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Goodbye to Judi Dench? (Contains Skyfall Spoilers)

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  • Risico007Risico007
    Posts: 9,843
    tom Wilkinson was good in Ghost protocol
    shame he was killed
  • TheWraithTheWraith
    Posts: 3
    It's been more or less confirmed that they're killing Dench's M off. With her impending blindness (not to mention her age), I guess her leaving the series was something that was coming sooner or later.
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited April 2012 Posts: 4,512
    I always thinking Bond 25 be nice movie to let the chacter/Dench go.

    That Bond 23 be possible her last movie is something we already should keep in mind, also because of those litle hints in QOS. Bond returns and see the Empty chair. The only thing i don't whant to know is how. Dench look like more ill then before. In my fanart i hinted that i have liked to see she is gone and nobody knows where she is/fake her death in Bond 23 and returns for a finaly in Bond 25.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    We have to give to M_Balje though - he was the first to theorize that Judi Dench would be killed off after seeing the QOS teaser (in the teaser, Judi Dench was shown right before SWAT men with guns, thus Dench would die)....... Balje was just 4 years too early, but still what a genius !!! =D>
  • identigraphidentigraph
    Posts: 1,052
    I personally will be happy to see Dench go, nothing against her personallyy or as an actress, I just think the character got silly from TWINE onwards, TWINE especially made her seem like an old dear who had got lost on her way to Morrisons.

    I have always thought M should be male again but as mentioned in a post ealier perhaps an attractive older woman could add a new dimension to the character, a bit of sexual tension with Bond maybe?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    TheWraith wrote:
    It's been more or less confirmed that they're killing Dench's M off. With her impending blindness (not to mention her age), I guess her leaving the series was something that was coming sooner or later.

    Dench has clarified her condition does not lead to blindness.

    http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=10015
  • BorisScaramangaBorisScaramanga
    Posts: 53
    Dench's M was never to my liking. We desperately need a younger M, it will be something fresh for the Bond series. Come to think of it, I had been thinking of Bond plots. Oh well. R.I.P. the Bond we once knew (Goldfinger - Licence to Kill).
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    DaltonCraig007 wrote:
    We have to give to M_Balje though - he was the first to theorize that Judi Dench would be killed off after seeing the QOS teaser (in the teaser, Judi Dench was shown right before SWAT men with guns, thus Dench would die)....... Balje was just 4 years too early, but still what a genius !!! =D>

    Balje and Shadow indeed have made valid predictions over the years. But the Balje Classic, the tow-truck, has yet to arrive on screen. ;-)

  • MartinBondMartinBond Trying not to muck it up again
    edited April 2012 Posts: 860
    the-tourist-paul-bettany-timothy-dalton.jpg

    There you have M #4 if you ask me!
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,713
    DarthDimi wrote:
    But the Balje Classic, the tow-truck, has yet to arrive on screen. ;-)

    Taking M away to a secret place ? ;)
  • FromCanadaWithLoveFromCanadaWithLove Canada
    Posts: 612
    Well, would you look at that.
  • BlofeldSPECTREBlofeldSPECTRE
    Posts: 15
    Well it seems everyone got there wish lol
  • FromCanadaWithLoveFromCanadaWithLove Canada
    edited November 2012 Posts: 612
    I thought I would repost some interesting comments from the Spring 2011. Caution, Skyfall spoilers below.

    DarthDimi wrote:
    The idea of M going into battle is preposterous!
    Alan007 wrote:
    I think this should be her last, an ideal time to have M assassinated and new man brought in. No idea who though :D
    FromCanadaWithLove wrote:
    I'm willing to bet SkyFall is going to be Dench's last. She's great, but she has been around since 1996. That's pushing 16 years with next year's release.
  • JarrodJarrod
    edited November 2012 Posts: 232
    Dame Judi Dench will return as an apparition or ghost (i.e.: Obi-Wan) and boss Daniel Craig around. Though it would set it up nicely for him to ask "where the hell have you been?"
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Best to spoil tag that @Jarrod. Don't want those who haven't seen the film to stumble in her without knowing.
  • FromCanadaWithLoveFromCanadaWithLove Canada
    Posts: 612
    Jarrod wrote:
    Dame Judi Dench will return as an apparition or ghost (i.e.: Obi-Wan) and boss Daniel Craig around. Though it would set it up nicely for his to ask "where the hell have you been?"

