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I hope SPECTRE and ESB can be given a rest for a while. I'm ready for a Bond film in which MI6's computer system isn't hacked or doesn't go down. Nor Bond being handed gadgets that predict the exact kind of dicey situation he'll find himself in. As a potential storyline, AI already feels hackneyed. Had quite enough of smart blood and chips implanted in Bond's body.
I wrote elsewhere I'd like a Bond film where he finds himself in a situation without gadgets and phones. Something more of a thriller reminiscent of Hitchcock.
I don't thinking writing the next Bond film will be easy. After 25 films, finding a new direction and plots that feel fresh will be challenge.
After seeing his Moriarty, one knew what was coming.
Yes, I have been thinking that a reinvention of the Double 0s and/or M's place in MI6 (as in Carte Blanche where he's not the head of MI6 but just of the 00s) could be a way to approach the next version of Bond. Maybe show M building the 00 section and approaching Bond to join.
Those aren't in the middle of London though! It's a touch busier there :D
And it's less about no-one noticing it: more that it's very hard to build a skyscraper in a few months, let alone in one of the busier cities on the planet where you'd have to purchase and demolish a load of pre-existing buildings on the site first.
To be completely fair I don't think C being a villain was ever meant to be a 'twist' as such. He's at the very least set up as an antagonist, which may have been why they felt it appropriate to cast Scott in the first place.
But I agree. It's a dull casting decision ultimately and a wasted character.
He was as subtle as a sledgehammer to the head.
I think the problem in SP was mostly the script, not his performance. I wish he could have been cast as the main bad guy in a Bond movie with a better script.
Yeah I always thought that as Moriarty he did a pretty poor job. Doing that sort of Joker-style 'I'm mad me' is the kind of thing you see in a lot of US action B movies and a lot of actors seem to think they can do it, but it takes real talent to pull it off well (see most of the actors who have actually played the Joker in the movies).
I actually thought that John Simm in Dr Who as the Master did it incredibly well- which I only mention because Sherlock and Dr Who were so closely related and Moriarty appeared immediately after Simm's Master did.
I like to imagine Hugh Grant playing C: imagine how good that would have been and how much stronger he'd be in it.
Great suggestion. He’d have added quite a bit of nuance and layers to the character.
The real trick is to find an actor that’s different enough that you can’t imagine Craig playing the role like the new guy. That’s how Roger Moore succeeded after following Connery. He couldn’t have done what Connery did in the 60s, but he brought something unique to the part that made it his own.
In a sense, they should look for a guy who could only work for the films they’ll want to make, rather than who could have worked in Craig’s films.
Ah fair enough. And yes, that's very accurate, haha.
That'd work. It would definitely play up the idea that C can win people over with his charm, which makes sense for the character.
Can also see John Simm playing the role now that you mention him. I can see him better playing up the more obsessive and quietly sinister qualities of C, which I think also would have done the character more justice. Underrated actor too, and while he's great as The Master I liked him in Life On Mars especially.
Or bring back Helen McCrory from SF to do it. What a great actress. RIP.
Yeah he'd have been decent. I'm increasingly coming around to the idea that he overacts a bit. Still, better than Scott.
Oh yes please; wow she should have been a Bond villain. Gone way too soon.
When have things in Bond films ever had to make sense? ;)
Is this the sign that they're now working on Bond 26? Hmmmm 🤔
I think it’s more of a sign that they’re positioning to cover all of the history of 007 and that Craig has joined the ranks of past Bonds: I wouldn’t read anything more into it.
I'd take a film like that. They'd have to come up with a good reason why he doesn't have any tech on him, but that should be doable.
On the whole, however, I am kind of on the other side of the spectrum: I want him to use tech more naturally. I've written this somewhere else, but there is so much tech a spy like Bond could just use out of the box and it'd be interesting. You don't need some crazy invention by Q branch that obviously only works in one situation that Bond miraculously comes into later.
Maybe it's a bit mundane, but I can easily listen in on people who think I can't hear them on the train or wherever, because my noise cancelling headphones have a mode that enhances outside noises instead of lowering it. Easy little spy scene right there (maybe have Q put in a stronger directional microphone so Bond can listen in on someone on the other side of the room) and you can even get a product placement deal out of it.
Same with phones. Yeah, you can just make up a fantasy app that does the one thing Bond needs, but you can also do stuff people in the world already do. Secure messaging apps like Signal let you exchange personalized codes with a contact to make sure the person you are messaging with is who you think they are. Not super sexy, but just a small, realistic security thing. I think it was on BlackBerrys that you could have like a separate work and private profile so your work stuff couldn't be compromised by your private stuff. You could easily imagine Bond's phone being able to shuffle through different cover profiles and a little thriller or comedy scene based around that.
There are so many little tech things they could do that aren't "and then a chainsaw comes out of his belt buckle!" (and even if you'd want that, phone bomb is the most obvious little gadget you could imagine)
Yeah that’s well-put. There is a really good Bond film in there somewhere struggling to get out.
For me it's a toss up between SP and TMWTGG as the ultimate 'what if' films of the franchise. It's actually kind of exciting coming up with alternative versions of both films in the sense that not only are they much more interesting, but often I find these ideas could be the basis for different films entirely (sort of like how DAD used elements of DAF - not quite a remake but definitely revising basic ideas).
Spectre is the trickier of the two for me, because when I see all of the plot beats written down, I quite like them! I don't actually know how to fix it and I don't really know why it doesn't work. I would love to read a master scriptwriter do an analysis and point out where the story goes wrong; I find that stuff fascinating.
Andrew Ellard is a scriptwriter who always gives interesting takes:
https://ellardent.medium.com/tweetnotes-extra-spectre-b34a41ebf5f8
https://ellardent.medium.com/tweetnotes-spectre-1f2357c1392f
I'm sure the producers were aware of TWINE's faults/untapped potential considering how much of its ideas were reworked in SF.
Nice, some interesting stuff there from a quick read.
I get what you mean about TMWTGG. Still, it's one of those Bond films that I'd like to see them take elements from and 'have another go at' in the same way SF did with major ideas from TWINE.
Yeah definitely. I think the only problem is it's really hard to improve upon the specific iconography of the Man with the Golden Gun. Considering how it's one of the weakest Bonds it's amazing how well-remembered Scaramanga is, and I think that's down to Lee and the general coolness of the gun itself, a gadget assembled from bits and pieces. He really is the alt Bond, and if they revisited it I'd almost like them to just go the whole hog and remake it (which is essentially what they did with Blofeld in Spectre I guess.. ). Or give him his own spinoff.