Thursday, July 19, 2012

Man with the Golden Gun, The (1974)


Good lord, what a stinker. The Man with the Golden Gun has an interesting premise, Christopher Lee as the villain, and polished production values (a bit cartooned up--goddamn you slide whistle!), but it ultimately falls flat due to an uninspired script, a poorly developed characterization of Bond (agitated further by Roger Moore), and the dreadful Mary Goodnight. I enjoyed the Asian setting (China and Bangkok), but there's definitely some subdued racism going on there, particularly with the character of JW (why the HELL did they bring him back?). Bond is no stranger to women or being a brute, but he usually has more finesse than this. All he does in this is crack lame jokes, gallivant around with women, and beat the pants off people for information. It's like they forced the animalistic nature of Sean Connery's Bond onto Roger Moore, and it is just unbearable. Which is probably the best word to describe the film as a whole.

4/10

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