    Only if Liam Neeson gets to voiceover.
  • SirHenryLeeChaChingSirHenryLeeChaChing
    Posts: 3,494
    Thank you Dame Judi for your contributions to the series I love. You saved your best performance for last. I wish this woman nothing but the very best in all her future endeavors =D>
  • BAIN123BAIN123
    edited November 2012 Posts: 11,189
    SirHenryLeeChaChing wrote:
    Thank you Dame Judi for your contributions to the series I love. You saved your best performance for last. I wish this woman nothing but the very best in all her future endeavors =D>

    I saw Skyfall for the third time today and still developed goosebumps when she delivered the Tennyson speech. The music/editing in that scene is grand too.

    Dame Judi I salute you!
  • wildboonjivewildboonjive
    Posts: 299
    BAIN123 wrote:
    SirHenryLeeChaChing wrote:
    Thank you Dame Judi for your contributions to the series I love. You saved your best performance for last. I wish this woman nothing but the very best in all her future endeavors =D>

    I saw Skyfall for the third time today and still developed goosebumps when she delivered the Tennyson speech. The music/editing in that scene is grand too.

    Dame Judi I salute you!

    I concur. Dame Judi, you are nothing but class. And your presence alone elevated the stakes in this timeless series. The Bond franchise is better off because of your contributions, and your unforgettable exit is well earned.
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    edited November 2012 Posts: 2,629
    I agree with the sentiments above. For the benefit of those who haven't seen Skyfall yet.
    The time was right for Judi Dench to step down from her M role. She went out in a memorable way and I was genuinely sad to see her go. I was thinking the assassination route also and actually tightened my throat when it really did happend. Didn't hit me until Kincade took his hat off. She had great chemistry with Daniel Craig and was instrumental in helping Craig build his Bond character. Judi Dench served the franchise well. Best wishes to her and best wishes to Ralph Fiennes as the new M
    .
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited November 2012 Posts: 13,355
    Only with the next film will it hit us that Dench is no longer a part of the series, that'll be tough. She was such a coup for the Bond films, letting her go must have taken real guts.
  • WillardWhyteWillardWhyte Midnight Society #ProjectMoon
    Posts: 784
    I was quite glad that they killed her off this time around. I had grown tired of her and the way she played the character. I am very much looking forward to M (Mallory) in films to come.
  • bondbat007bondbat007
    edited November 2012 Posts: 1,407
    We all had a hunch that she would be killed off but to actually see it on screen was very tough. But I'm glad she died and didn't just quit or anything. I see Judi's M as someone who would rather die on the job than retire. Thank you Judi for everything you brought to this series over the last two decades. @Samuel001 is right, it wont hit us that she's gone until Bond 24 and that will be a strange moment. But a very fitting swan song! God speed ma'am!
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Only with the next film will it hit us that Dench is no longer a part of the series, that'll be tough. She was such a coup for the Bond films, letting her go must have taken real guts.

    Indeed. It still hasn't hit me, so much so that I didn't have any emotions after besides some tears that were natural. Next time around we'll see how I feel, but surely a huge loss. Judi has been wonderful to Bond.
  • MrArlingtonBeachMrArlingtonBeach
    Posts: 110
    I'd really like to see a portrait of Dench's M in M(allory)'s office in upcoming Bond films, just like there was one of Bernard Lee in TWINE.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    My theory is that after DC they'll reboot and bring back Judi again!
  • Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
    Posts: 4,408
    M's death was very well done. The only gripe I had was the killer, he was just a random that Bond disposed of with ease before Silva even arrived. However, I'm happy the whole film revolves around her and her role as the head of mi6. It's almost like she gets her comeuppance at the end of the movie, in her postion people die on her call, we see this with Ronson in the opening. Furthermore, it's her fault that Silva ended up the way he did, she left him to die. She even leaves Bond to die. There is even that brilliant speech by Silva where he talks about how Bond and his own nature have been altered by her; they had been normal men but becasue of her they turned into something else and now there is no way out, they are the two survivors. Considering the way the story was set-up, M had to die. She couldn't have come out of SF alive, it would have been wrong, she needed her comeuppance.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Pierce2Daniel wrote:
    M's death was very well done. The only gripe I had was the killer, he was just a random that Bond disposed of with ease before Silva even arrived. However, I'm happy the whole film revolves around her and her role as the head of mi6. It's almost like she gets her comeuppance at the end of the movie, in her postion people die on her call, we see this with Ronson in the opening. Furthermore, it's her fault that Silva ended up the way he did, she left him to die. She even leaves Bond to die. There is even that brilliant speech by Silva where he talks about how Bond and his own nature have been altered by her; they had been normal men but becasue of her they turned into something else and now there is no way out, they are the two survivors. Considering the way the story was set-up, M had to die. She couldn't have come out of SF alive, it would have been wrong, she needed her comeuppance.

