Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]

I have been waiting a Looooooong time for something like this to come out, and Im so glad that I did, this box set is like a dream come true for any James Bond fan !! The Box itself is built pretty good, but I am not a big fan of the slide outs of the discs (Finger Prints) !! As far as the picture quality, its fantastic !! I grew up watching James Bond since I was a kid. I have seen all the movies in just about every format that it came out in (TV,VHS,DVD) !! And I got to say. this Blu-Ray collection just blew me away!! to compare the old versions to this Blu-ray collection, its like holding a candle to a spot light !! Its that dramatic !! I read some reviews on here before I bought it, and they were nitpicking about the quality of the picture, trust me, it looks fantastic !! I think my only beef is that the older films are in the Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (no bars) and the newer Bond films are in the Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 or 2.40:1 (Bars) !! Im not a big fan of the BARS!! I just feel that if you got all that space on a Blu-ray disc, use it, I dont care if you filmed it that way, give the customer a full picture !! (OK, I am done with my rant)!! All I am saying is that this is a gorgeous box set that you will enjoy for years to come, so just buy it, you not regret it !!

This is my update on the Bond DVD’s. I reordered. they arrived a day early and they were all there! Couldn’t be happier! If you’re a Bond fan, I highly recommend. Old review: My partner REALLY likes James Bond so for his birthday I thought Id get him the whole 50 years up to 2012. Got them in plenty of time, but when he opened them, we realized that half of them were missing. So, on his birthday I had to send them back. The packaging is really nice. Going to reorder and fingers crossed, ALL the dvds will be present and accounted for. A more positive review will be coming if they are.

Well, we are back on the better, better, and best technology merry-go-round with this latest deluxe release of all 22 official Bond films. (And yes, as much as I like Never Say Never Again, its not an official-sanctioned and produced Bond release. I remember when this film came out in 1983 and I recall seeing interviews that some dude named Kevin McClory was upset that he was not cashing in on the 007 franchise and that he was a co-writer with Ian Fleming for Thunderball. So, some court granted him the rights to remake Thunderball under the clever guise of Never Say Never Again and of course, the big magnet to get butts in the movie theater seats was to bring back Sean Connery as Bond. And of course, that star status trick worked, as I recall that the theater was packed!) But, I digress....a few years ago, I purchased the 4 Bond DVD box sets in a Christmas fire sale at Best Buy and I thought to myself, Cool! I have all of the Bond movies on DVD - now I can get rid of my scratchy, old VHS tapes! I watched all of the DVDs (in 007 release order, of course!) and I enjoyed all of the extra commentary and cast interviews and I thought that it would never get better than this. Then, a couple of years ago, came the arrival of Blu-Ray technology and I thought that I was not going to give in and purchase any DVDS on Blu-Ray, especially since the Blu-Ray players at that time were ridiculously expensive. Then, I saw MGM/UA started releasing Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger on Blu-Ray and I almost gave in and purchased Goldfinger. But, then I started getting suspicious about the intent of MGM/UAs release tactics. I was going to hold out to see if they released anymore of the films and they rolled out Thunderball, On Her Majestys Secret Secret Service, Live And Let Die and a few others from the Bond franchise. BUT, when MGM/UA did not release For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and A View To A Kill from Roger Moores Bond heyday, then I became especially suspicious and I started putting it all together that 2012 would be the 50th anniversary of Bond films when Dr.No was released in 1962, so I held out to see if anything major would be released from the studios and Im delighted that I did! I did have the opportunity to see Goldfinger in Blu-Ray from a friend of mine who regrettably purchased the multi-film packs and I will have to admit that the visual and audible effects were stunning! Watching Goldfingers all-out assault on Fort Knox was a tremendously enjoyable viewing experience and it was like I had never watched this film before! Make no mistake about it - I didnt want to plop down $184 for these films, but its like $8 a Bond film in Blu-Ray no less! I pre-ordered my Bond set last week from Amazon and I dont regret the purchase one bit. September 25th could not come soon enough for me and Ill admit that I never purchased any Daniel Craigs Bond DVDs, although I did see the two films in the theater. (To the fans who are wondering why there is only one empty slot in the forthcoming Blu-Ray set, its simple: If Skyfall does not have an awesome box office take and goes the way of Quantum of Solace a very low-grossing Bond film, then there may not be anymore James Bond movies!) These films not only have to continue being edgy and impactful, but they have to profitable in order to get any further studio endorsements and budgets. One last thing to consider in this purchase.....I did purchase this set from Amazon and Im excited to watch the films in Blu-Ray, but if MGM/UA tries to get cute about it a year or two from now and try to call it something like, Never-Before-Seen, Super-De-Duper, Extremely Deep Blu-Ray Bond films, then Im afraid, Ill have to cut Mr. Bonds tightrope from a helicopter and let him fall back to Earth because this is one Bond fan who is tired of the movie studios extortion plots and capers to get more money from us devoted 007 fans! Enjoy the Blu-Ray box set!

