Goldfinger

I'll try to not make any gold quips in this review.

Goldfinger is one of my absolute favorite Bond films and is easily my favorite of Connery's films, but why that is it's difficult to pinpoint. Granted the story is more grand in scale with James being tasked to investigate the totally british Auric Goldfinger which soon leads him to know of one of the most ingenious villain plots in history and one hell of a climax in Fort Knox. Most of the Bond movies are told loosely with meandering and intermediate action scenes throughout, but I think this film is one of the best, 99% of the scenes have a reason to be there and further either the story or the characters and all of it is interesting. You wouldn't think a golf game between James Bond and one of his more illustrious villains would be very entertaining but it is. Apparently Robert Shaw got Sean Connery hooked on golf during From Russia With Love and Connery's affinity for the game got into the script which is pretty neat. I'm positive at this point Sean Connery was undoubtedly James Bond, the evolution is complete and he just exudes coolness and charm in all of his actions, but when he needs to act like in say the lazer room scene he pulls it off brilliantly. I was stunned to learn that Gert Frobe was actually dubbed in his role of Goldfinger, it's such a perfect voice for his physicality and he really is the standard of Bond villains for others to match later on, and you can really tell he's having a lot of fun acting this role. Honor Blackman is a welcome change as the infamously named Pussy Galore, very capable and independent but regardless great fun to watch and easily matches Bond one to one. Harold Sakata is just possibly the most famous henchman in cinematic history, either it's him or Richard Kiel as Jaws, I mean the steel rimmed hat is iconic but his performance as this mute strongman is constantly fun to watch though in reality he was one of the nicest people you could meet. There's just so much to love in this movie, the action is wonderfully shot, we get the glory that is the Aston Martin DB5, Desmond Llewelyn has his first true Q scene which I have no problem saying that I will be looking forward to every last scene he is in for all the movies to come, the characters are as iconic as you can get in this series, there's plenty of intrigue and entertainment, the opening titles are amazing with Shirley Bassey rocking the ground I walk on, and is one of the easiest movies to watch on a lazy day. Seriously, if Goldfinger is on TV I will sit and watch it, it's always just a great joy to watch time and again. The only bad thing I could say about it is that barn scene, I mean...Jesus, talk about extremely uncomfortable. I mean yes it turns into something consensual but geez I feel like I need some disinfectant spray after watching that. Harassment aside, it wouldn't surprise me if this made it in my top 5 James Bond movies. It's an excellent movie that even if you're not a Bond fan you have to see! 4 stars, 8/10, and yes I would even give it a gold sticky star. So how in the hell do you top one of the highest grossing and most popular films ever? Well tune in next time for the fan worshipped epic, Thunderball.