The World, it is said, is not enough and, bored by lockdown, it appears that villainous in-fighting has broken out to such an extent that things have to be settled between the Bond villains.
Accordingly, fate brings forth a series of 12 deathmatches, villain v villain – and you determine who wins, simply by voting for your favourite.
Winner goes through to the next round, loser receives a small funeral service with only pirhanas and a few tearful jumpsuited goons in attendance.
Picking the first round of matches at random from names drawn from the Covid-19 face-covering Mrs Jim has ordered for me (a bucket), there are some interesting encounters and some potential first round giantkillings and clashes of titans (and Titans! Will! Clash!, apparently).
Yes, I know some are tag-teams (eg Whitaker & Koskov) but this is only for giggles, they are fictional and – ultimately – are two heads better than one?
Will cast my eye over the bloodstrewn battlefields in a week from now. Any ties will be administered a coup-de-grace, also known as a flip of a coin. I know that’s unfair but consider who we’re dealing with here, and cope.
“A unique feat of engineering if I may say so - I designed it myself.”
vs
“That’s rather neat, don’t you think?..Intuitive improvisation is the secret of genius.”
Again, I’ll take class and justified ego over narcissistic bluster.
Very tough choice. Dr No being the first villain carries a lot of weight, and I respect what Joseph Wiseman brought to the table. But overall I enjoy Christopher Walken’s Zorin more. AVTAK doesn’t have a great reputation, but Walken managed to deliver something worthwhile.
Walken’s hypnotic screen presence - his movement, delivery, his take on punctuation, is one of the most unique, strange and domineering in the whole of cinema. His villain could’ve been written by a 6 yr old and still stand out among the competition.
Every scene he’s in are among the strongest in the canon. Just a shame that every scene he’s not in are among the weakest.
Do No’s manicured, mannered dinner with Bond sets a template for the megalomaniac, self regarding aristocratic Bond villain. The restrained war of words scene that’s imo opinion has only been matched by Scaramanga and bonds first meeting with Silva (which would’ve been perfection if not for the appallingly cringey and out of place ‘resurrection’ line at the end of it, turning wonderful nuance into sudden, unwelcome melodrama).
But Walken wins every time, whatever the movie! That’s just an immutable law of physics
Completely agree. AVTAK is easily the most by the numbers entry, never caring about being anything more than another one. However, 3 specific characters make this film worth watching, 1 ally and 2 villains. Sir Godfrey is easily the best of the sacrificial lambs of the 80s films. His chemistry with Moore is unparalleled and their interactions while undercover are some of the funniest in the entire canon. Then, we have the villains. May Day and Max Zorin are two of the series’s best. Grace Jones gives a helluva performance and her heel turn at the end to get revenge on Zorin his betrayal is handled to perfection. Then there’s Zorin. He’s easily the most psychotic (and possibly most evil) villain in the series. The relish he has at betraying and mass murdering his own men is both captivating and terrifying. Walken was perfectly cast. And then there’s his laugh at his own failure and death. Something only Christopher Walken could convincingly pull off.