Six Bond girls worse than Denise Richards

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Richards was simply miscast. A round-eyed Midwestern cheerleader just cannot convince as a nuclear physicist.

Not her only 'round' attributes. All hail the wonders of the surgeon's knife ...

Xmas confounds me as a character because she starts off very well and then by the time they go down into the mine she loses most of her sparkle (or glimmer) but still manages to have some good dialogue bits here and there before becoming the ending damsel/climax plot information dispensary/ending shag gal.

I vote for the gate-keeping machine-gunning pensioner from Goldfinger in this category .

And Mrs Whistler.

HGTB wrote:

Xmas confounds me as a character because she starts off very well and then by the time they go down into the mine she loses most of her sparkle (or glimmer) but still manages to have some good dialogue bits here and there before becoming the ending damsel/climax plot information dispensary/ending shag gal.

As far as secondary Bond girls go, she actually has quite a bit to do!

GF's tommy gun granny: Mrs. Whistler's second cousin...


I can agree and don't have an issue with Xmas having all the nuclear exposition so that we don't get 007 knows everything itis. I guess the shot that always bugs me is in the chair scene where she has that blank look when being restrained and then Elektra: "Take her to Renard. Pretty thing, you had her too?"

hegottheboot wrote:

GF's tommy gun granny: Mrs. Whistler's second cousin...


I can agree and don't have an issue with Xmas having all the nuclear exposition so that we don't get 007 knows everything itis. I guess the shot that always bugs me is in the chair scene where she has that blank look when being restrained and then Elektra: "Take her to Renard. Pretty thing, you had her too?"

Yes. I saw a complaint once that Bond could disarm a nuclear weapon in TSWLM but can't in TWINE... If we go down that route Blofeld met Bond in YOLT but seemingly not in OHMSS? I much prefer Bond not knowing that information because he's an intelligence officer, not a scientist. Recently read Thrilling Cities, Fleming commented about nuclear energy and how he leaves that stuff to others. Bond, I imagine, would do the same.

As for Christmas' blank look, I did notice that but it never bothered me. I'm usually more enamoured by Elektra to care about Christmas, but anyway, she provides a great counterpoint to Elektra. Bond is somewhat taken by Elektra but Christmas is a mere fuck. The look Bond gives Elektra when she walks away when they first meet compared to Bond giving Christmas the up and down after the pipeline explodes says it all. There's a cynicism behind his attitude to Christmas which I appreciate.

I attribute the removal of the detonator in TSWLM as being due to Bond knowing the inner workings of RN subs and being on refresher courses as a quasi-active Commander.
Whereas in TWINE Bond would be way out of his league in dealing with modern devices and why not ask the ever convenient IDA physicist. Not even a glimmer.

Hmm, not sure Bond would be qualified to defuse atomic missiles as a Commander...

But it's indeed a cracker scene. One of the few in TSWLM that generates genuine suspense.

Bond is omni-competent. That's just how he is. How the hell would he have known how to operate the moon buggy at a moment's notice? How would he have known so much more than Scaramanga about the technology behind his own set-up? How would he have known about the indifferently blended fine' with an overdose of bon bois? He's Bond. That's how...

I wouldn't look to DAF or TMWTGG as good examples.

Besides, the moon buggy and a nuclear device are different animals. The former looks like it could easily have 'go' and 'stop' buttons.

There's definitely less 'Bond knows everything about everything' in the latter films ... 2 examples from the Brosnan years would be his bemused expression when Natalya explains how she's using the internet to track Boris in Goldeneye and 'On second thoughts, you type' to Wai Lin when confronted with the Chinese computer keyboard in TND (despite the 'First in Oriental Languages from Cambridge' mentioned to Moneypenny in YOLT).

Amazing how in '95 a Bond girl can remotely use her computer to track the location of the villain, but Bond himself, in '06, must break into M's apartment to do similar work on only her computer.

Apparently M must perform all location fixes personally. No wonder they called a public enquiry regarding her competence only two films later.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

I wouldn't look to DAF or TMWTGG as good examples.

Besides, the moon buggy and a nuclear device are different animals. The former looks like it could easily have 'go' and 'stop' buttons.

Alright, take the space shuttle in MR. Holly assumes the reins, but Bond is an adept copilot straightaway. One would think piloting one of those things would require rather specialized training.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

I wouldn't look to DAF or TMWTGG as good examples.

Besides, the moon buggy and a nuclear device are different animals. The former looks like it could easily have 'go' and 'stop' buttons.

Alright, take the space shuttle in MR. Holly assumes the reins, but Bond is an adept copilot straightaway. One would think piloting one of those things would require rather specialized training.

Nor would I look to MR!

Give me an example from DN or FRWL.

Denise Richards is one of the few good things in this travesty of a Bond film.


Maud Adams was way worse, as was Izabella Scorupco.

Phantom Commander wrote:

Denise Richards is one of the few good things in this travesty of a Bond film.


Maud Adams was way worse, as was Izabella Scorupco.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Denise Richards is one of the few good things in this travesty of a Bond film.


Maud Adams was way worse, as was Izabella Scorupco.

I've spent far too much time watching that...

CJB wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

I think I now see the humor in her performance and in that entire role a lot more than I did twenty years ago.
I would say a broader problem for both Brosnan and Craig is that there were very little truly memorable Bond girls in there.
Probably the best of that 30 year era were all in Goldeneye?

Salomé wrote:

I think I now see the humor in her performance and in that entire role a lot more than I did twenty years ago.
I would say a broader problem for both Brosnan and Craig is that there were very little truly memorable Bond girls in there.
Probably the best of that 30 year era were all in Goldeneye?

Severine was marvelous. If she had gotten more screen time, she'd probably be my favorite Bond girl.

Vesper was very good. Not great, but very good.

Natalia is the only noteworthy Bond girl in the Broz era, and she is in the top rank.

Salomé wrote:

I think I now see the humor in her performance and in that entire role a lot more than I did twenty years ago.
I would say a broader problem for both Brosnan and Craig is that there were very little truly memorable Bond girls in there.
Probably the best of that 30 year era were all in Goldeneye?

Depends on what you mean by “memorable”. Onatopp is probably the only Bond girl from the last two eras to stand alongside other iconic Bond girls like Honey Ryder, Jill Masterson and Pussy Galore. But Natalya and Elektra for me are just as great as the more three dimensional girls like Tanya, Fiona and Tracy. Wai Lin gets a pass for being probably the only truly capable female spy and Yeoh’s presence alone edges her to something closer to an iconic Bond girl.

And yet it’s Halle Berry who is always pictured in articles alongside Honey, Pussy and Vesper.

For Craig, Vesper should have been good but she is far too schizophrenic and her emotional journey too contrived to amount to anything impactful. They were trying hard with Fields to create a classic Bond girl, but they needed to do something more original instead of rely on an homage for her death scene to stand out. As PK says, Severine is the standout and to me, is memorable in the way Tanya and Natalya are. Her scenes make for my most beloved in Skyfall.

It's interesting that Skyfall is a 21st century Bond flick, and yet Severine is very much like a 'sacrifical lamb' Bond Girl of old ... advances the plot a bit, gets nailed by Our Man then gets capped.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

It's interesting that Skyfall is a 21st century Bond flick, and yet Severine is very much like a 'sacrifical lamb' Bond Girl of old ... advances the plot a bit, gets nailed by Our Man then gets capped.

Solange and Fields too, though difference is we properly care about Severine. Helps that Skyfall has better writing than anything else in 21st century Bond.

Side note, Arterton was absolutely wasted.