To coincide with the release of the 22nd 007 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace on November 14th, MGM Fox has released the first six blu-ray editions of the spy library: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and Die Another Day.

Available now as single blu-ray releases at a Suggested Retail Price of $34.98 or in two three-packs priced at $89.98. Volume 1 has Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, and Dr. No. Volume 2 collects From Russia With Love, For Your Eyes Only, and Thunderball.

All six films have sparkling 1080p transfers and new DTS-HD audio. They all maintain the extras from the 2006 DVD releases full of archival and promotional footage. PCS reviews each blu-ray below:

• Dr. No (1962) A+
• From Russia With Love (1963) A+
• Thunderball (1965) A
• Live and Let Die (1973) B+
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) B+
• Die Another Day (2002) C-

Feature: D+

The nail that could have been driven into the 007 franchise could have been hammered down at the end of Die Another Day and no one would have even cared. Thankfully someone did care as we anticipate the latest James Bond which has evolved to a darker, more faithful adaption to Ian Fleming’s pulp novels. In light of Quantum of Solace, all of the excellent DVD releases are getting upgraded to blu-ray, even Die Another Day. Pierce Brosnan would suit up in the bow tie one last time, a 007 stint that lasted seven years and four films. In that run, there was good and there was Die Another Day.

On a mission to kill a rogue colonel selling weapons for blood diamonds, Bond is exposed as a spy in North Korea . Bond is captured, abandoned and tortured for a year and then exchanged for another prisoner and has his 00 title suspended. At multiple corners of the Earth, including Cuba, London, and Reykjavik meets an curvy American spy, Jinx (Halle Berry) a fellow agent with a cold shoulder, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) and a rich British mogul, Gustav Graves (Toby Stevens) who is in the business of, you guessed it, diamonds. Oh but wait, he has more surprises, believe me. All of that is secondary to a much deadlier plot to unleash the ultimate weapon in space that can beam down destruction to our planet below. Bond plants to exact revenge (huh?), save the day, and of course, get the babe.

In the advent of the Matrix trilogy and XXX, action films of the late 90′s to early 2000′s had too much CGI without any purpose. It seemed as if no one wanted to spend money on a good script just on action scenes on top of more action scenes. Even the title sequences have too many computerized graphics. Madonna’s electronic turn may have been a rebirth for her sound but it’s a big mismatch with James Bond and the font choice looked more appropriate for a home video. And I have to say it, the composed score is just as bad.

Lee Tamahori was chosen to direct based on his decorated films (Once Were Warriors and The Edge) and hopes were set very high. It raked in a ridiculous bank–that can’t be denied–but if you know a good Bond film, ten minutes in, you’ll know this is not one of them. I think the filmmakers set out to make an epic film–got caught up in what computer graphics could do–and the result was an epic mess. All verisimilitude is thrown out the window and the thought of Bond single-handedly stopping a giant satellite laser beaming down is far-fetched, even for 007. This was a James Bond film, right? Not Star Wars? Actually it feels more like Spaceballs because you’re left laughing at the end when two fights break out on a cargo plane, while a huge gaping hole sucks everyone down to their death. Oh and there’s that huge 50 mile wide laser to avoid too. A film’s bad when you’re left with more questions than answers and all I could say at the end was, “Huh-What?” “How?” and “Why?”

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A+

There are three audio tracks, the lossless 5.1 DTS-HD and compared to the older films, this film is a treat. This lossless audio track offers a wide range of big barrel boom and aggressive, active effects that will have your head spinning in your couch. Music roars loudly and anytime there’s a laser on screen (and there’s a lot of them in this film) the buzzing is particularly loud. If there’s anything bad to say about the audio I’d say that it goes so low that the soft spoken dialogue is difficult to pick up without having to increase the volume. A French 5.1 Dolby Digital track and Spanish 2.0 Stereo track are also available.

VIDEO: B+

Once a sore point, the transfer is now a strength. MGM delivers a 2.40:1 1080p transfer with AVC MPEG-4 encoded. The great thing about blu-ray is that the poor effort put forth in the DVDs can be erased. Marred with edge enhancement and pixelation, the DVD drove home theater nuts crazy.Tha absence of artificial “extras” allows us to see what is, actually, a good looking film. Blacks look good, as do the different array of textures seen throughout the film. All of the swirling colors and icy glaciers in Reykjavik come through clearly. In the fencing scene, the leather in Madonna’s outfit and the sculptures that decorate show more colors than just black. The paintings leading to Q’s lair are visibly clear. There’s still a teeny bit of edge enhancement that exists throughout the film, as seen in the opening action sequence but this isn’t as big a problem as the DVD.

