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In think it is overrated in some ways, and the talk of it surpassing CR is delirious I think, but I rank it highest of all, of course.
I do think that SP does many things superior to SF, including the use of the MI6 team, the balance of tone (SF had some cringe-worthy one-liners), and it has a superior mood that feels ominous. I don't know which I prefer in a detailed ranking, but I just wanted to point out the areas where I thought SP excelled, because SF doesn't win every category, and in many areas the films are equally proficient, like with their respective themes and motifs.
Agreed!
One thing that always bothered me about Skyfall is the ending. You are in a remote location with the head of MI6 and Silva and his men are coming to kill you in one helicopter.. Bond shoots down Blofelds helicopter with his walther ppk in Spectre but in Skyfall his plan is to pull a home alone and hope for the best? You'd also think with all the other MI6 agents and 00s the new M would be smart enough to send back up.. I just never got that part. With today's technology and resources I mean hell they could even take out Silvas chopper with a drone.
Maybe it's just me but I found the ending so stupid. 007 is a way smarter and better agent.
Exactly!!
I think the main issue with Craig's series is that they are trying to give him a backstory and focusing way to much on him being a "normal guy".. Bond is a secret agent who sleeps with a ton of hot girls, kills tons of guys, drives fancy cars, has spy gadgets and does the over the top stunts. He isn't Jason Bourne or on mission impossible.
He's James Bond. It's time to go back to having Bond be bond.
Huh?
Even if CR is considered 75% great, I would be hard-pressed to say SP is 75% great.
Many people here complain about the score and the step brother angle. I don't really mind both of this so very much. I mean the score is boring but it does not disturb me and it fits most of the sequences well. Bond films are no music videos so I don't mind that. The step brother plot is just stupid but is just a very small fragment of the entire film.
My biggest complaint is that the film feels like a Best of Bond film where the writers tried to put everything in the film that Bond fans usually like, no matter whether this fit together at all: Therefore we need a train sequence, a snow sequence, a helicopter sequence, Blofeld and SPECTER, a romance between Bond and a Bond girl, a gadget from Q, a strong henchman, an outlandish villain lair, some emo Bond stuff....
The problem is that you cannot just add all this things together and achieve something great. Sometimes less is more. Instead of all this boring car and helicopter chases, boring side plots and pointless globetrotting they should have tried to write an interesting and unique script....
The other problem I have is how Bond discovers & learns of Oberhauser. We see the first glimpse with the torn photo which was too much of a dead giveaway, While Bonds scene with Mr White was good this was an opportunity for more backstory & substance.
Susbstance was an issue with SP.
Personally I *like* the return to formula. Problem is the action isn't particularly fun which could be covered up by a good score but wait the score is crap
When I just see Bond in a vehicle I feel disconnected from him, like it might as well be anyone flying the plane or driving the car. But when he's in a shootout or in a bout, it's him there with nothing but his wits and strength to protect himself. So although the YOLT Nellie copter fight and LALD's chases are some of the most amazingly shot pieces of cinematic action, I will always take the scraps in films like FRWL, TLD, SP, CR and QoS over that stuff because I see Bond right in the thick of it and can attach myself to his plight directly.
Mainly, that Spectre is the jack of all trades. It's mish-mash of many different things that don't add up together as a whole.
It tried to give us a little bit of everything, and it succeeded in that department. It takes the checklist of 20 things everyone wants in a Bond movie and ticks nearly every box. But it doesn't excel or dominate in either any one of those things.
Spy Who Loved Me had an amazing henchman. You Only Live twice had amazing scenery. Goldeneye had an amazing cast. All 3 of those are formula-driven, but at least they excelled in something.
But even within the Bond formula, I think the series has too oft relied on big chase scenes, effectively just throwing money at the screen hoping people will be entertained, in place of skillful acting/directing/writing/artistry.
The QoS pretitles chase is similarly amazing. It definitely draws on the visceral and kinetic Bourne template, but smartly frames it in the larger than life locales and atmosphere of James Bond.
The key ingredients in both cases, even though they are very different, is the tension & danger level. One feels Bond is in danger in both instances. The editing and cinematography are also top notch, with outstanding contextual shots, colours and close up framing.
I really look forward to another chase like these in a Bond film one day.
If Blofeld had got away it would have shown a new generation of Bond fans that he can lose,sometimes the villain CAN get away,and this would have elevated Blofeld up to the super-villain and arch-enemy he should be.
Also then,they could have made Bond25 a new stand-alone mission film,and reintroduced Blofeld whenever.
Maybe Waltz wouldn't be free or would not want to play the role but that's no problem,Blofeld has always had a different face in each film.
But,alas,because he was caught and made to look stupid and weak,he is now just another villain,and Bond 25 looks like it will have to be yet ANOTHER linked film rather than stand-alone.
indeed. Bond25 will become very predictable because they have to do something with Blofeld. He will have to escape and we will again have some super villain scheme instead of a down to earth plot.
BTW: Something that really annoyed me in both Mendes films is the illogical and absurd villain behaviour. In both films, the villains are really doing crazy things which are totally going into SciFi territory. I think of Silva's amazingly absurd escape, especially the subway scene and Blofeld kidnapping Bond and Madeleine in London. Bond destroyed Blofeld's headquarter, and out of the sudden Blofeld has the time to decorate the old mi6 building and invent some funny games in order to harm Bond? Wouldn't one believe Blofeld to put all his power in recovering from Bond's victory in the crater? It just feels so unnatural and rushed that Blofeld out of the sudden is back. I mean how much time has passed by in the meantime?
The other Craig films have explored themes of loss before, though, so doing that with Blofeld wasn't necessary. CR saw Bond lose the money to Quantum, QoS saw him lose Mathis while trying to stop Greene and Skyfall saw him able to defeat Silva's threat but still lose M. These movies blur the lines between winning and losing such that they are rendered both foggy and near indiscernible, like in reality.
I like the idea of Blofeld, like Ozymandias, being brought down by his own hubris and made ironical because of it through his ego. It's the classic Blofeld mistake, where he thinks so highly of himself he never dreams of a counter move strong enough to usurp him, a fixture of Greek drama. Even in a captured state, you could do interesting things with him, like Bond having to stomach the British government using Blofeld's connections in exchange for favors in a twisted plea bargain.
Not true.
Couldn't have put it better. As long as it doesn't devolve into self-parody.