Customer Reviews

The James Bond Collection, Vol. 3 (Special Edition)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With the exception of Diamonds Are Forever, there really hasn't been a Bond that wasn't at least a lot of fun:

THUNDERBALL: Probably Connery's best performance as Bond. This one is "more Bond than Bond" and it works very hard to please and mostly succeeds. The final underwater battle could be trimmed a bit.

OHMSS: Okay, this is the greatest Bond movie ever. It is the only one that could really be called "epic." Sure, the other movies are huge, but this one feels epic. Lazenby is the most physical Bond and in many ways the most likeable. The scene where he loses his wife at the end is one of the best Bond moments ever.

LIVE AND LET DIE: This movie suffers from Diamonds-are-forever syndrome. LALD is big and exotic but it feels static (like DIAMONDS before it). However, Roger Moore's introduction as Bond is funny and sets the tone for his interpretation thereafter. Yaphet Kotto and his henchmen all make terrific villains, too (especially Tee Hee).

VIEW TO A KILL: This is more "classic Bond" than some are willing to admit. It is a lean, no-gadgets movie that is, in the best tradition of Moore, witty, exciting and stylish. It is also the only Bond to film in America (San Francisco) and actually make good use of its American locations. A fine swan song for Roger Moore's 007.

OCTOPUSSY: Very cold war. This movie also dishes up the most bizarre imagery since YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. The beginning gives us a clown being chased by twin knife throwers deep inside the Eastern Bloc. This movie owes more to Indiana Jones than other Bonds and it is a lot of fun for it. Definitely a top notch Bond.

DIE ANOTHER DAY: Brosnan is great as Bond (though he doesn't actually make a likeable Bond). This movie is very huge and there is a lot to like. But owing to its hugeness (and the fact that the Brosnan Bonds no longer have the great creative stable of writers Michael Wilson and Richard Maibaum and director John Glen) it is an uneven movie. The Bonds keep getting bigger but that may not ultimately work in their favor. Still, this movie tries hard and the results are mostly enjoyable.

So ... this isn't a rummage sale of okay Bonds. There's good stuff here. Lots of fun to be had and a collection that is worth the price of admission.

When the dts-remastered versions of all the Bond films come out in 2005 with more features? They're being remastered right now.

Ever wonder why Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough, good DVDs as they are, didn't include deleted/extended/alternate scenes? Probably because they're part of the rereleases.

I bought this box set as a birthday present for a friend who is hard of hearing, thinking that he could use the closed caption option.

I was shocked to find that all the DVD's in all of the James Bond boxed sets are NOT closed captioned in English!
They are only closed captioned in French and Spanish.

How can they sell these these DVDs in the USA, label them as "closed captioned" and not state on the box that they are NOT closed captioned in English?

I thought the purpose of breaking up these Bond DVDs into seemingly random volume collections was so that the lesser Bond films wouldn't be stuck in a box together. However, that's just what they ended up doing with this set.

The two greats here are Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Thunderball shows Bond mania at the top of its game, and while the underwater sequences are dragged out, this is still essential Bond. And say what you will about Lazenby, but OHMSS has story, heart, as well as action and beautiful girls. It's one of the most original films in the series.

Not to dump on Roger Moore, but unfortunately the stinkers in this set are all from him. Live and Let Die, for its occasionally quirkiness, is stil sub-par. Octopussy starts out promising but quickly becomes too convoluted for its own good. And only a good theme song and the appearance of Christopher Walken make A View to a Kill watchable.

And Die Another Day? Whether it's good or not isn't the point. Chances are most Bond fans already snagged their copy when the DVD arrived in stores earlier this year. Instead of releasing this set at the same time, MGM wants you to buy the disc again.

This set is for die-hard fans only. The great extras on these discs don't compensate for sub-par Bond movies and a bad marketing maneuver. Get Thunderball and OHMSS seperately.

Anticipating a wonderful boxed set to complete my Bond Collection. I got the first collection for Christmas last year, and now the remaining Bond films will be available. I have really enjoyed the quality of the DVD's -- each entry menu is intriguingly cool and greets you in an interesting new way. The films are very well restored, and when you watch the trailers, you can really tell the difference. Remember that together these films span 40 years!

Although this set of 007 films include some of the less popular ones, I liked Octopussy with it's bad old cold war days plot and locations. Also liked Die Another Day, with it's fresh gadgets. Be warned, though that in this collection Die Another Day probably won't have all the special feautures of the 2 disc version sold by itself. Anyway, it is a good movie -- Brosnan is really "bonding" to his role and Halle Berry is welcome to share the screen anytime! And a View to a Kill is one I haven't seen in a very long time, with Roger Moore, Tanya Roberts and bizzare Christopher Walken. This set will finish the collection with the 7 solid entrants from part 1 (Blue Box), but is generally not as packed as set #2.

Another tip -- MGM/UA is releasing 20 bond films in these sets. But if you want to be thorough, see Sean Connery's finale "Never Say Never Again" (from a Rival Studio) and maybe even get the 007 spoof "Casino Royale". That will finish the entire James Bond collection. Athough many people disparage it, I grabbed Never Say Never for a few bucks at a local mart, and it does have Kim Basinger!!