EXTRAS: C+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull.

The first of two commentaries is with actors Pierce Bronsnan and Rosamund Pike who recorded two separate tracks. Brosnan picks his spots and can’t help but yuck it up laughing by himself. Pike comes in for the first time when the setting changes to London. She helps fill in some of the dead spots when it was just Brosnan. It’s cute to hear her humbled sitting across from Madame Judi Dench. From this point their combined commentary is split, Pike’s dialogue comes out of the right channel, Brosnan’s on the left and both parties aren’t afraid to say where the film could have been improved. In the second commentary director, Lee Tamahori and producer, Michael G. Wilson have a more natural conversation and play off of each other’s comments, though they seem convinced this was a great flick. One final way to squeeze another viewing is the MI6 Datastream which is a fact-laden track where notes pops up throughout the film. In some instances the picture shrinks down and a mini-featurette explains the scene further. There is no toggling between this track and other audio selections or subtitles once this extra is selected. I missed contributions from John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation who moderated commentaries for the older films. The fact he’s not on the disc at all is saying something.

The other extra of major significance is From Script to Screen (51:40) which is a large overview of the production for example, writing the script, doing damage control on rumors, set design, stunt coordination, bringing on champion surfer Laird Hamilton to casting the Bond girls. Narrated by Robert Carlyle, one interesting theme in this extra is this concern by the crew to not make a bad Bond film, including producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. No one wanted to ruin the franchise, but ironically, the changes in tone and execution in the second Casino Royale proves that Die Another Day will not be one long-remembered. The featurette is very revealing though as problem after problem arose in making the film, perhaps this should have been a sign to the filmmakers.

Shooting action scenes and establishing scenery in a winter wonderland presented lots of challenges. Shaken and Stirred on Ice (23:35) takes you behind the different range of issues in trying to film a car chase in Reykjavik, Iceland like finding ice thick enough and filming quick enough before the ice weakens and becomes a safety hazard. Just Another Day (22:39) films one day of seven months of principle photography. This day happens to day 69, earmarked for the parachute scene in front of Buckingham Palace. It’s not a particularly thrilling featurette because most of it is spent watching stunt coordinators talking in walkie talkies and Lee Tamahori speaking through his megaphone. The remaining minutes show the crew racing before noon to finish the dialogue scenes before the changing of the guard. British Airways makes its way into the film and briefly in the extras in The British Touch: Bond Arrives in London (3:32). Production Designer Peter Lamont revisits all the of the exotic shoots in the film and the hotels from those spots in On Location (13:51) From the brief revisit to the Ice Hotel Sweden to an extended look back at Havana Cuba to have been able to see each of these locales in high definition is a bit of a letdown. I know now my eye’s become spoiled by blu-ray.

007 Mission Control is also carried over from the recent Bond DVDs accessing the various themes of James Bond directly. The title sequences, the villains, the babes, exotic locations, Q’s debriefing on the latest gadgets. It’s a useless, special really. Absent are the trailers and TV spots that are available in the earlier films and so is the Madonna video. I’m not sure if that there wasn’t enough room to fit it or it was just MGM giving us mercy. Thrown in for good measure are the extensive promotional and behind the camera gallery.

SOMETHING DIED ALRIGHT – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: C–

The Bond franchise almost died, but thankfully it was Pierce Brosnan’s run as 007. Rosamund Pike was a nice choice as a Bond girl but I couldn’t stand Halle Berry, no matter how well she fills out an orange bikini. The late 90′s were a lost era for action films; the box office success of Mission Impossible explains a lot. All the trademark Bond swagger and purpose regressed into an over-stylized video game where there’s action just to have action. I think this is another film (given its time period) filled with CG effects without cause. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Recommended as a rental at the very best, or for those Bond completists who have to have everything with 007 attached to it.

Feature: B+

In the final decade of the Cold War, For Your Eyes Only fed off the global threat of the Russians. Sent to retrieve a communication device that went down in a sunken ship, Bond teams up with Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) and comes face to face with Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) and Milos Columbo (Topol) both of whom claim to be Bond’s ally but are not all what they seem to be. Faintly familiar to From Russia With Love, the twelfth Bond film is a cross between a who’s who and a race to an important piece of the nuclear arms race.

