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Yes, it's a bit of a pattern within the era that gets repetitive. We get the same thing at the end of CR and QoS, then Bond's ability and age is somehow questioned in SF. Then it ends in a classic manner, only for SP to begin with Bond not being trusted, clearly working on his own, etc. NTTD rolls around and he's retired for good, but he's back again due to a retconned issue of the past. There's no semblance of consistency there with his status, of sorts, and you can tell it's one aspect that wasn't worked out well in advance (and something I hope the future eras can achieve, either through long term planning or simply going back to unique missions for each film with no lingering narrative between all the films).
Of course, Spectre went and repeated the 'is Bond becoming irrelevant??' question a second consecutive time, (it was even pitched as Bond's 'last mission' to Sony executives) which was tedious as hell.
No doubt. It seems some of the best moments of Bond's prime during the Craig era happen offscreen.
Absolutely. I count Blood Stobe as one such mission. I replayed some of it last weekend and the DB5 chase is probably my favourite section of the game.
Such a fun game, that one. I personally prefer QoS, I have a ton of great memories attached to that one, but BloodStone is excellent. I can't wait for this new game from IO.
Even the weaker novels would give a starting point to a screenwriter...
Which reminds me - someone sent me a link to the Youtube footage of Bloodstone, as I'm not a gamer and had never seen any of it. It was really good - could definitely have been expanded into a film. Had a good laugh at the way the graphics managed to capture Craig's walk too - and loved how he tossed away the hardhat, the way that CraigBond always nonchalantly chucks things aside!
Certainly! At the very least this game deserves a remaster using new video game graphics and more input from Judi Dench as M. Daniel Craig was highly involved in the production of this game behind the scenes.
I don't view QoS as much of a revenge film from Bond's perspective, as he really doesn't commit any vengeful acts or risks the mission to do anything remotely selfish throughout the film. The revenge is very much on Camille's side, where she is 100% invested in tracking Greene to get to Medrano, so that he can be killed and she can have some form of closure for what he did to her family.
On Bond's side, though, he doesn't take the mission just to get information that leads to the truth behind what happened to Vesper. Because you have to remember, by the time that Bond is on the trail of Quantum and Greene, he barely knows what he's getting into and at that time he is still denying to himself and others that Vesper had any emotional value to him. He was very much still rooted in denial, that she meant anything to him and that he cared about what happened to her, and you only commit revenge for someone that you are capable of admitting you cared for. None of Bond's denials are remotely true, as we see over time, but it's really only when Mathis and Bond are reunited and Mathis fights for Bond's soul that Bond begins to see things a different way, drops his guard and starts the rough but healthy process of forgiving and moving on from Vesper. I think Bond always knew that Vesper wasn't truly evil, and that something greater than the both of them was manipulating her to do what she did (as she not only fought to protect him at the barge, but also gave him a way to find White), but his pain was so immense at the time that he shut all that out of his mind to avoid further heartache.
When the mission is said and done at the end of the film, Medrano, the chief of police, all Greene's men and their deal is done and dusted, and Bond is left only with Greene himself, and it's only then that he gets the personal information he requires in order to figure out the truth behind how Vesper was put in the position she was at the end of CR. Greene thinks sharing this will save him, hilariously, and I love how Bond just leaves him to die. It's clear that Greene had information on what happened to Vesper, though we're never certain if this is because he and White worked close enough that he found this stuff out from the man directly, or if he just heard about the operation targeting Vesper from gossip inside the organization. The latter is most likely, as the drama with Le Chiffre, the missing money and all that chaos was a big stain on Quantum's reputation and you can only imagine how much everyone in the organization felt the pressure of that. It's not hard to imagine that details of what the plan was for Vesper would've been widely known news.
One Bond uncovers the man behind the honeytrap that targeted Vesper, Yusef, and finds out that she was as much a victim as she was, doing what she did to protect who she thought was her lover. Furthermore, he finds Yusef in the middle of trying to manipulate yet another innocent woman, which he quickly puts a stop to to avoid another Vesper-like incident. But instead of doing what a man filled with a thirst for revenge would do, and killing Yusef then and there, Bond does the professional thing and allows the man to be submitted for questioning, since the knowledge he has of Quantum and their operations are more valuable to them than a corpse.
All of these actions on Bond's behalf point to why he states that, "I never left" at the end of the film, because he truly didn't.
*He didn't take the mission to get revenge on Quantum, or find out more about Vesper, and only used the opportunity to pump information from Greene when the job was done. He admits in the cave with Camille that they are both using Greene to get to someone, which shows that he has the intention of using Greene or others inside Quantum to get information relating to Vesper, but at no point does he put his own personal motivations ahead of the mission objectives and parameters. He only bothers to question Greene once the mission he was tasked with is concluded, which points to Bond's ability to separate his personal desires and what M is asking of him, which underscores his trustworthiness and that he wasn't doing all of this just for revenge. He was bothered by what Quantum was doing, and wanted to stop it and whatever else they had planned; what he was able to find out about Vesper ended up being a bonus.
