Christoph Waltz as Blofeld - Hit or miss?

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  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Green has grown on me. He is such a smarmy, oily character and Almaric really does him justice. He has a few great moments in QoS.

    "We've been compromised!"
    "I have a pest"
    "Please don't talk to me like I'm stupid!... It's unattractive."
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    For me, he's my second-least favorite Blofeld actor so far, just above 1981's cameo. He didn't convince me as Blofeld, even allowing for a non-traditional interpretation of the character. He just seemed like Christoph Waltz being Christoph Waltz, I'd have much rathered an unknown actor take the role and make it his own. My rankings:

    1. Blofeld in FRWL (1963)
    2. Blofeld in TB (1965)
    3. Blofeld in OHMSS (1969)
    4. Blofeld in YOLT (1967)
    5. Blofeld in DAF (1971)
    8. Blofeld in Spectre (2015)
    7. Blofeld in FYEO (1981)

    I don't consider Never Say Never Again a Bond film, so I'm not even considering it here.

    This is what I'd like to see, so we can get an idea of just how much of a hit or miss people think Waltz was. I'd say my rankings are:

    1. FRWL Blofeld the monologue about the betta fish was perfect.
    2. TB "ours is a dedicated fraternity whose strength lies in the absolute integrity of its members" how someone could make that line so menacing I don't know.
    3. OHMSS Telly was a bit jovial, but physically imposing and not overly cheery like some people I'll mention.
    4. YOLT Pleasanse inspired parody for a reason. A little camp, but some great lines. His "my name is ESB" was miles better than Waltz.
    5. NSNA-a little grandfatherly, but stiff menacing
    6. SPECTRE as others have said, Waltz was at his best when he wasn't completely scene. If they had done something like FRWL and TB and he was never clearly scene we may have had a hit. I thought it was pretty silly to give him the tacked on scar and white cat-like he wouldn't be Blofeld without it.
    7. DAF-just way to friendly to Bond. And his voice machine for taking over Jimmy Dean's empire was hokey. His not killing Bond instantly when he got on that oil rig is absurd.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Good ranking. I would switch 5 and 6.
  • Posts: 15,123
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I've done this plenty before but:

    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. SP
    4. DAF
    5. YOLT
    6. NSNA
    7. FYEO


    This seems to be the one area that I rank SPECTRE higher than others do.

    Interesting. May I ask why? (And for the record I enjoyed Waltz's take on Blofeld, but I am curious).
    suavejmf wrote: »
    -Le Chiffre was just perfect
    -Green was ok but a boring pussy of a character.
    -Silva was too over the top for a movie like Skyfall and Bardem's acting was a tad camp and pantomime.
    -Oberhauser is overated. Telly was far superior as Blofeld and much more Flemingesque.

    Craig is a brilliant Bond and I love his films. But with the exception of Mad's. The villains are a weak point of his tenure for me.

    It's a bit early to say if he was overrated. Or underrated for that matter. He is not universally praised in any case. I'd say however that some elements of Savalas's Blofeld were rather un-Flemingesque (his smoking, his sudden romantic interest in Tracy), while Waltz's Blofeld has the source material's foppish appearance (from the OHMSS novel) and the obsession with details, as well as a keen interest (obsession?) in information, which he considers a source of power.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I've done this plenty before but:

    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. SP
    4. DAF
    5. YOLT
    6. NSNA
    7. FYEO


    This seems to be the one area that I rank SPECTRE higher than others do.

    Interesting. May I ask why? (And for the record I enjoyed Waltz's take on Blofeld, but I am curious).
    suavejmf wrote: »
    -Le Chiffre was just perfect
    -Green was ok but a boring pussy of a character.
    -Silva was too over the top for a movie like Skyfall and Bardem's acting was a tad camp and pantomime.
    -Oberhauser is overated. Telly was far superior as Blofeld and much more Flemingesque.

    Craig is a brilliant Bond and I love his films. But with the exception of Mad's. The villains are a weak point of his tenure for me.