Since people are asking about which movies are included, I did some internet research. The list of movies is: 1. Dr. No* 2. From Russia with Love* 3. Goldfinger* 4. Thunderball* 5. You Only Live Twice 6. On Her Majestys Secret Service 7. Diamonds Are Forever 8. Live and Let Die* 9. The Man with the Golden Gun* 10. The Spy Who Loved Me 11. Moonraker* 12. For Your Eyes Only* 13. Octopussy* 14. A View to a Kill 15. The Living Daylights 16. Licence to Kill* 17. Goldeneye 18. Tomorrow Never Dies 19. The World is Not Enough* 20. Die Another Day* 21. Casino Royale* 22. Quantum of Solace* *Already available on Blu-Ray Never Say Never Again is not included since it is not part of the series, being produced independently. Likewise the David Niven spoof of Casino Royale. Also, there was a British TV version of Casino Royale that is not included.

Not much for reviews, but a huge Bond fan. Over the years I have purchased all the Bond collections 3 or 4 times. VHS, DVD twice and now the Blus. The picture is clearer, and with less artifacts than my Bond Ultimate Edition DVDs, although less so with some of the older titles. I really like the packaging, and it presents well on my shelf. The fore-thought of leaving a blank space for Skyfall is also greatly appreciated. I managed to get mine on sale for less than a hundred dollars, so excellent value, less than $5 a title. This helped convince me that the upgrade from the ultimate editions was worth it (my ultimate edition dvds were $75 each for 4 boxes = $300). If you are a new fan of Bond or just starting your collection this is an excellent start. If you have the ultimate editions its hit or miss on the upgrade aspect, although I would consider the packaging and improvement in picture quality a worthwhile investment if you arent replacing all the movies. Overall an excellent presentation and a good value.

Overall, I found this production to be all that I expected it to be. Yes, there are one or two discs that get stuck in a DVD player due to data corporation during its original recording, but I was able to accelerate my player to by-pass the damaged areas. The other difficulty is with the Excellent packaging in the area of the slips the discs are in. They are hard to get a disc to slide out. Just slip a fingernail under the top part opening above the disc and pull it up a bit and slide the disc out with a finger on your other hand. Worked well for me.

This set is packaged very nice. Two books with stiff pages that hold 2 discs each, organized by year the movie was released. Three discs were in the wrong slot when I opened the box, but no big deal. Audio and video quality is excellent.

I love the Bond Franchise, but I hate what they have done with this set. Yes all of them are on Blu Ray, and they all look fantastic. I drooled when I saw Dr. No when I popped in the disc. Its the way Fox packaged it that gets me annoyed. Theyre in these two big paper booklets, it gives you no information unlike the little pamphlets they gave you in the DVD Collection, and its impossible to take a disc out without ripping the ends off the page. The next thing is the special features. If you are a Bond fan there is nothing new on here. They just threw together a six minute montage of all the Actors who played Bond, they have the World of Bond which is just clips from the movie, and they have the video blogs from Skyfall that you can watch online. All the special features from the DVD are already on here. I also was supposed to receive a book of poster variants, but I never got it. I paid 150 for something that I could have gotten for 100. Amazon was nice enough to give me a refund, so to them thank you and I will return to shop here. (See what I did there =]) In any case, (I did it again!), if you just wantt to own all of them on Blu Ray and dont give a damn about the Special Features go right ahead and buy it. The transfers are beautiful like I said before.

It has been great fun to own the entire collection and watch the progression of James Bond movies in sequential order. The video quality is excellent, especially for films that were made starting in 1962. The original film (not a copy) was scanned frame-by-frame in 4K resolution, then restored by hand and the painstaking effort shows. Im watching the movies using an Oppo BPD-103 Blu-ray player and a Panasonic TC-P55ST60 plasma screen. There are various extras on each disc, that range from pretty basic to excellent. The packaging is beautifully done and is as impressive as the quality of the movies. They had the foresight to include a slot for Skyfall, which had not been completed when this collection was released. I have also purchased Skyfall to complete the collection. Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase and have already enjoyed hours of entertainment.

My only beef with this set is the book. I paid the full 180 for this with the book instead if the 150 discounted price that didnt have e book with it. The book is only 70 pages and abridged. The full book is less than 30 bucks and I could have had both if Id just canceled my order and got the cheaper set and book seperately. Other than that I have no complaints. The case is sturdy and, with a little practice I can get the discs out of the sleeves unharmed. I like having the slot for Skyfall but dont know if I want to really use it when the film comes out. The movies look excellant in HD. Ive already watched all the ones previously available so I am starting with You Only Live Twice and the video quality and sound are first rate. If you have all the previous Bond Blu-rays sell them to get this set (except for Casino Royale 2disc Blu as it has some features not found here). This is well worth the purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.