*Bond in many ways is one of the most upstanding and trustworthy people in the film, though he is constantly viewed with suspicion by both the US and UK officials. MI6 don't think he can handle a job that relates so heavily to what happened to his lover (and in reality he'd probably have been removed from the job due to a conflict of interest), and the US has Beam as station chief who is doing a corrupt deal to get the country oil while letting Medrano run wild. As the film ends it's Bond, not any of these bad eggs, who is disarmed and kicked from duty with a hit squad out on him, but even at his most desperate he does what he feels is right and finishes the job once and for all, without any bitterness or regret.
I think all these details point to the fact that, despite sometimes having some very unconventional methods for doing his job, Bond could be trusted to do what needed to be done, without worrying if he was being corrupted by his own ego or emotional turmoil. All the men he kills that M seems to take him to task for he killed to protect himself, all the work he did to target Greene led to the disbandment of the deal between the man and Medrano, and the only time he used Greene to get information was when the job was officially done, which was the moral thing to do.
Furthermore, I think once Mathis died in his arms and he saw how unchanged Camille was after killing Medrano, Bond realized that revenge wasn't the right way to handle grief. He says as much, telling Camille, "I don't think the dead care about vengeance." He knows that no matter what he does, no matter how many conspirators he kills, nothing will ever bring Vesper back and all he'll end up having is more blood on his hands and less of a soul to hold on to. Vesper also wouldn't ever want him to do that, as she already understood how destructive Bond's job was, and always worried that the killing would drive him to be colder and colder as time went on. That Bond stays the course, is honest with himself about his grief and opens his heart to change, never compromises himself or his job to get what he wants and still completes his mission even after he's taken off of it proves just how much Bond has changed from who he was, and how much of a professional he has cemented himself as. The Bond at the start of CR likely would've popped Yusef no problem, letting his anger and indifference for rules take over, but the more seasoned, matured and wise Bond of QoS exerts a level of self-control and discipline his rookie self didn't yet have. In being heartbroken, Bond became more whole.
Part of why I love the scene in the hotel, beyond just how amazing it is to see Judi and Dan having a tense confrontation with all cylinders firing, is because Bond is being 100% honest. He spends the entire film constantly being gaslit by others who tell him who he is, what he is and what he's doing wrong, and that scene was his opportunity to finally speak for himself. It's a relatable moment, because I'm sure we've all had highly frustrating or stressful experiences where even our best intentions come off as the opposite.
Very good points. It's not a revenge film, and I don't think it was ever going to be. But the idea of revenge is very much at the forefront of the film, especially with Camille.
I'm still iffy about QOS on many levels (perhaps it's due a rewatch from me though) but there's a lot to it that is certainly interesting.
I understand why it takes people a while to come around to parts of QoS. Some of the editing doesn't do it any favors, and I feel the way it was assembled, at least in the action scenes, makes people not want to revisit it. Even I can objectively admit the film deserved more time to breathe in those moments. I love the action, in terms of choreography, and wish those shots had more time to breathe to show off how incredible it was. At times you get the idea that the editor got a message that no shot was to last longer than two seconds, and some of the cuts are bizarre and out of place because of that.
I think the film isn't as badly edited as it's been derided for, however. The action is still shot very wide most of the time, which helps to make it feel more intelligible than the likes of the Bourne series, which are poorly shot across the board, shaky cam, zoomed in photography and all. Despite some of the editing choices, I still think moments like the opening chase and Slate fight really stand out as moments of high adrenaline and tension. The movie hits far more than it misses in that department.
And the internal story, of Bond grieving Vesper and dealing with his pain is extremely compelling and Dan shows off his amazing talent at acting throughout. This era and the stories it told wouldn't have hit anywhere near as hard if it didn't have such a ridiculous good actor as Bond, and I'm so glad we got to see these kinds of vulnerable, emotional stories for this character.
For all that we now know about this movie, and that the script was assembled on the fly and wasn't even finished before it was started, it has some of the best string of scenes out of any Bond film I've seen. The TOSCA sequence, the confrontation with Bond and M in the hotel, all the heart to hearts between Bond and Camille (and how the film just lets them be partners in pain, not lovers), Mathis and Bond's burying of the hatchet, Mathis's death and the send off to Greene and confrontation with Bond and Yusef are all five star moments that I always think of with great admiration. It's not perfect, but I find it to be a very strong follow up to CR that helps to tie up a lot of loose ends from the last movie while allowing Bond to move on at the end in respectful fashion. You really feel that Bond has come full circle, and has grown not just as a man, but as an agent. It just ticks so many boxes for me, and I'm glad that it's been getting more and more appreciation since it came out. I think it's well deserved.
