Pacing of the Bond films.

FieldsMan wrote:

The only Bond films for me that drag in parts are YOLT, TSWLM, MR and to certain extents, LALD and DAF.

You just named the most slickly-paced Bond films I can think of.
Does TND 'drag' too?

Well, if I thought it did, I would have added it to the list ;)

TND I find is one of the most brisk.

TND is one I still have never gotten all the way through w/o fastforwarding (first one I missed in the theater and boy am I glad!), because regardless of how fast the action takes place, it is boring machine gun action, like COMMANDO but without the proper sense of ridiculousness.

After they escape from the building in China, up until they get to Carver's big set-piece on the waves, it is just so damned uninteresting.

There's an utterly generic movie, maybe the definitive generic action movie, from the 80s called THE SOLDIER, with Ken Wahl and I think the woman from THE KEEP. Directed by James Glickenhaus, this is nowhere near as good as his only real success, SHAKEDOWN (yep, THAT is his big winner, honest), but it is so utterly and completely generic, you just can't connect with anything except the courage of the stunt performers. Take the music out of TND and that's pretty much my take on it, THE SOLDIER for the 90s.

Having just watched it recently, FYEO may be the worst for pacing that I can think of. It always comes as a panicked shock to me after Locque's death that there's still the ATAC to retrieve, keelhauling, mountain climbing, the climax, and the duuuuuud of a comedic finale.

This is a bit of an issue in the GlenBonds in general.

FYEO does try to cram too much in, but I still have a soft spot for it. The sinking of the spyship is nicely done in particular (Medding's miniatures were superb), and as anyone who's interested in intelligence will tell you, the British (as well as the Soviets) routinely used trawlers for all sorts of illegal purposes.

DR. NO and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER are well-paced Bond films.

CASINO ROYALE, DIE ANOTHER DAY, and TOMORROW NEVER DIES might be the worst.

I'd definitely call the St. Georges sinking a high point of FYEO, it's a solid scene, and very well done.

Every one of the 80s Bonds seem to end every sequence in a way that makes it feel like the end of a TV episode, so I subconsciously feel like I should be turning it off, but then it hits that the movie's not over by a long shot. Octopussy, in particular, ends about 3 times before the credits roll.

CR's pace never bothers me, but I do have to be in the mood to commit the time; I can't turn that one off.

Awesome Pacing/Easy to get through

-Diamonds Are Forever
-The Man with the Golden Gun
-The Spy Who Loved Me
-For Your Eyes Only
-Octopussy
-A View to a Kill
-The Living Daylights
-License to Kill
-GoldenEye
-Tomorrow Never Dies
-Quantum of Solace

Halfway Decent Pacing

-From Russia with Love
-Thunderball
-Live and Let Die
-Moonraker
-The World is not Enough
-Die Another Day
-Casino Royale

Horrendously Horrible Pacing

-Dr. No
-Goldfinger
-You Only Live Twice
-On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Note: Have only seen SkyFall once, so I need to see it more times in order to determine its pacing.

I think that the pacing is pretty solid in the latest Bondmovies. The worst example of bad pacing is AVTAK. That movie is literally dragging all the way from start to finish. Such a sad way to end Moores tenure.