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I don't see how you can get to that point, since Eva Green would have yielded the same result with that script combined with Craig's choice to lean in a slightly Roger direction for this performance. The script gives her no banter with Bond at all and doesn't effective develop or unpackage her character. And then it makes her self-contradictory by shoving her into a damsel role. There's a very small list of actresses who could make that interesting, and aint none of them getting cast as Bond girls.
If you've ever seen The Dreamers, even more so!
A bit more work form costume department would have been nice. ;)
I always liked the long black gloves!
Granted I suppose.
I still think she would have battled with Madeleine as written. The effort to make her a person in her first scene falls apart completely thereafter.
Really good points and sensible suggestions.
She's amazing in Penny Dreadful.
ACT I
On the Day of the Dead, Bond is in Mexico City to investigate the origin of encrypted signals sent to MI6 by an unknown sender called the Pale King. His trail leads him to an abandoned bordello where he discovers a dying Mr. White who explains being hunted for years. By emitting these signals, the dying man knows he revealed his position to those who want him dead; nevertheless he wanted to see Bond. With little time left, he asks his former foe to protect his daughter who will become the next target of his pursuers. He assures him that she will be useful to the British Secret Service. Satisfied with Bond's acceptance, White commits suicide. Leaving, Bond comes face to face with an assassin sent to eliminate White. After a brutal fight, during which he inadvertently takes his ring emblazoned with a stylized octopus, Bond kills the man.
In London, Bond learns from M that the man he killed has been identified as Marco Sciarra; his funeral will take place next week in Rome. Recently, MI6 has been merged with MI5 to form a Joint Intelligence Service that its director, Denbigh, aspires to privatize. Not trusting his new superior who wants the Mexico operation to be forgotten, M gives Bond a two weeks leave, allowing him to off the record find Mr. White’s daughter and attend Sciarra’s funeral. Thanks to information provided by his late enemy, Bond travels to the private medical clinic in the Alps where Madeleine Swann works. As in the movie, she doesn't want to hear anything and asks Bond to leave when Mr. Hinx arrives. Rather than trying to abduct her, Hinx plans to kill her as well as everyone in the clinic in order to pass off this targeted assassination as a terrorist attack. Bond flees with Swann, prompting a snowmobile chase. Swann finally agrees to help Bond.
ACT II
In anticipation of Sciarra's funeral, Bond and Swann arrive in Rome. As they spend the evening together she explains that, years ago, Quantum was disbanded before a ghost organization known as SPECTRE arises from its ashes, aspiring to reconsolidate its power and get rid of the men responsible for its past failures. As far as she knows, SPECTRE seeks to establish itself as a counterintelligence and extortion service, able to supplant state intelligence and be as powerful as governments. When passing the information on to M, Bond learns that, following the attack on the clinic, Denbigh is figuring what was going on. M gives him his blessing but tells him to be careful.
Bond and Swann attend the funeral and meet Sciarra's widow. Bond follows Lucia to her palazzo at nightfall and offers to protect her. They spend the night together and Bond, who discovers her deformity of being singled breasted on the left side, learns about a meeting between members of the organization during a gala. They are interrupted by Hinx who kills Lucia. Injured and feeling guilty, Bond manages to escape, but ultimately goes with Swann to the gala. Thanks to the octopus ring, they are granted the access to the meeting where they are spotted by an MI6 agent. As the meeting begins, the leader of the organization is revealed to be Denbigh. At the end of the meeting, the MI6 agent, who turns out to be Denbigh’s bodyguard, brings Bond and Swann to his employer. Denbigh explains that, as the head of the Joint Intelligence Service, he managed to make the Secret Service a branch of his organization, something his associates accomplished in their own countries. Ultimately, these privatizations will fully allow SPECTRE to secure a monopoly on intelligence services around the world. As they prepare to be executed, Bond and Swann once again manage to escape, leading to a car chase.
Before destroying all his means of communication, knowing that MI6 agents will be sent after him, Bond learned from M that Denbigh will attend a summit in Morocco between representatives of NATO and other Mediterranean countries. Thanks to her father's old friends, Swann manages to travel with Bond to Tangiers where she takes him to L’Américain. They discover White's evidences directing them to the SPECTRE base at a crater in the Sahara. In the train, they are attacked by Hinx who directly takes them to the base. There they are greeted not by Denbigh as they expect but by Lucia, revealed as the true mastermind behind SPECTRE.