    You're right. I guess I just didn't enjoy it very much. I never particularly liked Dench's M, but I never thought I'd want to see her dead. I'm not sure what I think about a Bond film where you end up hating M. Was that totally intentional or have they screwed up somewhere. I cannot believe Mendes has done this by mistake, but equally I don't really understand the reason for making M so unsympathetic. As I've said before, in the DC era MI6 has increasingly come to resemble the Treadstone programme in Bourne - a shadowy, slightly sinister organisation turning our psychos and screwing over its agents when they start to 'malfunction'. The subterranean settings and the Silence of the Lambs glass case for Silva all contribute to an impression that MI6 is now a million miles away from Bernard Lee's old officers' club. I personally don't really like what they've made MI6 become. It would be fine in a different series of films but I feel they're messing this the underlying DNA of Bond and it feels wrong.

    Of course the implication at the end of SF is that things are back to how they used to be. May be SF is a metaphor for the sinister and morally compromised behaviour of our security agencies in the war on terror - where we turn a blind eye to torture because it justifies the means. That's all very well, but I'm not sure I really want it in Bond. Bond is supposed to be escapism, not some miserabilist soul searching journey.
  • Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
    Posts: 4,408
    I disagree with you Getafix, mi6 is still mi6, there will always be times when someone in M's postion will be compromised and have to make deicsions that may affect people's lives. It's her job to make those decisions, sometimes 1 person has to die in order to save 10 lives, someone has to make these decisions and that person is M. It's interesting that you see M as this harsh figure, I personally completely understand her postion and why she made those choices. If anything i don't symapthise with Silva at all, thats what makes him so interesting to me. The guy has severve mother issues, he came to love M, so when she betrays him its heartbreaking for him. His own mother threw him to the lions, its left him psychoatic as a result. It's a brilliant propostion, and is very well done by Logan and Mendes.

    I don't find SF particularly soul-searching but it does throw up some interesting questions. Personally, I want my blockbusters to pack an emotional punch. SF gives me all the escapism I want, but it provides that something more, aisde from silly specatcle to ohh and aww.
  • GetafixGetafix
    Posts: 11,425
    Pierce2Daniel wrote:
    I disagree with you Getafix, mi6 is still mi6, there will always be times when someone in M's postion will be compromised and have to make deicsions that may affect people's lives. It's her job to make those decisions, sometimes 1 person has to die in order to save 10 lives, someone has to make these decisions and that person is M. It's interesting that you see M as this harsh figure, I personally completely understand her postion and why she made those choices. If anything i don't symapthise with Silva at all, thats what makes him so interesting to me. The guy has severve mother issues, he came to love M, so when she betrays him its heartbreaking for him. His own mother threw him to the lions, its left him psychoatic as a result. It's a brilliant propostion, and is very well done by Logan and Mendes.

    I don't find SF particularly soul-searching but it does throw up some interesting questions. Personally, I want my blockbusters to pack an emotional punch. SF gives me all the escapism I want, but it provides that something more, aisde from silly specatcle to ohh and aww.

    I share your sentiment, but for me this is exactly what SF DIDN'T do. I guess it will always come down to how individuals. Sometimes a film just doesn't do it for you, and for me that film is SF.

    I still think MI6 comes across as a) incompetent and b) all-pervasive, in a way that I find far more disturbing and sinister than Silva.
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