James Bond: The Secret World of 007 is a Great Companion for the Movies
Written: Mar 19 '08 (Updated Aug 10 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Information on all of the movies
Cons: Information wasn't very in depth
The Bottom Line: James Bond: The Secret World of 007 had a lot of interesting information that fans of the James Bond movies will probably enjoy.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Alastair Dougall - James Bond: The Secret World of... |
I have picked up several books connected to movies. When I really like a movie, I enjoy books that share information about them or talk about how the movies were made. I have enjoyed the James Bond movies for years, so I was interested in James Bond: The Secret Wold of 007 when I first saw it a few years ago. I actually received the new edition with information on the two newest Bond movies for Christmas.
James Bond: The Secret World of 007 was written by Alastair Dougall with illustrations done by Roger Stewart. The book was published by DK Publishing, the same company that has released several other books connected to movies. Most of the other DK books that I own are tied to superheroes. The book is an oversized hardback and the same size as the other DK books I own.
James Bond: The Secret World of 007 shared information about fictional characters and events without being a normal fiction book. There wasn’t any story or plot for the book, but the plots of all the James Bond movies were briefly discussed. The way some of the information for the movies was shared was in the form of a short plot summary that didn’t go into all a lot of detail. The book would contain some spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen the movies yet. Since not all the details were shared, there would still be some small surprises if people watch the movies for the first time after reading the book.
The information was divided into three large sections. The book was written like James Bond was a real secret agent and that the movies were actual missions he had really gone on. The forward was supposed to have been written by M, Bond’s boss as MI6 about how case files were being made public. The section called The Bond Dossier shared some general background information on Bond, like how he had been in the British navy and what type of gun he preferred to carry. Time was taken to illustrate his fashion sense and point out the special additions to some of his clothing, like a tracking device in his shoe. Two pages covered some of the women that Bond got involved with during his missions, including the woman he actually married.
Some general information about MI6 was shared. A few of the employees, like Miss Moneypenny and M were briefly mentioned with more attention being given to Q, the man who supplied Bond with all sorts of gadgets to use during his missions. A few of the gadgets were explained. A few of the different spies, some enemies and some allies, were pointed out. Many of the allies tended to be from the CIA and several of the enemies were from the KGB. The last two pages of the section were devoted to Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the villain mastermind behind several plots that Bond had to deal with. Blofeld was in charge of SPECTRE and had some unique ways of dealing with his employees.
The next section, The Missions, was the longest section of the book. This section shared information about all the Bond movies. This section of the book continued discussing each movie like it was a different mission. The movies were arranged in the order that they were released. When each movie was discussed, it was identified by the name of the movie at the top of the page. Some of the more important information connected to the movie being discussed shared over two pages. These pages are the ones that had very brief plot summaries that only pointed out important things. For certain movies, additional pages were used to cover other aspects, like the main base of operations used by the villains or certain special things that Bond used during the movie, like a few of his different cars. For a few of the movies, there was information about some sort of plan and the steps that had to be followed to defeat someone.
When Bond received help from some people, they were included. Some of the minor enemies that he faced were also pointed out. It did seem like some of the things that were shared weren’t as important and I did wonder why they were included when other events were left out. For a few of the movies, the things that happened at the very beginning were shared before the title of the movie was given. Only a tiny amount was shared about Casino Royale. I think that was because the updated version of the book came out shortly before the movie and they didn’t want to include any spoilers. The last section, The Movies, was basically just a list of the movies with information about the cast, some of the crew, and the year of release. That section was followed by an index that is helpful if looking for information on a specific movie or character.
The information shared throughout James Bond: The Secret World of 007 wasn’t very detailed or in depth. I expected that since that is how the other DK books I have are, but I was still a bit disappointed by it. I would have liked it if there had been more details. The information was shared in very short paragraphs or sometimes just a line or two. The bits of information were scattered around the two pages for each subject with the paragraphs being at the top of the pages. There didn’t seem to be much order to the way the information was placed around the pages in most cases. The few times when some sort of plan was followed step by step, each step was identified by number so it was easy to see the order of events in those cases. I have seen most of the Bond movies at least once, but I had forgotten things from some of the movies that the book reminded me of. I also learned things about the two movies - the ones with Timothy Dalton playing Bond - that I haven’t seen.
Different pictures and illustrations were used to compliment the text. The pictures and illustrations always fit in with whatever information was being shared. The pictures looked like they had been pulled from the different movies. When Bond himself was shown, it did seem like most of those pictures featured Pierce Brosnan instead of some of the other actors who have played the part. I’m thinking that might be because Brosnan was the current Bond when the first edition of the book was released. Several images of Judi Dench were also used for the part of M. Roger Stewart illustrations were used in several spots, mainly for the different villain headquarters. The illustrations did help to point out different things. Some cut away illustrations were also used for some of the different gadgets to show how they worked.
Many of the books connected to movies that I own have shared information about the making of the movie in question. James Bond: The Secret World of 007 had no information on the making of the movies. I can understand that since there are so many Bond movies, but I still would have enjoyed some of that information. I tend to enjoy reading about how things were done for movies and find that sort of stuff interesting. It also would have been nice if a bit more information was shared about Casino Royale.
I really enjoyed James Bond: The Secret World of 007 and feel it makes a good addition to collection of books connected to movies. People that like the James Bond movies may also enjoy this book.
James Bond Movies
Dr. No ~ From Russia With Love ~ Goldfinger ~ Thunderball ~ You Only Live Twice ~ On Her Majesty’s Secret Service ~ Diamonds are Forever ~ Live and Let Die ~ The Man With the Golden Gun ~ The Spy Who Loved Me ~ Moonraker ~ For Your Eyes Only ~ Octopussy ~ A View to a Kill ~ The Living Daylights ~ Licence to Kill ~ Goldeneye ~ Tomorrow Never Dies ~ The World is Not Enough ~ Die Another Day ~ Casino Royale ~ Quantum of Solace ~ Never Say Never Again ~
Recommended:
Yes
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