    It's a bit early to say if he was overrated. Or underrated for that matter. He is not universally praised in any case. I'd say however that some elements of Savalas's Blofeld were rather un-Flemingesque (his smoking, his sudden romantic interest in Tracy), while Waltz's Blofeld has the source material's foppish appearance (from the OHMSS novel) and the obsession with details, as well as a keen interest (obsession?) in information, which he considers a source of power.

    I agree. I like Savalas, but he's more gangster than Devil incarnate. Waltz brings an otherworldly presence. The Dawson/Pohlmann is still the best IMO, for obvious reasons, but as far as full frontal Blofelds go, Waltz is my favourite.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I've done this plenty before but:

    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. SP
    4. DAF
    5. YOLT
    6. NSNA
    7. FYEO


    This seems to be the one area that I rank SPECTRE higher than others do.

    Interesting. May I ask why? (And for the record I enjoyed Waltz's take on Blofeld, but I am curious).

    I mainly love his delivery (actually even more so in the scene in the teaser trailer, which was a different take than appeared in the final).
    I much preferred the delivery in the trailer too. More charismatic. The same goes for Bardem's almost fey "So what's yours?" in the SF trailer vs. the final film.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    bondjames wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I've done this plenty before but:

    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. SP
    4. DAF
    5. YOLT
    6. NSNA
    7. FYEO


    This seems to be the one area that I rank SPECTRE higher than others do.

    Interesting. May I ask why? (And for the record I enjoyed Waltz's take on Blofeld, but I am curious).

    I mainly love his delivery (actually even more so in the scene in the teaser trailer, which was a different take than appeared in the final).
    I much preferred the delivery in the trailer too. More charismatic. The same goes for Bardem's almost fey "So what's yours?" in the SF trailer vs. the final film.

    It's still awesome IMO. For my money, if you don't buy Waltz in the Rome scenes then you have abysmal taste (I'm not suggesting anyone here does).
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited January 2016 Posts: 23,883
    RC7 wrote: »
    For my money, if you don't buy Waltz in the Rome scenes then you have abysmal taste (I'm not suggesting anyone here does).
    Of course not.

    I preferred him in the shadows in Rome, and before he opened his mouth. When he did, all menace disappeared for me. Surprising, given how chilling Waltz has been for me in other films.

    Having said that, as I've said earlier, I personally think all the other Blofelds have been pretty useless as well, except for the unseen ones in FRWL/TB. My favourite seen one of the past may actually be Gray because at least he played it for laughs.

    Given such low standards, I think Waltz is probably the best 'seen' one, but I'll take any number of other Bond villains (includng Almaric's Greene) over him.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    bondjames wrote: »
    RC7 wrote: »
    I think Waltz is probably the best 'seen' one, but I'll take any number of other Bond villains (includng Almaric's Greene) over him.

    Greene was golden.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Telly!
    Honestly, the problem is I only see Kojak whenever I see him in OHMSS (a show I saw a lot of as a kid well before I saw OHMSS - which I was a late comer to). His accent and mannerisms are quite similar.
  • Posts: 1,631
    Overall, I wasn't particularly impressed with Waltz as Blofeld. Well, actually, I take that back, once he was actually revealed to be Blofeld (not that it wasn't blatantly obvious beforehand), he was actually OK. He was pretty good in the London climax of the film, finally displaying some menace.

    Before that, not so much. I did like the way he craned his head up towards the balcony to lock eyes with Bond, but aside from that, the SPECTRE meeting (both Blofeld's involvement as well as the meeting in general) was a letdown for me, as was the "author of all your pain" scene in the crater. Both of those had the potential to be great, iconic moments in the franchise and both, IMO, fell flat.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    I thought 'author of all your pain' came after they were in the meteorite thing?

    I felt just the opposite. He became more cartoonish in London (particularly with the ill-advised scar). The Rome meeting he was far better.
  • Posts: 11,119
    Christoph Waltz as Blofeld was an absolute "HIT" if you ask me.

