Best non-Bond Bond-type movies?

[Kevin Roegele]

I find the first two Mission: Impossible flicks to be superior to the Bond movies of the same period (i.e. the Brosnan films), certainly in terms of stunts, action and style.

The Jason Borne films are, along with Batman Begins, a big influence on EON's decision to make Bond more real in Casino Royale.

One awesome hi-tech espionage thriller is So Close from Hong Kong. The director, Corey Yuen, deserves to helm a Bond movie, and the star Shu Qi would be perfect as a Bond girl.

There were a tidal wave of Bond cash-in movies in the 60's, most of which were crap. But it did lead to The Man from UNCLE, which surely will be a big film franchise sooner or later.

 

[livrule]

Good points.

I KNOW MI2 gets lots of abuse around this site but the final 40 minutes are pure gold imo.

 

[SpyderDan]

I've only seen the second Mission: Impossible and thought it was horrible. Aside from the obvious GE element (rogue agent turned villain), it was just boring and overbearing.

 

[Movies205]

THis is my review from a year ago or so... But in the end I haven't seen MI2 since it came out in theaters so I can't comment... BUt I take Goldeneye and Tommorrow Never Dies over MI1... Mission Impossible over World is not enough and Die Another Day. Bourne Supramacy is okay, it feels mostly like filler and isn't even about Jason BOurne. I haven't seen Bourne Idenity yet... To be honest all the films have kind of been hit or miss... I'd take Spy Games over all these movies, it has substance and style

Mission Impossible
Directed by Brian De Palma
Rating: 6.5/10

This film to me had no real substance or character dept. There is nothing here about the main character Ethan Hunt, all of the actors have really nothing to work with and seem to be going through the motions. Brian De Palma's direction is what keeps this movie a float, the thing about Brian De Palma is he's a master at his craft but he hasn't evolved at all in his whole career as a film maker so all his films seem to come off as hollow since there not really dept to them other than fine editing, cinematography, and all the things that make a movie look good(I haven't seen the Untouchables yet). And this movie is no different, the movie visually looks great, the editing is great, the pacing is fine, music is on que, cinematography is great, all the stuff that makes a movie look good is there but there's no heart or soul to this film. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, the movie is far too short which lends itself to an over-simplified script which leads to the waste of Jon Voight, Jean Reno, and Ving Rhames. Like I said the script gives absolutely nothing for the actors to chomp on most of the lines go like "We have to do this and that to get this" to me this movie would of been far better if they had added some character development. Also I like how De Palma tried to keep the mood of the TV show in tact but sometimes it came off way too cheezy. But over-all I have to say the movie is very well made but it has no heart or dept which is what really kills it so it feels very hollow. I'd go with Goldeneye, if you want to see a spy movie rather than this.

Date watched July 9th, 2005

 

[DACrowe]

Try The Matador. Brosnan's best performance, ever. And it is just a really funny movie.

Seriously, I'd say Spy Game was really good.

 

[Movies205]

Try The Matador. Brosnan's best performance, ever. And it is just a really funny movie.

Seriously, I'd say Spy Game was really good.

Matador... sooooo Goood and heartfelt. That's not really a spy movie perse, it's really about people and characters, and when does any spy film have good character development

 

[hammerhedd11]

I find the first two Mission: Impossible flicks to be superior to the Bond movies of the same period (i.e. the Brosnan films), certainly in terms of stunts, action and style.

The Jason Borne films are, along with Batman Begins, a big influence on EON's decision to make Bond more real in Casino Royale.

One awesome hi-tech espionage thriller is So Close from Hong Kong. The director, Corey Yuen, deserves to helm a Bond movie, and the star Shu Qi would be perfect as a Bond girl.

There were a tidal wave of Bond cash-in movies in the 60's, most of which were crap. But it did lead to The Man from UNCLE, which surely will be a big film franchise sooner or later.

I agree on that one.