[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWilliamGraham

I love James Bond, and one of my favorite portrayals is Timothy Dalton. I feel this phase is often overlooked for being so short, but in a way Dalton was the prototype gritty Bond before the Craig era.

I like Dalton as an actor, but his Bond isn't my favorite. I think the fault lies with the poorly executed films. Drugs don't really fit with the image of Agent 007, and attitudes toward Afghanistan have changed dramatically since the late '80s, and movies about helping the Taliban have become self-incriminating. I'm surprised Rambo got a sequel after the third installment. And in general, in my opinion, down-to-earthness and realism don?t really suit Bond.

[VagueDoctor]

Not sure if you could specifically call this part of the "spy" genre, but I'm infatuated with AKIRA by Katsuhiro Otomo. More than the movie, the manga is probably my favourite piece of fiction. Read it as a teenager, and now I own the boxset.

Best set of money I ever shilled out to someone...

It's reasonable for someone not to call it a spy book, but the first half of the narrative is about secret espionage against a conspiring government, so I'd consider it part of the spy genre. Besides, the art is to die for.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VagueDoctor

It's reasonable for someone not to call it a spy book, but the first half of the narrative is about secret espionage against a conspiring government, so I'd consider it part of the spy genre. Besides, the art is to die for.

I definitely need to rewatch Akira. I think I encountered it at a point in my life when I couldn't quite appreciate it, and the impact has faded over time.

[Mesnick]

By the way, a relevant remark. I recently realized that both South and North Korea are masters at creating serious spy thrillers, but their approach to the genre is completely different. In the Republic of Korea, they mostly produce heartbreaking dramas (perhaps even tragedies) with superbly staged action set in modern times. At the same time, DPRK features extremely intricate historical detective stories with a large number of compelling everyday elements and subplots. Of course, there are exceptions in both countries, but mostly in the experimental department.