And don't even get me started on the sartorial stuff. I don't think there's a Bond film that has as many great formal and casual looks for Bond, across the board. Dan really made a big impact by having Bond dressed so casually so often, and his choice to prioritize polos, harrington styled jackets, denim pants and shoes with a nice casual and dressy middle ground have made him the best dressed Bond in my opinion, with Connery standing as his only worthy competition.
I believe I read once that Haggis had planned of having Vesper bear a child that would be Bond's, but I don't know how accurate that is. Interesting how Bond ends up having a kid anyway, which is a much more fitting story idea for his last mission than it happening so early in his career.
All in all, I'm very happy with how the final story came together, and genuinely find it to be one of the better scripts across the board. The character writing is really strong, and I enjoy the more grounded, real world plotting straight out of contemporary geo-politics. It's a Bond for a modern age, as it should be.
Not to mention, a timeless one that has a lot of re-watchable value to it rather than the once-and-done that get left in their era. Even the style of Tom Ford has stayed through the rest of the films to this day from QoS.
I'm proud of the entire era for having a real respect for who Bond is. How he was written really stays true to who he was developed to be early on, and any changes he underwent were positive and well developed. That consistency makes him feel all the more real, and once again it's only something you can achieve with an actor like Dan at the center of it all. The producers (and Dan as well) knew what would work and what wouldn't when it came to who Bond was and how he acted, and their dedication to his characterization is something I respect.
I actually think something like that would have deepened Bond's arc in SF in a positive way, providing a mirror image to him whereby he gives the daughter the best life possible - unlike the one he had.
Obviously NTTD touches on these themes in a less subtle way later on in that Bond literally gives his life for his own daughter, so they kind of worked it in there in a roundabout way in the end.
I do like the idea of Bond encountering an orphan, say a child whose parents are killed during a botched MI6 job that Bond feels some level of responsibility for watching over. It would be interesting to see Bond faced with a young boy not unlike himself, who he tries to usher through the grieving process and gets him adopted into a good family at the end once his mission is over. But I know a lot of people here have gotten tired of remotely personal stories being told.
I'm not so sure he would be. After all, the film makes it clear that he is not motivated by "his duty" and not emotion. He decision in that regard would compound that fact.
@CraigMooreOHMSS, Bond still has an emotional investment, it's just that he isn't governed by that. He can do his job, and keep what he feels in check, but that doesn't mean it's not an ever present fire burning in him.
I just don't think the Haggis ending is as simple as the one we got, in terms of what Bond thinks he should do. It is far easier for him to allow Yusef to be taken in and move on, as the woman he loves is dead, he knows he can't bring her back and the only way forward is to leave all that grief behind him. There is nothing holding him back and he has no choice but to do what he does, as nothing else makes sense. But if a girl who was Vesper's was tangled up in a mess, and was in danger, I think Bond would be far more concerned and it'd be harder for him to avert his eyes because while Vesper is gone, the girl is very much alive. I just don't think Bond would be able to walk away and not be bothered by leaving her at the mercy of the world.
Perhaps if he didn't adopt her, he'd do what he could using MI6 resources to find the girl a safe and protected life in London, that way he could trust that she'd be alright and he could still be a part of her life, to whatever degree the pair desire that to be. That is perhaps the best compromise, as Bond would know he's not in the place to be a father, doesn't have a job that makes that easy, and to be objective, she shouldn't be his responsibility, despite the love he had for her mother. So that route, of having her safe and near, is probably the best middle ground that could be found between leaving her to live her own life and adopting her himself. The more I talk about this, the happier I am we didn't get this story. Just don't like the premise of it at all.
This would be what I was thinking of. I fail to see why he would need to be part of her life going forward, though. He does what he can for her and then moves on, as he should. He's a professional; as you say, he's not governed by his emotions.
We are judging the story through the prism of what came after, with the emotional stakes of SP and NTTD especially in mind and a full picture of what Dan's Bond ultimately became. 2020 Bond certainly would have followed your line, where he was more governed by his emotions - but in 2008, the ending wouldn't have had that baggage to draw comparisons to and would have been fairly in keeping with prior expectations of Bond.
It likely would have changed the trajectory of the entire era and made them reluctant to perhaps introduce his own child down the line, though.
It does bring up an interesting question, though. Do we know how old this child was supposed to be? Because if she was meant to be older, it doesn't make Vesper look all that good. Are we to believe that she and the girl's father are separated, because otherwise she was being unfaithful when she was being with Bond. Another aspect of this that makes me glad they didn't go this route, as it leaves too many questions in the air and doesn't match up well to CR. The QoS we got is a fantastic sequel in comparison, where the puzzle pieces all fit together tightly in terms of how the characters act and how the events unfold in relation to what came prior.