I have all three of these original sets. They're fine. I also have all of the Ultimate Edition sets. They're better. If you're an Bond fan, you'll like both. If you're trying to test the limits of your home theater, get the Ultimate Edition, or wait for it to be re-released a third time on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. (whichever one finally wins that battle)

Don't buy this set! My comments have nothing to do with the movies. I love all of the Bond movies, but this set is an absolute RIP OFF!!!! I have purchased all 3 sets in this collection, and have bought the Volumes 1 & 2 in the Ultimate Editions (UE'S). After watching the 1960's quality of the volumes in this set and the amazing restoration of the movies in the Ultimate Editions, not to mention the great special features, I can say BUY THE ULTIMATE EDITIONS. For crying out loud you can almost buy all 4 sets of the UE's brand new for the same price volume 3 will cost you used in this collection. I wonder if these reviews here saying this is a "MUST HAVE SET" isn't written buy those who are trying to rip you off selling this at $188. In addition to the poor picture and sound quality in this collection, my copy of "A View to a Kill" had a tiny blemish on the disk causing it to skip like 2 min. of the movie. Of Course, no reply from MGM when I tried to contact them. Anyway, BUY THE ULTIMATE EDITIONS!!!

An overall good set, the movies are a must for any true Bond fan. DO NOT pay $250 for the set. I bought all the movies in the set separately and paid right around $160. I don't know who these yahoos are trying to sell these sets for that much.

In THUNDERBALL 007's Astin Martin DB5 returns and so do the evil forces of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. In his fourth film Sean Connery is self-assured, inimitably virile and an infallible James Bond. Adolfo Celi as Emilio Largo devises and implements a plan that ultimately draws 007 to the Bahamas in search of a missing Vulcan jet lost on a NATO training sortie. This is a lavish Bond film where most of the action takes place underwater. What makes the film very memorable is John Barry's rich and esoteric score combined with Lamar Boren's beautiful and picturesque underwater photography. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is the one film closest to any of Ian Fleming's Bond novels. George Lazenby, possessing the physique and physical attributes that fit the role, gives a visually striking and straightforward performance in his only appearance as James Bond. The combined efforts of all the filmmakers and Lazenby's performance of a James Bond with conviction, assuredness and determination make this a definitive James Bond film. The film has a sense of undeniable drive behind it accentuated by Lazenby's no-nonsense approach and the urgency of John Barry's instrumental theme used repeatedly to never let up the pace. There are intensely choreographed fights of great ferocity, exciting and incredible ski chases, car chases, an alpine battle atop an ice-capped peak and an extraordinary thrilling bobsled chase. There is more action, suspense and emotion packed into this film than any other in the series. LIVE AND LET DIE is the one film in the James Bond series that stands out from the rest. This is Roger Moore's first film as James Bond. If you examine this film you will see that Bond is no perfunctory agent. He dispenses lethal doses of vengeful comeuppance with his urbane charm. The film's lighter approach under Guy Hamilton's direction actually makes many of the scenes of violent and contorted death more palatable. On closer examination this film is a highly stylized piece of action filled nonsense that delivers outrageous thrills, characters, dialogue and humor in a well-choreographed non-stop bit of filmmaking. OCTOPUSSY is a rare gem of the series. It falls somewhere between the style of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY and MOONRAKER and in some scenes even hearkens back to the subtly of GOLDFINGER. The scenes with M, Q and Moneypenny and even the confrontations with Louis Jourdan as Kamal are reminiscent of earlier days. Elements of the script go back to Fleming's short stories: "The Property of a Lady" and "Octopussy." The suspenseful and awe-inspiring pre-credit sequence is one of the best, highlighted with John Barry's pure Bondian score. Barry also did a fine job scoring the scenes involving the Soviets, which embodied an eastern block flavor reminiscent of the cold war. Roger Moore goes through his paces for queen and country and will not be deterred until the villain is vanquished, but he does it in such gentlemanly fashion that it continues to hit a chord with many viewers earning him continued acceptance. OCTOPUSSY is one of the most underrated films in the series as it brought true substance to the character of James Bond. In A VIEW TO A KILL your heart kind of went out for Roger. John Barry's score is somewhat sentimentally romantic with a tinge of melancholy conceivably out of respect for Roger. The one image that remains with me from this film is when Bond carries Stacey on his back climbing down the fire truck ladder rescuing her from the burning City Hall. As corny as that scene may have looked it hearkened back to a time in films when heroes really were heroes. Christopher Walken gives a brilliant performance as the aloof and psychotic Max Zorin, a steroid child of Nazi experimentation. You really want to see him get his comeuppance. A VIEW TO A KILL is a mixture of the 80's craziness and a feeling of melancholy for what once was. It's nostalgic Bond and imaginative filmmaking. DIE ANOTHER DAY is very good and we see James Bond get involved in and out of some situations we thought we would never see on the screen. Not since ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH have we seen this amount of engaging insight into the psyche of James Bond. True to the best films in the series, Bond is not infallible but he is resourceful and loyal and will not be deterred from seeing duty and justice served. The second hour reverts to the superhero version of Bond this time aided by gadgets and computer generated effects that defy all credibility. Toby Stephens gave an excellent performance as the villain Gustav Graves. Halle Berry as Jinx was adequate as a Bond girl. John Cleese as the new Quartermaster looked more at home than many of the other regulars. I suppose Cleese has some of the best lines in this film. Even though his scene is brief it does make a lasting impression. Madonna's cameo as Verity the fencing coach was a pleasant surprise. Also, her main title song went appropriately well with the film's opening. As for David Arnold's score, it continues to emulate John Barry's style but contains a good deal more of the composer's own creating a hybrid sound. You have to give Arnold credit for that. Arnold does seem to demonstrate moments of brilliance especially in his love scene compositions but he should follow the rule of "less is more" when it comes to scoring the action scenes.

My dad just loves James Bond. We decided to buy him this set for a gift. He was so excited when he opened it. Great movie collection!