Yet another transition in the Bond franchise, this time the film tones the story down from it’s predecessor, Moonraker which was an exercise in excess filmmaking (an ongoing recurring cycle). The basic 007 plot is simple: Put Bond on a mission on an exotic locale, throw some women, an eccentric villain or two, and lots of action. How productions continue to try something different I’ll never know. If it ain’t broke, don’t make Moonraker. Wisely, director John Glen, and writers, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson followed the formula giving us a grittier, more dangerous James Bond instead of letting it become an out of control spectacle. (See Die Another Day)

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A

The action comes alive in this 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track. Compared to this first wave of Bond blu-rays it’s only bested by Die Another Day which was made twenty years later. Lots of spraying gunfire to travel through the room, Sheena Easton belting out the theme song, and an accurate dialogue track make this a job well-done. Also available are the 2.0 Dolby Stereo and Spanish Mono tracks and a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track.

VIDEO: A

A big part of the Bond mystique is the distant locations that could only be accessed by 007 himself. In 1080p, these desirable destinations look even better. Texture and the fine granules of sand and snow can be picked up by the eye easily. The Swiss alps glisten and the Bahamas look lush with paradise. The transfer is AVC MPEG-4 encoded and is in 2.35:1 and even though there was was probably less done by Lowry restoration as the Connery Bond films, the picture is clean of artificial noise and wear-and-tear defects.

EXTRAS: A

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Others have short but insightful featurettes that add a deeper appreciation to the film. Similar to the Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only’s strength is in the commentaries.

Also boasting three commentaries, John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation returns yet again with all of his 007 wisdom in the best of the bunch with excerpts from director, John Glen and members of the cast. Roger Moore does another one of his shooting from the hip solo tracks, and the co-screenwriter, Michael Wilson and the production crew team up for the third track with lots to say about the logistics of putting together a Bond film.

Director John Glen introduces Two Deleted Scenes where there’s a much longer hockey fight scene (2:05) a conversation between Bond and Melina that took away from her personality. The underused angle button gets some action by being able to see the Death of Loque scene from two different camera angles. Michael Wilson narrates a handful of small featurettes about filming at the exotic locations. Bond in Greece (5:58) and Bond in Cortina (4:17) showed how the 1980 Winter Olympics influenced the film’s snowy setting shooting in the Alps. Neptune’s Journey (1:39) talks about how the great set designer, Peter Lamont put the underwater scenes together in the Bahamas and what happened to that Neptune sub after filming. Looking Inside for Your Own Eyes Only (29:48), you’ll take deeper looks into casting choices, the rock climbing scene, the helicopter stunt, filming underwater and action on the slopes with figure skater, Lynn Holly-Johnson. Two Animated Storyboard Sequences show montage compare the drawings for the snowmobile chase (1:14) and underwater sequences (1:46) with their film counterparts.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits.

Sheena Easton’s Video (2:46) for For Your Eyes Only, In the “Ministry of Propaganda” one theatrical trailer (3:49), three TV spots (11:46) and two radio commercials (1:11). One observation worth noting is that nudity is seen in the theatrical trailer, all the TV spots, and music video. An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FOR BOND FANS ONLY – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

A welcomed return to Earth, For Your Eyes Only went back to the fundamentals in both tone and story. Moore has another solid turn as Bond, and the supporting cast was reassembled to please 007 fans. With aggressive Bond girls, wild action sequences and all of the solid extras brought over from DVD, this is one of the twenty plus Bond films you can bring home confidently. With the power boost in the DTS-HD track and visual delight of HD, this is the best way you can watch this film.

FEATURE: B

Someone’s taking out agents across the globe so James Bond (Roger Moore) goes to America to see what’s what. Against a network of Harlem thugs, he follows them to San Monique a remote island in the Caribbean. Bond stumbles on a crime ring led by voodoo mystics Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) who have a wild card in their pocket, the tarot card reader, Solitaire (Jane Seymour) who can predict the future. Bond seduces Solitaire and in effect takes her powers away. Unbeknownst to Kananga, Bond offers Solitaire a chance for escape with him stumbling on a field of poppies. The dots begin to connect. After several chase scenes in the Big Easy and the Caribbean, Solitaire exchanges sides setting up a big finish between Bond and big bad voodoo.

This is the third Bond film directed by Guy Hamilton and a transition for the 007 franchise. In his film debut Moore struts the screen as the third James Bond after Sean Connery and George Lazenby. And it’s evident he’s not as physical as Connery. His version of Bond is more humorous and campy. I’d rather have him make it his own than live up to some ideal. Moore does that with timing and delivery of lines, evidence of his storied work in comedic theater.

Instead of being a global compass of world relations, Live and Let Die reflected the types of films being produced at the time. The early 70′s saw more leading roles for black actors as well as films made by black filmmakers. These films signified an symbolic change in the culture in America and a loud yell from a previous quiet voice in films.

