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But the screen time issue doesn't get over the fact IMO that Q, Moneypenny and Tanner are all badly miscast. Fiennes is decent.
And I have no problem with Naomi Harris, at all, but (repeating something I have said about both Q and Moneypenny), CR and QoS proved they are, or were, quite unnecessary in this new era.
Now that they're back, I see no way of getting rid of them until the next re-boot comes along.
CR and QoS showed they were fine movies without these characters. I wouldn't object to there being another 00 having a role in a future film beyond just a cameo, a corpse, mention in the dialogue or as a traitor. I'd like to see their skills as opposed to or complementing Bond's.
Their new idea of getting Tanner, Q, Moneypenny and M in on the action - "fresh" though it may be - does not work IMO.
Dalton did it best in this regard, by not addressing it. People caught on rather quickly.
I think the DC era has been so unique that audiences won't just simply accept a new actor in the role being the same man who lost Vesper, battled with Quantum and Silva, and met his "brother" in SP...
Bond has been standalone for decades (with loose continuity) and only recently has adopted the strict linear philosophy of other blockbusters. I don't think the public wants that from Bond, since it predated all the others and has its own storied history (films more than books imho) to draw from.
They are also a film generation hard-wired for re-casting that comes only with re-boots (for lead characters). It seems that the assumption with modern filmgoers is, once an actor gets too old for the role, they'll re-boot with a younger actor (or re-boot with a supposedly older actor in BATMAN).
I dunno, I think this will be tricky post-Craig: have a younger guy slip into the tux, but we're supposed to believe this is the same man we've watched since '06...
However, I can imagine there are some younger viewers who have embraced his era completely, including his trials and tribulations etc. What proportion of the overall audience they make up is not known. How loyal they are to the franchise is also unknown. Time will tell.
For me, Craig is just one of six actors who's played the role. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, his most recent two films have made more money than many over the past many years (despite a significant dropoff for SP vs. SF - but we must keep in mind the pricier IMAX theatres etc. which weren't there in the past), but from a cultural significance point of view, I'd contend that only SF has had any impact. Yes, I don't believe CR had as much of an impact among the general public as among us hardcore.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
This time I would find it difficult to believe that a new actor is the same man I've been watching for over a decade.
I'm 43 so I was not in diapers when DC was cast.
So I'm actually looking forward to the changeover (either this time or the next time after that) as much as I was towards the end of the Brosnan run.
I really think these people should find a way to get the films out more often in order to give the actors more films, because after about 10 years or so, a change is good.
But I really don't think audiences will care about this when a new Bond is introduced in 2020 or 2025 or whatever. It's Bond. M, Q and Moneypenny are there (or not). Simple as that. General audiences won't worry for more than 5 minutes over whether it's the same Bond or the same supporting cast. These sorts of things certainly never bothered anyone when Bond reversed age about 20 years between AVTAK and TLD or when Dench appeared in the reboot. Just get on with enjoying the movie at hand.
Completely agreed.
Once again, I'm 43, and even when I hear someone like Ben Affleck will be cast as Batman, or Tom Holland as Spiderman, I know that this will also come with a re-boot, that they will not continue on from what went before.
Now that Babs has entered into the world of re-boots herself with CR, and since the four films are so entwined (good or bad, we can argue the merits about that on another thread), I am wondering if she can re-cast a younger actor and just continue on as before?
As a Bond fan and a filmgoer, I myself would have trouble accepting a new actor as the same man I've been watching for the past decade (prior to DC, I had my favorite (SC), but never a real problem saying this is SUPPOSED to be the same man since '62).
In fact, I should edit my first statement: I think to get away from the DC era, Babs has no choice BUT to re-boot and then continue on from there, making stand-alone films, loosely or unrelated to each other, so that when she needs to re-cast Bond no. 8, there will be less need for a re-boot at all (since we're back to the stand-alone pictures and Bond once again has become the avatar for the side of good).
When they recast, they will go in a different direction again, but I'm not sure what it will be. Either they will go back to their past and try to deliver tight spy thrillers again, thereby making themselves stand out against the overblown competition, or they will draw from contemporary successful franchises and follow that path (like they did with Craig, rebooting and essentially melding the Bond universe with Bourne/Bat angst driven continuity and character path to resolution).
I don't think we'll necessarily see a 'full reset'. It also won't be a very soft one like the Dalton/Moore/Laz switch. Rather, it will most likely be along the lines of GE, with a reimagined, modern take.
(and is your suspicion that we are in for another lengthy gap between films where this type of "re-boot" would work once again?)
Craig has done four, which is what Brosnan had done when they recast. However, his tenure is already 4 years longer than Brosnan's was. So if he gets to do a fifth, that will likely be released 13 years after he got the role. He's also currently the same age that Brosnan was when he did his last and one year shy of the 50 year mark. Only Moore has made a Bond film in his 50s (I'm not counting NSNA) and his interpretation was never intense, but always rather more relaxed. Make of that what you will.
I don't think that the current batch of MP, Q & M have truly established themselves to the level that the old crew had (I'd liken it to the batch during Dalton's time). So I'm willing to bet that only one is going to be kept going forward, and that we will indeed have a GE style soft reboot with a concept which blends the old with the new (like that film did so successfully).
Q definitely. Even without gadgets you can work him into each film, he serves a real purpose and Wishaw is brilliant and could play the role until he's as old as Desmond was imo. I think we'll probably get another (softer) reboot after Craig but I'm praying he gets kept on. If they kept Dench then they should do everything they can to keep Wishaw.
Moneypenny I'm not too sure about. I'm not a fan of Harris in the part, think she's an amazing actress but in Bond she's always come across as wooden and her interactions with Craig seem forced. But to be honest I'm starting to think it's not her fault. Maybe it seems forced because after 20 something films of the same old flirting the character is just played out. And instead of trying to reinvent the character (e.g. making her a field agent like in SF) I think they may as well retire her for good, or at least relegate her to a background/not in every film presence like Tanner used to be. Because right now whenever Bond interacts with her it just feels like going through the motions imo. But maybe a well written scene and chemistry on par with Connery/Maxwell and Bond/Brosnan could change my mind.
Personally, I think Moneypenny is essential, though. You don't have to give her lots of screentime, just have her be there.
As for the new Bond question, Fiennes is such a good actor that they should have him back as M as long as he wants to do it. I like Harris in a vacuum, but she and Craig don't have the best chemistry, so I'd be willing to try her out with a new actor. I'm assuming the reason they got Winshaw is that he's so young that he can be another long tenured Q like Llewelyn.
I don't think you need to articulate anything in terms of "continuity" once Craig leaves. Just go back to self contained stories.
That, plus I think they realized after Cleese that they needed a different type than Desmond.