The things we want to return to the Bond movies.

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  • Posts: 11,189
    Blimey. Well presumably you weren't mortally wounded in the way Silva was.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Just a little scratch.
  • Posts: 11,189
    Just a little scratch.

    a flesh wound even.
  • Posts: 463
    The things we want to return to the Bond movies...

    - Craig
    - Waltz

    Finish what they started and hopefully not do a soft-reboot like Diamonds Are Forever did.
  • Posts: 2,189
    My list:

    - an older M
    - an older Q
    - practical gadgets
    - non personal missions
    - the USA as a prominent location
    - Felix as a prominent character

    (My personal list):

    - a taller, handsomer Bond actor
    - not Craig
    - not Waltz
    - not Mendes
    - the return of the 1960's as a time setting
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    edited August 2016 Posts: 7,134
    My list:
    Ū
    - an older M
    - an older Q
    - practical gadgets
    - non personal missions
    - the USA as a prominent location
    - Felix as a prominent character

    (My personal list):

    - a taller, handsomer Bond actor
    - not Craig
    - not Waltz
    - not Mendes
    - the return of the 1960's as a time setting

    I agree with you on all accounts though I don't mind Fiennes and Whishaw.
  • Posts: 5
    I breathed a sigh of joy when the little white dots danced across the cinema screen at the start of Spectre. It's funny how something as simple the presence of the Gun Barrel Sequence at the start of the movie can really gear you up for what is to follow. In my opinion, it should never be moved/removed again. It made no sense dropping it from the opening of Quantum Of Solace and Sam Mendes' excuse that it would have conflicted with the opening shot of Skyfall was - frankly - laughable. Was he seriously expecting us to buy into the idea that an entire team of professional film makers couldn't figure out a way to make the gun barrel connect to the start of the film? Really?

    It would be great to have a self-contained story for the pre-title sequence again, something that nails James Bond's character in ten minutes or so. Alas, due to the way Spectre ended I think that that is highly unlikely. It seems to me that they have saddled themselves with carrying over Madeleine Swann and Blofeld over into the story. For me, Madeleine wasn't a strong enough character to warrant her having any kind of significant role in Bond 25 and I am convinced that Monica Bellucci's character would have made for a much better female lead. Therefore, maybe their only option would be to have Madeleine killed in the first act of Bond 25, which would just reek of The Bourne Supremacy. Then there is the issue of what to do with Blofeld. Does he remain locked up for the next film and we get a brand new villain or do we have to go through a whole sequence where he escapes and we end up with a repeat of Silva's breakout in Skyfall? The whole final act of Spectre (the entire London sequence) has been a major problem for me ever since I first saw it. I'm probably in a minority when I say that I think it's the worst twenty minutes of any Bond film ever.

    A killer main title theme is a must. Writing's On The Wall didn't work for me. Sorry Sam Smith, but the melody was almost non-existant. The string arrangement was, however, beautiful and evoked the classic John Barry orchestrations. But as a whole the song was a complete dud and I think it would have been more effective as an instrumental theme elsewhere in the film.

    On the subject of main themes, I would love to hear a second song played over the end credits, preferably played out over a final location shot. Personally, I'm getting a bit bored with just hearing the James Bond Theme at the end of the films, especially when it's barely heard anywhere else. A second song, performed by a different artist, and a location shot would end the next film magnificently but I guess another song means more money etc etc...

    To inject a bit more fun into the movie, I would love to see a coda where one of the villains appears for a final dust up with Bond, just to give the audience one final rush.

    No more delving into James Bond's past. Please, just no more. I don't want to know about it. The connection they concocted between Bond and Blofeld was ludicrous and took away all of the latter's mystique. So we got Silva with Mommy issues and Blofeld with Daddy issues. These are meant to be high octane action thrillers, not daytime soap operas. Enough, EON, enough.

    I also think it's time to say "thank you and goodbye" to Neil Purvis and Robert Wade. They are surely way past their use-by date as screenwriters for the Bond films. A serious injection of new blood is required, just as long as they don't hire anyone who's just going to riff of what other films are doing. As far as I'm concerned, origin stories can just bugger off now.

    Should Daniel Craig return? I'm actually not too sure about this one. I've always got behind whichever actor has played Bond and I suppose if Madeleine and Blofeld returned in the next film it might be a bit jarring to have a new face, but they seriously need to break free of the gloomy introspective shackles weighing the recent films down and just learn to have fun again. Bond doesn't have to go back into outer space, but he also doesn't need to be in a Ken Loach film either.