ACT III
After inviting her hosts to dinner, Lucia tortures Bond as she discusses what will follow: her organization will attack the summit, kill several international representatives with the aim of destabilizing their governments, creating a need to strengthen the already controlled agencies. All powerful, the agents of SPECTRE will be able to privatize the services, thus achieving the monopoly desired. As in the movie, Bond and Swann set off the explosive wristwatch and, after a last showdown with Hinx, escape to Tangier to prevent the attack.
In Tangier, they are immediately arrested by MI6 agents. However, due to an unexpected absence from Denbigh, they are brought to M who also attends the summit. All international representatives are then made aware of the imminent attack and the SPECTRE commando is stopped. Attempting to flee, Denbigh and his bodyguard are killed by Bond.
Upon his return to London, Bond collects the repaired DB5 from Q. He learns from M that Lucia is still on the run, but nonetheless drives away with Swann.
And honestly I quite like the stuff with Bond following Dench M's instructions: I think it adds a nice bit of tension.
What is much improved here is that the Denbeigh actually crosses over with Bond's plot- in the film they meet once at the beginning and never again which makes the whole thing feel a bit disconnected.
PS some great ideas in this thread, the vast majority are big improvements on the film. Perhaps they need a "fan panal" to consult before giving the green light? How did they not see these issues?
Instead we got the rest of the film, which didn't live up to that promise at all.
If people just want constant action they can watch the QoS car chase.
One thing I rather liked about NTTD was how they reintroduced SPECTRE during the Cuba sequence. Instead of a stuffy boardroom meeting with the usual 'Blofeld kills one of his colleagues' moment that we've seen before, we got a weirdly camp 'Bunga Bunga' party with colourful costumes/set design etc. One of my complaints about SP was the fact that it brought back Blofeld and SPECTRE without doing anything new with them. I kinda wish we'd have had something like that Cuba scene when Bond infiltrates their meeting in Rome - something more outlandish/fantastical. I'd say that same sense could have been applied to the film overall. NTTD, despite its flaws, felt more fantastical overall and, to me, more Bondian in a sense.
Apart from that, my suggestions have always been the same. Recast Waltz as Blofeld, get rid of the foster brother subplot, rethink the film's cyberterrorism plot (very dull and devoid of stakes). Perhaps another 'what if' that occurred to me after NTTD was the idea of Rami Malek playing Blofeld. Not the way he played Safin, just as a younger version of the character.
And forget the Bond code name nonsense. It's silly. If every 007 is named James Bond, he might as well wear a neon sign on his chest announcing himself as an MI6 agent.
Bond: "The name is Bond. James Bond."
Enemy agent: "In other words, you're 007, a British spy."
Bond: "How did you know?"
Enemy agent: "Because all you guys are called James Bond. We've been on to you guys for over sixty years."
And we don't also need to suffer some family connections, the step brother angle, All is connected, Madeleine Swann and their relationship, daddy bond and of course, him dying.
None asked them to do those things, and I don't know why they've done that.
Or another option would be for Craig to have his last film in 2015, but an entirely different movie where he had some basic mission, just like the classic Bond. Him being James Bond that we know and love, no family connections, no forced touchy feely moments, just have him save the world and have a break with his girl and he can bow out.
To be honest, I'd prefer if the Craig era was the explanation of how Bond became the Bond we all know, like a prequel to those classic films.
How M became the fatherly and stoic M that we all know, it's not hard for me to imagine that Ralph Fiennes' M was actually the young Miles Messervy (Bernard Lee), how both Moneypenny and Q are introduced.
And why Bond was acting like that, he's a womanizer, loner and sophisticated.
That's why I think the Casino Royale to Skyfall could be a prequel to the classic films.
Typical like the Star Wars Prequels with Anakin Skywalker.
It had the opportunity to tied it up to the classic films.
But they've ruined a such a great opportunity with SPECTRE and NTTD.
A stand-alone Bond movie for Craig where he saves the world and passes the torch to someone fresh after 2015 would have been better.