GamerNode: Columns - Live and Let Die: Blu-Ray Review

Live and Let Die: Blu-Ray Review

When I asked our readers (and my friends and co-workers) which of the Bond Blu-Ray releases I should watch first, they unanimously picked Live and Let Die. Obviously if you've been reading my reviews you know that I ignored them, purely because I didn't want to start off with Roger Moore's first outing as Bond, which is an...odd film, to say the least.

With Connery (and Lazenby) gone from the Bond picture, the franchise seemed keen on reinventing itself with Moore and his different take on the secret agent. Rather than the suave styles of Sean, or the gritty gist of George, Roger went with a new direction for the Bond films: humor.

Don't get me wrong, Connery had his moments, but largely Connery's remarks were one-liners thrown at just the right time -- not all the time. What goes best with humor? Apparently nonsensical camp and self referencing dialogue! Live and Let Die was Michael Meyer's biggest inspiration for Austin Powers; that should tell you all you need to know.

As I already said, the movie was an odd one for an action spy thriller, let alone one like Bond. Live and Let Die is, ultimately, a supernatural Blaxploitation 70s B film which happens to have James Bond as the lead. Without James, the movie would work great and be considered a cult 70s classic; with him, it enters a whole new level of entertaining. This was a side (and type) of Bond never seen before to this extent, and changed the direction of the franchise from a more serious role to what we saw until Casino Royale came out to bring the series back to earth.

Ultimately, it's a fun romp and very entertaining. Is it a great movie? No. Is it an entertaining movie? No doubt. It's one of my favorite Bond films not because it breaks ground or has the best story, but because it's the most fun to watch and has one of the most intriguing characters in any Bond film before or since, Baron Samedi. (Plus it has the best Bond theme and opening sequence ever!)

Live and Let Die gets a bad wrap with a lot of fans because it doesn't take itself as seriously as Connery's films did, but faulting it for that would be no different than faulting Connery for making Bond too imposing of a figure to take over. No one could replace Connery as James Bond, so instead Roger Moore gave us a new direction for Bond to travel-one where a number of fine actors could replicate his persona on screen, and most importantly, entertain viewers.

Like the other older Bond films released on Blu-Ray, the video transfer does nothing astounding but does bring the quality up several notches. Colors are more vibrant, there's less grain and noise, blacks are deeper, and the little things are noticeable for the first time since theaters. It's a great presentation for an older movie, and if you have an HDTV and are a fan of Bond (or fun) it's a must-own not only for the quality of the film itself, but for the quality of the transfer.

Sadly, the audio is lacking in this one compared to the other five releases. While it's technically 5.1 and lossless, the levels could have been tweaked better. There were more times during this film that I had to adjust the volume to hear speaking (and lessen effect noise to a tolerable level for neighbors) than any of the other releases. It's a nuisance at most playing Volume Coach, but it's still one a viewer shouldn't have to go through multiple times throughout the film.

Once again, the extras on this Blu-Ray release are nothing new and are identical to the extras featured on previous DVD releases of this movie. While a few images here and there have been cleaned up or made in higher quality, for the most part it's exactly the same as if you had your DVD version from four years ago in the Blu-Ray player. A shame, but given that every Blu-Ray in this set is in the same boat (except Die Another Day which features less than the DVD releases) it's nothing surprising and shouldn't deter you from making a purchase.

Rating (out of five):

Movie: 4.5

Video: 3.5

Audio: 3.5

Extras: 3

Replay: 5

Overall (not an average): 4.5

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