Wednesday, November 21, 2012

BOND MONTH: Best/Worst Bond Girls


Now we come to probably the most popular topic of discussion when talking about the Bond movies; the Bond girls. Who were the best leading ladies that graced the screen alongside the likes of Sean Connery and Daniel Craig? We'll get to those later, but first let's get the worst Bond girls out of the way. Going a bit shorter than before with only a Top 4 of the worst Bond girls in franchise history.

 


4. Jinx (Halle Berry) (Die Another Day)


 


For the record, I do think Halle Berry is a very good actress when given the right material. Can't say she really fits for a Bond movie, though. To simply put it, she uses a 'your mama' comeback in the film. Yes, a 'Your Mama' joke in a James Bond movie. Need I say more?



3. Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) (The Man with the Golden Gun)

 


So you take one of Bond's secretaries from the Ian Fleming novels and reduce her to being a damsel in distress and give her nothing to do except go around in a bikini? That's what they did in this film and you can see how bad of an idea this was.



2. Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) (The World is Not Enough)

 


A Bond girl who has certainly graced many of the 'worst Bond girls' list, usually named the worst Bond girl of all time. But, I don't think she was that bad. Compared to the next Bond girl on this list, she at least helped Bond occasionally although that's still not saying much. Really, this was just a case of miscasting.



1. Stacey Sutton (Tanya Roberts) (A View to a Kill)

 


Compared to Jones, Sutton was just a straight-up damsel in distress. I literally can't remember if she ever helped Bond once throughout the entire movie. She was just there to be saved by him all the time. Should I also mention that at the time this came out, Roger Moore was even older than Roberts' mother at this point? Moore was already too old to begin with, but that alone should have been a clear warning sign for the filmmakers at this point.



And now, the Top 5 Best Bond Girls of all time...



5. Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) (Goldfinger)

 


Probably the most famous Bond girl ever, and easily the one who has attracted the most controversy solely because of her name. Her name was almost changed just because the filmmakers were concerned about the censors. Still, even with that ridiculous name, she was one of the classiest Bond girls to have ever graced the screen alongside 007.



4. Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) (Tomorrow Never Dies)

 


While she wasn't the first Bond Girl to do so, Yeoh's Wai Lin is one of the few Bond girls who can rival Bond as a secret agent. In fact, Wai Lin might even be Bond's superior. She doesn't even really need 007 because she is very much capable of taking care of herself.



3. Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) (The Spy who Loved Me)

 


Like Wai Lin, Agent XXX is in every way Bond's equal. What makes her superior to Wai Lin is her own revenge storyline when she learns that Bond had killed her lover (during the opening sequence of the film), which creates some great romantic tension between them. Of course, like any great Bond girl, Bach has terrific chemistry with the leading Bond of the film, in this case Roger Moore.



2. Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) (Casino Royale)

 


Vesper is one of two Bond girls who ever stole the heart of '007', and probably the most complex Bond girl to date. When it is discovered that she betrayed him, it not only destroys Bond on a mental level, it drives him throughout 'Quantum of Solace' because he did truly love her. On top of that, Green has fantastic chemistry with Craig.



1. Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) (On Her Majesty's Secret Service)

 


It takes a special girl to not only be the love interest of Bond in a Bond movie, but to also be the only one he ever popped the question to. That honor belongs to Diana Rigg's Tracy, and while it's sadly true that their relationship ends on a tragic note, the film took its time to build up their relationship just to break our hearts when it ends. That final scene is not only the saddest moment in any Bond film, but one of the saddest moments ever put on film.



NEXT UP: MY TOP 5 WORST BOND FILMS OF ALL TIME

No comments:

Post a Comment