Kotto was a major player in exploitation films and independent films made by black filmmakers. Becoming a great Bond Villain would be a fine stage to showcase his presence as a powerful character actor. Today he remains as an under-appreciated actor Live and Let Die would also display the great stunt-work of late stuntman Eddie Smith, who formed the Black Stuntmen’s Association and fought for jobs for African-American stuntmen. Even though all of the evil characters in the film are black, the film celebrates the early efforts of more prominent roles in Hollywood for African-Americans.

Sensitive film watchers may take offense to some of the slang with Bond often referred to as “honkey” and the redneck cops of New Orleans calling the blacks, “boys” repeatedly. It went both ways. At one point the film slips into what feels like an episode of Dukes of Hazard in the infamous boat chase made even funnier with a slack-jawed sheriff who wouldn’t be fooled by no brother. The sheriff was left shocked, and so was the deputy. Live and Let Die is still a fun trip for Bond fans who don’t take themselves to serious–a jovial jaunt that’s definitely more cat and mouse than it is spy and tell.

PRESENTATION: B+

The packaging is a standard case in a cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: C+

Compared to this first grouping of Bond blu-ray releases, Live and Let Die is pretty limited as immersive soundtracks are concerned, still it’s a 5.1 DTS-HD lossless audio track. Explosions are few and far between but when things need to be loud, they are. Paul McCartney’s theme song, which is used throughout the film (even more than 007 theme) goes to all of the channels but most of the sound is kept up front. The range is good between actions sequences panning left to right and the whispers between the sheets. But because there are more chase scenes than gunfire, the opportunity for big audio never really comes. Also available are the original English and Spanish Mono tracks and a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track.

VIDEO: A–

The gritty landscape of Live and Let Die is pretty drab with lots from inner city grays and the muddy brown waters of the bayou but there is candy for the eye. Night scenes look rich and deep when they’re supposed to be. Maurice Binder’s opening title credits with silhouettes of Caribbean women dancing in chromatic flames jump off the screen and look like new. And the Fillet of Soul club in the New Orleans lights up the screen with its deep crimson hue. Kotto and Seymour’s flamboyant 70′s attire are hard to miss in the clear 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer. Live and Let Die’s aspect ratio, which varies from Bond film to Bond film, is 1.85:1. The film is at its widest during the boat chase but as stated before really lacks any reason to shoot wide throughout.

EXTRAS: A–

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and 2.0 Dolby Stereo. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. Others have short but insightful featurettes that add a deeper appreciation to the film. Live and Let Die’s strength is in the Audio Commentaries.

If you like the film and enjoy multiple viewings there are three commentaries to give you a couple different experiences. Sir Roger Moore picks his moments in the first commentary track, but is frank with his experiences and impressions of playing such a movie icon. The most enjoyable one I found is the one hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation who has an impressive wealth of knowledge and stories about the 007 movies and novels. He works in excerpts of interviews with the director, Guy Hamilton, cast and crew. Yaphet Kotto in particular has a lot of great stories including how it took him three years after the shoot to get out of the Bond lifestyle of demanding high class treatment and eating with an expensive palette. Finally the last track is with screenwriter, Tom Mankiewicz who like Moore picks his places to add stories about the development of plot points and other crew stories but it would have been difficult to have worked his comments in with either of the other two.

Hamilton is interviewed about the choice in Moore and the plot points of the film in Bond 1973: The Lost Documentary (21:41) and in a cost savings effort came up with the boat chase scene. Stuntman great, Eddie Smith is showcased in this doc as not only a great stuntman here but also as a man who led the Black Stuntman Union. With the first changing of the guard in the Bond role, Roger Moore as James Bond, Circa 1964 (7:44) actually played Bond prior to the film in a comedy theater. Live and Let Die Conceptual Art (1:39) shows a montage of how the theatrical poster came to be.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Maurice Binder credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” are two theatrical trailers (4:40), three TV spots (2:35) and two radio commercials (1:35). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

COLT 45 NOT SHAKEN – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

With Sean Connery walking away from 007, this wound up as landmark debut for both Moore and Seymour (who was sizzling) and at the time was the biggest grossing Bond film. The source material, full of white paranoia, voodoo mysticism and a Haitian antagonist made the adaptation a challenge. The screenplay was changed to infuse the culture-rich New Orleans Bayou and the mean streets of Harlem and became more of a two-fisted blaxsploitation jam. Questions arose with the shift in a more sensitive, less athletic Bond, and the tone, noticeably lighter and fun laid the base for Moore’s run. It’s also worth noting this film was the inspiration for much of the first Austin Powers film. Imitation is the best form of flattery, no? So it’s different, yes. Worse? Not yet, but if you’ve never developed a flavor for 1970′s exploitation films, this might not be the easiest recommendation.