    However, I do think the character Blofeld on the whole needs some more films to become a "HIT" again with larger audiences, especially non-Bond fans. He has been away for 4 decades, so that you will hear a lot of 'numb' comparisons. Moreover, the character Blofeld isn't exactly an 'in-the-field-henchman-vs-villain', like Silva. So he could be a bit harder to relate to in today's society.

    So be patient. Perhaps use the character Blofeld sparingly in Bond #25. But again, Christoph Waltz was a "HIT" as Blofeld if you ask me.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    I think Waltz did very well for the most part. A couple of ropey details in there for sure, but he's got a lot of potential for something amazing if he comes back.

    The key for me was that I wasn't thinking about any previous Blofeld while I was watching him.
  • Posts: 1,548
    Who knew that waltz would end up playing esb!
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    LeChiffre wrote: »
    Who knew that waltz would end up playing esb!
    Retrospectively, he was a shoe-in (if a bit obvious choice) for a Bond villain ever since he did Inglorious Basterds. It was only a matter of time. So it's not surprising that they actually cast him for the most 'iconic' franchise villain.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,585
    Waltz's take (and also Mendes's, I guess) unveiled Blofeld's insanity. The "Cuckoo" line; some of Waltz's other lines were spoken like a child; and the loafers with no socks was a kicker.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    It would be interesting to hear Waltz's commentary on a DVD since he couldn't really talk about his character at the time of the film's release.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    edited January 2016 Posts: 45,489
    echo wrote: »
    It would be interesting to hear Waltz's commentary on a DVD since he couldn't really talk about his character at the time of the film's release.

    "I am not Blofeld. It is smarter than that."
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    If Waltz does a DVD commentary of SP one day he must find a way to mention 'That's a Bingo' atleast once.
  • Posts: 15,123
    bondjames wrote: »
    LeChiffre wrote: »
    Who knew that waltz would end up playing esb!
    Retrospectively, he was a shoe-in (if a bit obvious choice) for a Bond villain ever since he did Inglorious Basterds. It was only a matter of time. So it's not surprising that they actually cast him for the most 'iconic' franchise villain.

    We've had other obvious choices in the past in the franchise, especially for villains. See my thread "The virtues of typecasting".
  • Great actor, but was misused and underutilized in the film by Mendes and the writers.
  • DonnyDB5DonnyDB5 Buffalo, New York
    Posts: 1,755
    I feel like we haven't seen all of his potential as this iconic villain. That's why I hope he returns for another in full Blofeld mode. This was his origin story I suppose, but either way still perfect for the lead villain.
  • French TV is flooded by Clash of Clans ads featuring Christopher Waltz in weird performances. Imagine him shouting "Auf Wiedersehn" to 3D giants flying in the sky...
    Are they flooding other TV channels in other countries ?

    The "He's in it for the money" attitude gains some traction with these poor ads.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131

    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. YOLT
    4. NSNA
    5. FYEO
    6. SP
    7. DAF


  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    suavejmf wrote: »
    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. YOLT
    4. NSNA
    5. FYEO
    6. SP
    7. DAF


    Waltz worse than FYEO? You have appalling taste.
  • Posts: 11,119
    RC7 wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. YOLT
    4. NSNA
    5. FYEO
    6. SP
    7. DAF


    Waltz worse than FYEO? You have appalling taste.

    If I say that, moderators start warning me :-P. But I agree.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    RC7 wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. YOLT
    4. NSNA
    5. FYEO
    6. SP
    7. DAF


    Waltz worse than FYEO? You have appalling taste.

    Yep. You clearly have appalling manners.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    suavejmf wrote: »
    RC7 wrote: »
    suavejmf wrote: »
    1. FRWL/TB
    2. OHMSS
    3. YOLT
    4. NSNA
    5. FYEO
    6. SP
    7. DAF


    Waltz worse than FYEO? You have appalling taste.

    Yep. You clearly have appalling manners.

    Eh? Is this another one of those 'you have to respect my opinion' moments.
  • SarkSark Guangdong, PRC
    Posts: 1,138
    Directing the focus to the person "you have appalling taste" instead of to the opinion "this is a silly ranking" is usually what upsets people.
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