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Comments
Excellent points.
As with the explosion one feels that Mendes spent an inordinate amount of time on the logistics of this opening sequence with its millions of extras and poncey tracking shots rather than checking how the script was coming along.
I'm reminded of this classic Brent rant:
'Babs makes me laugh going on about the script. Do it yourself I've got to pointlessly blow up half the budget!'
There is a lot of truth to this observation. Theater is always rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Unless you're Ashley Judd.
The love scene and what preceded it, yes. But not what I described here. Not even close.
I would be very surprised if it did not go down this route that's for sure.
Ha ha lovely stuff!
DC: " Actor, producer , chilled out entertainer"
Not a flattering look for DC compared to the other bonds.
I guess I was distracted by the Dalton Bond gun to Brosnan Bond's head. And the panties.
@MrOrlov welcome aboard welcome to the community you will like it here anyway going to your question they could go anywhere but with Daniel returning I think Blofeld will be involved don't know what they will do with him but hopefully something exciting and give creditably back to Blofeld I like Spectre but I think the way they handle Blofeld was a bit poor but can be fixable. As for anything else I would love a return of Felix helping Bond on a mission hopefully we can get Bond out of London for the climaxes its getting a bit repetitive and no more personal stuff and childhood and just full straight on mission stuff m gives bond a mission and bond heads out and we m congratulate bond when mission is accomplished no more everyone against mi6 government stuff and no more m in the field.
I mean the big nose, head and ears.
Watch the scene with Bond and Anya in the truck again.
Welcome, General Orlov
I think my preference would be to have Madeleine physically absent from Bond 25. Another character, perhaps the new Bond girl, could ask 007 about his past and we could get small, gradual glimpses into what happened between Bond and Madeleine and why things between them fell apart.
I think having Blofeld be absent from Bond 25 is not the best idea, with the way the Craig era has gone. If they're not going to go the YOLT novel route, then they should definitely have another Spectre villain for Bond to face, but Blofeld should still be seen throughout the film, and Bond should fight him and kill him in the final part of the movie. I feel leaving Blofeld alive for the next actor would undermine the Craig saga. I know it's not good to bring him back only to kill him one film later, but I prefer that to having Craig depart from the role with Blofeld alive, whether in jail or free.
I want Felix back, big time, and not in a small part, but one integral to the story. Hopefully we'd get to see him getting his hands dirty in an action scene.
No. That's not nice.
Excellent review nearly a decade later and I fully and totally agree with your analysis! It's unclear (to me) if Quantum was dropped completely or Mr.White was head of Quantum and at the very same time a SPECTRE member ... making QUANTUM a branch of SPECTRE for example (this would have been a better way to tie the movies than what happened in SP). I like QoS a lot - even I hated the editing and I still do to this day. But in general I think it's a very good followup to CR actually. Thanks for your review - IMHO it shows that the movie keeps growing on people like OHMSS did decades before. Except the editing (which I hated back then and still do today) I find it a highly rewatchable Bond movie and it definitely does not deserve a low rating ... it's much much better than SPECTRE in my opinion.
For B25 I hope for the best of the Craig era:
- Fleming material
Because Craig's Bond interpretation shows a lot of Flemig's vision
- Some gritty hard-boiled action
Because it's a trademark of his tenure
- Some gadgets and Q scenes
Because that belongs to the cinematic Bond and I like Whishaw as Q
- Return of Felix Leiter
Returns a lot in the novels and Wright's Felix Leiter is a great character
- Good but not too many locations
Let Bond explore the locations a bit more and avoid wasting them like QoS
- Possible Return of Camille
She's a great but underused character which could function as a story hook.
I would not make her the central Bond girl - but connecting the films is
a trademark of the Craig movies so this would be a way doing it without
nonsense like what happened with "Author-Of-All-Your-Pain-Gate".
I appreciated SKYFALL a lot but especially after SPECTRE I am done with the melodrama myself. I don't mind at all a serious love interest for Bond (my favourite: Gala Brand) but the movie should go back to escapism but not leave out the above mentioned trademarks of the Craig era (and Bond history) which automatically will rule out going to camp completely. The wit in CR and QoS is the perfect level for Craig - IMHO.
Things of the Craig era to drop for B25
- No more family ties
For me (I know there's controvery) the connection Bond had to Dame Judy's
M was believeable and it worked great for me in SF. But you can't repeat this
as SP showed. Drop this
- No more Blofeld
For now I fear he is just poison - don't bring him back before a new actor
takes over. Maybe mention SPECTRE ... but leave Blofeld alone.
