Bondathon: Goldfinger

Everyone seems to love Goldfinger. It's easy to imagine why, as this was the film in the series that largely established the blueprint for many Bonds to come. Gadget-laden cars, beautiful women, outlandish sets and villainous plans. This is the one. For a while I felt the same way as the majority of people, but this time...I was oddly left feeling cold.

Goldfinger is the third film in the series, made in 1964. Sean Connery returns to the part of Bond, and many people regard this as the film in which Connery did his best acting (I beg to differ, I prefer him in From Russia With Love). The premise of the film is that Auric Goldfinger, portrayed by Gert Fröbe (and voice dubbed by Michael Collins), a world-class gold smuggler, plans to set off a nuke within the Fort Knox gold depository, irradiating the United States gold supply for over half a century, ruining the US economy and boosting the worth of his own gold sky high. He's given help by his hat-throwing henchman Oddjob, portrayed by Harold Sakata, as well as his beautiful pilot Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman.

The film is not a bad film at all. The action scenes are quite enjoyable, such as the car chase at Goldfinger's factory and the final fight between Bond and Oddjob. The sets are gorgeous. The acting is wonderfully on point from every actor involved.

But why did I find this one so underwhelming?

I'm going to point to the hype that largely surrounds it. After over fifty years of boosting this up as the best Bond film ever when you watch it nowadays, trying to keep a fresh mind to it, it suddenly becomes underwhelming. Just think of it this way: Bond has to protect some gold, so he gets kidnapped and stays in Kentucky for the latter part of the film. That's it. That's all that's happening. It suddenly becomes not that spectacular.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the big boom that surrounded it in 1964, Goldfinger wouldn't be as regarded as it is today. For that, I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. It isn't bad, but it just doesn't hold up like it used to.

Next week, I begrudgingly look at Thunderball. I'm not looking forward to this.