On Her Majesty's Secret Service1969

You want to know what I’m thinking about this whole time? Where’s Blofeld’s cat? This could be the best Bond film yet. Absolutely gorgeous with some top-tier Bond moments that feel like a return to the form of “just a man with a gun” of the first film. There really are only a few things that hold it back. One thing is the lack of Connery in the film. A recast wouldn’t be a huge problem if, despite Lazenby’s comment in the opening, it wasn’t so clear that this was supposed to be the same character and if I didn’t know that Connery would return in the very next film.  Unfortunately for old George, but Sean Connery IS James Bond. But I should say that Lazenby really grew on me throughout the film and totally clinched it in the end. I really wish he got at least one more film. But despite its direct connections to previous films, it does make work quite well as a standalone picture, perhaps the best in that regard so far.  The other issue is what feels like a complete mischaracterization of Blofeld. You’re telling me the guy who spent five films concealing his identity and maniacally petting his cat is now just walking around doing grunt work and yammering on? No mystery at all. Disappointing. Boring. Whatever.  Also, why doesn’t he recognize Bond? If the previous films are canon and he is the same Bond, then they met what, like, a year ago? I don’t know, maybe I missed something.  But overall, I was pretty impressed with this, but I wasn’t quite sure where it would fit in the ranking. And then that ending. No Bond movie so far has made me feel something like that. I could tell that it was coming. Obviously, Bond can’t stay married. But the way he says “There's no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world” and that last shot. Man. I can’t say I wasn’t moved.  𝕺𝖗𝖇𝖎𝖘 𝕹𝖔𝖓 𝕾𝖚𝖋𝖋𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖙 The World Is Not Enough James Bond Ranked