Pretty Good

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

James Bond (Roger Moore) is led to believe that he is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin (Christopher Lee) while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.The highs and lows of this film. The high is the casting of Christopher Lee, who always makes a good villain, and it is wonderful that he was able to be part of the Bond franchise. The low is the crappy theme, which some have said is the worst in the entire series. Worst or not, it is far from good. Somewhat redeeming it is the track called "Hip's Trip", which was later memorialized by the Prodigy in their song "Minefields".While already a good film, it probably grew in stature following the video game "GoldenEye", as it really made the golden gun part of popular culture. Those who have never seen the movie know that one shot from the golden gun... and you are dead.

*Sigh* I know. You all must think I hate Roger Moore as Bond. I don't. He is capable as James Bond and when he and the script get it completely right, like with The Spy Who Loved Me, he can pull off his sense of humor very well. It's just that most of the movies he has been in really are quite bad. Actually, this one isn't as crappy as many of the others; I would rank it third behind The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. It still is quite mediocre.In this one, Bond is investigating a plot by the villain Francisco Scaramanga (the awesome Christopher Lee), who personally wants to kill him. Along the way, he tries to avoid sleeping with the pretty hot, but pretty useless Mary Goodnight (Why did the Moore films have most of the dumbest Bond girl names in the franchise?), gets into a car chase with the annoying Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) from the previous film, Live and Let Die, in the passenger seat and the famous "slide whistle" car spin, gets put into a martial arts school (don't ask), and makes out with Scaramanga's girlfriend (Maude Adams), who wants Bond to put him down.Christopher Lee is the actor I love watching most in the movie. He does not have a bad line or moment. He's just the absolute king here. The sad thing is, besides killing Bond, his plot isn't that much to care about. He merely wants to use a certain device to control solar power, its prices, and who gets it. It's not really a threatening plot. Like with the heroin in Live and Let Die, not everyone uses solar power. Plus, what is he going to do with the money? He seems to have a content life just challenging people to death matches with his one-bullet golden gun. Look, I'm fine with Bond villain schemes that aren't about taking over the world. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have liked films like Casino Royale and Skyfall so much. For them to work, though, a personal scheme has to hurt a lot of people for it to be a major concern, and really, the only people who will be affected by this scheme are the really rich guys that actually have solar power and the people who are targets for personal assassinations that Scaramanga gets payed for.Moore is better as Bond here, and doesn't calculate his performance so much. When he tries to be cold, however, like when he interrogates Scaramanga's girlfriend, he isn't very organic. Connery would have brought more brute strength and cold-hearted lust to it, considering that his version of Bond seems to be quite at home with moments like this. Britt Ekland as Goodnight does not do a very good job and is probably the worst actor in the film. She's pretty hot, like many of the Moore Bond girls, but useless and when Bond is trying to recover that solar power device, she almost gets him killed or seriously injured. One other character here is a smaller person named Nick Nack who serves Scaramanga. I don't understand what he wants, and besides that, he's also quite annoying. The most confounding moment is when he tells Bond that he'll inherit everything from Scaramanga if he kills him. Wasn't Nick Nack supposed to be Scaramanga's friend? But it turns out that he was still loyal to Scaramanga as he tries to kill Bond after he has sex with Goodnight. It's just confusing.Besides that, some of the action is fun, although the whole situation with the martial arts school has no purpose, and Moore's improved performance certainly helps, but the uninteresting secondary scheme of the villain and the goofy bits that seem to be a trademark of most of the Moore films don't. Bottom line, The Man With the Golden Gun has its moments, but it is very average.

The Man with the Golden Gun is a great movie with a reasonably well developed plot and a talented cast. It stands out from other Bonds as being one of the only ones where the villain really steals the spotlight. Christopher Lee is outstanding as Scaramanga, both charismatic and thrilling. Moore brings in incredibly witty dialogue and his scenes with Lee are the films highlight.There is a large lack of gadgets, which I found to be the weakest factor. I find the new machinery to be one of the funnest and most unique aspects of every Bond film, and not bringing in any this time around left me underwhelmed.The story is also extremely by the numbers, there is no plot point that is unexpected or exciting, it feels as if it's all going through the motions.More so than the action, the performances are what stand out in The Man with the Golden Gun, and I feel that is the main thing that makes it a worthwhile watch, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good adventure film. Bond searches for a missing solar device and finds himself the target of a dastardly assassin. Best Performance: Christopher Lee

This Bond movie contains an untempered flow of obscenities and sexual content, much more than the average accepted tone of the figure. There is at least a sexual innuendo every two minutes in this movie. Apart that action is bit above the previous Bond. Scenery is great. Of course the plot contains its share of inconsistencies, such as when the villain acquires an industrial empire just by killing it's previous owner ... The villain has a very small staff this time. The intro and conclusion scenes are great. And the whole plot is scientifically half-believable, which is an improvement over the average Bond's. I would definitely not recommend this movie for family viewing but it's not the worst in its genre.