- No more rain
Bring back bright colours - see Thunderball
- Drop the OHMSS references / story elements
I heavily wanted SPECTRE to become a new OHMSS. But it's wasted now and
even I think especially this novel suited Craig I would not go that route (anymore)
The potential is so huge B25 will become a truly awesome entry to the series because they have everything they need.
Plus: In comparison to Skyfall I sense EoN does not have that high pressure or urge to just repeat the previous movie's success by simple re-doing it (which, in many ways, is what they did with SPECTRE and - imho - failed).
I have very high hopes B25 will be very good Bond movie (again) - as a fan of the Craig era I could not be happier he does one more.
I'm with you 110%. Mendes has said as much himself - SF PTS is a relentless wham bam action sequence largely devoid of changes of pace. He has said that the PTS was the part of SF he was least happy with, and specifically set out to address its shortcomings in SP. I think he largely redeemed himself on that front.
For me one of my pet hates about the DC era is Bond constantly being micromanaged by Dench's M, so having her shouting down his ear from the get go is pretty much as bad as it gets for me (glad that seemed to be largely absent from SP). Cutting back to her at HQ also (for me) distracts from Bond. But then SF is not so much about Bond any way, so I guess it's part of an overall approach. Add in the very annoying Moneypenny, the Brosnan-esque cuff-popping and that 'bloody shot' and you have for me one of the most irritating PTS in the entire series.
I can't say the SF PTS is the worst - that would be going too far - but I certainly find it underwhelming. SF actually improves after that, and almost everything up to the helicopters hovering over Silva's island is actually pretty decent. After that it rapidly deteriorates though - suffering from the same shoddy plotting and writing as SP's third act. On this evidence, Bond should definitely steer well clear of extended scenes in London/UK in the future!
I'm hopeful about the prospects for B25. Director will obviously be crucial. The obvious concern though is that with Purvis and Wade writing, any decent director will come in and feel obliged to tear the script up and start from scratch.
For me the Mendes era was a bit of a disappointment. SF fell completely flat for me. Loved loads of the ideas and I feel it could have been amazing, but just bores me. SP was an improvement on SF but still far from firing on all cylinders.
I guess my biggest regret is that CR and QoS opened up this whole new fresh horizon for Bond. The series really seemed to be heading in the right direction. I think QoS even more than CR felt like it was wiping the slate clean and suggesting Bond could explore new territory. One of the things I love about QoS, is that like LTK, it subtly works in a lot of the traditional elements without you even realising, while still giving off this super fresh vibe. And then SF was this bizarre backward looking nostalgia-fest, with much less subtlety and Mendes S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G everything out for you. It felt tonally like a complete change of direction for the series. Lame jokes and the DB5 back - again.
As the blog that was posted on here recently said, I would love B25 to freshen things up again and recapture some of the feel of Craig's first two. It can be a 'dark' film - it feels like that's almost unavoidable - but I want the energy back that Mendes lost. A shorter film would help on this front. A well told, tightly plotted, shorter movie.
Good point!
I always used to think a Bond film set in the UK would be a great idea, but SF and SP have largely disabused me of that idea. Leave the UK to MI5 and BBC's Spooks - which the last couple of Bond films have increasingly resembled!
I personally liked SF (as mentioned before) but the criticism of the Mendes approach is very much visible in SPECTRE to me. SF just won me over by it's overall look and feel - something SPECTRE did not achieve at all.
SF and SP are both definitely cut from the same cloth, and it's funny therefore how they divide people so much.
Am with you regards Moneypenny and Q in SF!
I found her trying too hard and him not trying hard enough! Annoying is right! I found both much improved in SP!
What has a caricature of the Bond actors got to do with anything?
Followed by a jab at Craig. ITS A CARICATURE !
I think the way he actually bleeds is one of the best things about DC's Bond to be honest. But I don't think that caricature is very spot on anyway. Moore was more of a ladykiller, he should have Brosnan's pose, Brosnan should have the martini or a machine gun. Lazenby should have some flowers for Tracy or something, or even just be standing there with nothing at all because he was more of an everyman. Connery Dalton and Craig are pretty spot on though.
Apart from SP when Hinx beat the crap out of him and he didn't have a mark on him,something else that annoyed me about that film.
Lazy again.
Brosnan should have a hair dryer in his hand. When is he going to be knighted ?
Yes,Sir Roger should have the underwear.
Sir Sean should have a bottle of champagne.
DC looks more like a villain or henchman compared to the rest...
I don't think he has done enough to be knighted,compared to Sir Sean and Sir Roger,who are movie icons.
(Plus Sir Roger's UNICEF work).