us lots of cool gadgets and gags (watch out for the Aston Martin DB5), and was the first blockbuster hit of the series. It was followed by another blockbuster mega hit, Thunderball, directed by Terence Young and also starring Sean Connery. In Thunderball, Bond goes after Largo, an evil badboy who is planning to bomb Miami! Bond races against time to try and stop him. Full of spectacular underwater action sequences and tons of cool gadgets, Thunderball ends up being one of the best of the series. The next Bond film in the set is Live And Let Die, directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Roger Moore in his first role as Bond. In this film, Bond must fight psychotic villian Kananga (Yaphet Kotto, Alien, Freddy's Dead The Final Nightmare) who's planning to make lots of money off shipments of heroin. In this film, Bond seduces psychic Solitaire (Jane Seymour), who's powers depend on her keeping her virginity. Live And Let Die is a good, not great, entry. Some scenes are exciting, but some special effects WAY to fake (watch out for Mr. Kotto turning into a big rubber guy and popping). The next film is another Roger Moore one, For Your Eyes Only, directed by John Glen. In this exciting entry, Bond is faced with a sunken ship. He must find the device it was carrying, the ATAC, which can encode bombings anywher, anytime. Bond teams up with Melinda Havelock (Carole Bouquet) who's out for revenge because her parents were killed. This is a good entry, with some interesting twists in the plot. The next entry in this set is the very violent Licence To Kill, directed by John Glen and starring Timothy Dalton in his final role as Bond. Licence To Kill is hard edged, almost completely humorless entry, with lots of violence and gore, and a very different plot from other Bond films. Bond is enraged when he finds his best freind, Felix Lieter (David Hedison, Live And Let Die, The Fly), chewed up by a shark, and his bride murdered. Bond goes on a personal vendetta, quitting the british secret serivce and heading out to find drug dealer Sanchez (Robert Davi, Die Hard) and murder him. Licence To Kill is an interesting Bond picture, although it's a surprise that it got away with a "PG-13" rating. It really deserved an "R". The next film is Goldeneye, directed by Martin Campbell and starrin Peirce Brosnan in his first outing as 007. Here, Bond's out to stop 006, Alec Trevelyn (Sean Bean) from blowing up London and collecting all money from the banks (by computer). This is an OK film, not the best. There's some cool stunts, but the one near the beggining where Bond rides off a cliff on a motorcycle and proceeds to (without a parachute) climb onto a falling plane is so laughably unrealistic you may have less of a good time the rest of the movie. The last film in this set is the weak Tommorow Never Dies, directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Peirce Brosnan again. In this film, propably the worst in the whole set, Bond goes after media magnate Elliot Carver (Johnathan Price) who plans to (surprise, surprise) blow up London with a gigantic missile. So, Bond teams up with dull Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) to stop him. Unfortunately, this entry relies to much on a bunch of shooting and gun fights, but you NEVER feel like Bond is in any danger. The ending, where Bond walks around like The Termonator and shoots every bad guy in sight, is clumsily executed. Bond's not exciting unless he's in danger, but Brosnan plays him like an invincible man who won't die or ever get hurt. A shame. Still, this entry does have it's high points, such as Teri Hatcher in the role of Carver's wife, Paris.

Now, this boxed set is very full of extras. Each film has at least one commentary (there's two on Goldfinger, Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only, Licence To Kill, Goldeneye, and Tommorow Never Dies, I beleive) and this is what makes this set the best of the three. Two commentaries. Cool! And, there's documentaries for each movie (sometimes one, sometimes two), as well as several theatrical trailers and TV spots. There's also radio spots among other things like still gallery and music videos on the more recent James Bond films. Each film is presented with gorgeous picture and sound quality (people complaining about mono, LIVE WITH IT!!). Each film is properly presented in correct widescreen format, and you can also change languages to french, and there's english, french, and spanish subtitles.
They all come with a collectible booklet as well, and you may be able to make valuable savings with things also offered with it.

All in all, great set! This is my favorigte boxed set of the three, but I'd also recommend Collection Volume 2 and 3.

If you found my reveiw helpful, please vote for me, thank you!

This set offers a wide variety of Bond movies. When browsing through the interactive menu, a viewer will immediatly get drawn to the fascinating special features, documentaries and satisfaction of having the movie in great quality. Every actor that ever played James Bond is included (except George Lazenby) and this gives great variety. I loved the movies simply because I love James Bond movies. The directing, special effects are great and it is a very satisfying to be able to watch the older Bond movies in cinema quality. This is the reason why the DVD package is so much more worthwhile than the VHS version. All of the titles are filled with suspense, action, romance, espianage and everything else one can think off. The James Bond Gift Set is a perfect gift for James Bond lovers but also a good buy for the average viewer who likes action, lots of special affects and stunts.

What more could you ask for? Finally you can stop searching for each individual movie, wasting time looking for a single video, when you can have them all. I was always confused about which James Bond film came first. But now I know, now that I got all three volumes, I know which one comes first and last. The older films are better, though.

Here's how I would rate each one (from oldest to newest):

1.Goldfinger ***1/2 (1964) 2.Thunderball ***1/2 (1965) 3.Live and Let Die *** (1973) 4.For Your Eyes Only *** (1981) 5.Licence to Kill **** (1989) 6.GoldenEye ***1/2 (1995) 7.Tomorrow Never Dies **1/2 (1997)

Eventhough I have said the oldest were the better, I still think of 'Licence to Kill' as my favorite Bond Film. It's just that there are more older films that are better than new films. I gave 'Tomorrow Never Dies' **1/2 because it wasn't as good as GoldenEye and it looked like it was saying "Bond films are going to be bad, starting from there".