Once again, we’re continuing with a new James Bond list. This week, we’ll be giving our rankings of the villains’ lairs in the series–with Never Say Never Again being eligible to be included with the EON series.
So, how do you rank the Bond villain lairs?
Here’s mine:
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Blofeld’s Hollowed-Out Volcano – (Ken Adam) – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – The villain’s lair to end all villains’ lairs–inside or outside of Bond. Ken Adam’s masterpiece.
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Stromberg’s Atlantis Undersea Base – (Ken Adam) – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – Great idea and well executed rising up out of the sea and back down again. Would be the top spot in most instances if only Adam hadn’t already done the hollowed-out volcano.
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Blofeld’s Piz Gloria Clinic Hideaway – (Syd Cain) – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – Great spot for a villain’s lair. Another iconic set/setting. I’ve actually been there and it still looks a lot like it did back in 1969.
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Drax’s Space Station – (Ken Adam) – MOONRAKER – You can’t get any further out there than outer space and Adam runs wild (in a good way) with his final villain’s lair.
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Scaramanga’s Island – (Peter Murton) – THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN – Great out of the way setting for a lair. Perhaps the most picturesque of the bunch.
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Trevelyan’s Satellite Dish Bunker – (Peter Lamont) – GOLDENEYE – A nice, hidden bunker away from prying eyes. Only a man like James Bond could infiltrate it.
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No’s Crab Key Bunker – (Ken Adam) – DR. NO – The first lair set a template for all others to follow. While not having a huge budget, Adam very effectively makes the most of what he has, and it’s STILL better than most of what followed.
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Safin’s Island Bunker – (Mark Tildesley) – NO TIME TO DIE – A nice lair that is better than the movie it is in.
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Kristatos’ Clifftop Monastery – (Peter Lamont) – FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – A unique setting for a villain’s lair, but it works. Makes for a great scene with Bond scaling (and falling off) the cliff.
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Blofeld’s Meteor Crater Base – (Dennis Gassner) – SPECTRE – A bit of a tip of the cap to Adam’s hollowed-out volcano, but still very well done. I really like the idea of the base nestled in the middle of the crater. Looks great and is soooo Blofeld.
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T-S Moon’s/Graves’ Ice Palace – (Peter Lamont) – DIE ANOTHER DAY – A great idea having the villain’s lair made out of ice. Despite what some might think of the film, the ice palace looks great and is a suitable Bond villain lair.
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Kananga’s Underground Cave – (Syd Cain) – LIVE AND LET DIE – Another unique setting that is well done. Would probably be fun to ride the tram through the cave(s) if it actually existed.
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Silva’s Abandoned Island – (Dennis Gassner) – SKYFALL – A cool idea of having the villain scaring the public so much by faking a radiation leak that they flee the island, which allows him to take it over completely for himself. The biggest problem is we don’t see a lot of it.
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E. Largo’s Palmyra Estate – (Ken Adam) – THUNDERBALL – A nice, luxurious estate with two pools–one for humans and one for sharks. So Bondian.
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M. Largo’s Palmyra Fortress – (Stephen Grimes & Philip Harrison) – NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN – Like Silva’s abandoned island in Skyfall, what we see of it looks pretty good, but we don’t see a lot of it.
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Sanchez’s Olimpatec Meditation Institute Facility – (Peter Lamont) – LICENCE TO KILL – Interesting premise with a drug processing center being fronted by a televangelist-led organization.
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Elektra’s Maiden’s Tower – (Peter Lamont) – THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH – Overall, it doesn’t look like a great lair, but it is really helped by having a hidden submarine pen.
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Khan’s Monsoon Palace – (Peter Lamont) – OCTOPUSSY – I like the Monsoon Palace, but there’s not a lot of specialness there. A solid, but unspectacular lair.
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Carver’s Hamburg CMGN Headquarters Building – (Allan Cameron) – TOMORROW NEVER DIES – Chose this over the Sea Dolphin II stealth boat because it was not a vehicle. It’s also a unique villain lair that is also well-guarded and has a good Bond infiltration scene.
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Blofeld’s Oil Rig – (Ken Adam) – DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER – Chose this instead of the Whyte House because Blofeld doesn’t own the Whyte House’s penthouse while the oil rig is all his. Ultimately, the oil rig is a little underwhelming, but it’s more original than those that follow below on the list.
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Goldfinger’s Auric Enterprises Facility – (Ken Adam) – GOLDFINGER – Chose this over Auric’s Stud Farm because Bond infiltrates the facility and it seems to be more guarded than the stud farm. Includes a nice car chase as well.
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Whitaker’s Villa – (Peter Lamont) – THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS – Don’t really see a lot of this lair, but I like it better than those that are below it.
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Zorin’s Chateau – (Peter Lamont) – A VIEW TO A KILL – Chose this over Zorin’s airship because it’s not a vehicle and over Zorin’s mine because he is only going to blow that one up. Besides, Bond infiltrates the chateau stables so it gets the nod, but overall, it’s an underwhelming lair.
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Klebb’s SPECTRE Island – (Syd Cain) – FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE – Hard to choose a lair for this film. I didn’t want to choose Blofeld’s yacht since that was a boat and was more Blofeld’s place than Klebb’s anyway. You could say the same for SPECTRE Island, but Blofeld is never seen there, whereas Klebb is, and there really isn’t another spot for her to take other than her apartment that we only see in one brief scene, so SPECTRE Island it is. It’s a great concept too.
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Le Chiffre’s Barge – (Peter Lamont) – CASINO ROYALE – This time I had to go with a vehicle since Le Chiffre doesn’t have a main land base. We don’t see much of it either, so it’s toward the bottom of the barrel. However, the torture scene on the barge elevates it over the last one on this list.
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Greene’s Warehouse – (Dennis Gassner) – QUANTUM OF SOLACE – The bottom of the barrel. Like Le Chiffre, Greene doesn’t have much of a land base. Perla de las Dunas doesn’t count since he nor Quantum own it. It’s only a meeting place. That leaves his warehouse where we first see him. Nothing much happens there so last place it is.
So what are your rankings of the Bond villains’ lairs?