    I suppose we sometimes expect too much from a Bond film and maybe we shouldn't spend so much energy comparing each new film to the ones that came before and instead just sit back and enjoy each new installment as a film in its own right. But the James Bond films have that certain something that other films don't and it would be a shame if we lost that.
  • Posts: 4,617
    Its not rocket science, you take all of the best ellements from the classic Bond movies and then you write a great new adventure and some witty, dry dialogue. There is no need to over complicate stuff and no need to mess about with Bond's past. Unlike other screenplays, half of the work is already done. The characters, their relationships, etc, its all in place. it should be an easy gig to come up with something the audience loves. I think perhaps current writers are over-thinking their role (perhaps to justify their fee), TSHLM was not very original in concept but people love the Bond formula (providing it' executed well).
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 9,509
    Go back to Fleming. CR was incredible since it was a beautifully crafted update of the source material.

    Go back to Fleming with some fresh writers, and a new director like Villeneuve, who is, right now, the best director when it comes to adult suspense (the dinner table assassination sequence in Sicario is exactly what this series, and Dan Craig's 007, needs).
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Birdleson wrote: »
    First and foremost:

    3. Bond smoking cigarettes (REAL cigarettes).

    Oh my gosh, could you imagine Bond smoking an e-cigarette?!
  • edited September 2016 Posts: 11,189
    Maybe its because i'm a non-smoker, and always have been, but I couldn't care less if Bond never smoked again. I can't connect to smoking myself. It's never been something I've ever found appealing or cool in real life outside the movies. If he stopped drinking it might be a different story though.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited September 2016 Posts: 9,020
    The Brosnan and Craig era are too similar.

    CR-GE (no need to explain that I think)
    QOS-TND (cold action, no romance, a disappointment after the first perfect one)
    SF-TWINE (SF is simply a remake of TWINE) while TWINE is simply bad and boring, SF isn't bad but dreary and fun-less.
    DAD-SP (both OTT, fun oriented)

    What I want to return to Bond is originality.

    None of the last 8 movies has provided us with any of note. Except some cleverly choreographed action scenes (PTS SP, hand-to-hand fights QOS).

    I realise it's not that easy to be original but at least they could try. Maybe scale back the production à la FRWL, or make a dark humoured movie a bit like DAF or possibly one with a clear theme à la LALD.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited September 2016 Posts: 23,883
    While watching YOLT yesterday, I realized that I'd really like the 'learning' experience of older Bond films to be brought back again. As a kid, I always learnt something from a Bond film, and I recalled that when watching YOLT. For example:

    1. I learnt about Sumo wrestling
    2. I saw Japanese people bowing for the first time
    3. I learnt about saki
    4. I learnt that men have precedence in Japanese culture and learnt about Geisha girls
    5. I saw a bit of a Japanese wedding
    6. I saw what a naval burial at sea looks like
    7. I saw an example of a Japanese style loft apt (I noticed how small Henderson's quarters were yesterday - the bed is in the space where he and Bond have a drink)
    8. etc. etc.

    That's one of the things that I loved the most about early Bond films (up to MR I think) which I watched as a kid - the educational experience of living & travelling vicariously through Bond.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I know he smokes like a chimney in the books, but I still think they can portray a flawed indulgent Bond who doesn't necessarily have to smoke (they did very well in Casino Royale).

    I wouldn't want Bond to smoke just for the sake of it.
  • Posts: 4,617
    The smoking issue is interesting, we see Bond take amazing risks all through the films and he clearly likes a drink (he looked wrecked in SF) and we saw his reation to health drinks in SP. So it really does not make sense for him not to smoke. But, like it or not, he is a reflection on modern values. Getting sloshed and having a hangover is still seen as acceptable but smoking has become almost a taboo, banned in pubs etc. Can you imagine Bond standing out side the HQ in one of the bus shelter constructions?
    I think they should refer to it and use it as a metaphor for Bond's attitide towards temptation and the struggle within him between passion and rationality (something all viewers could relate to). Also use it sparingly to show perhaps that there is hidden stress or it can be used as a bonding exercise when he is building a relationship with another character. It would not surprise me if M smoked (or used to), these things are rich veins for character development but they just dont touch them
  • Posts: 11,189
    It's funny that it's not been all THAT long since we last saw Bond smoke (in Die Another Day).
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited September 2016 Posts: 23,883
    It's a good point about smoking being taboo these days and there being less opportunity to showcase this trait. Having said that, they could have shown him smoking in his apartment in SP when MP shows up, or at least have shown the ashtray with cigs lying/burning in it. A wasted opportunity imho.
  • Posts: 4,617
    He share's a cigarette with M in my screenplay as a symbol of joint defiance (sorry , couldn't resist, won't mention it again) promise,
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    patb wrote: »
    He share's a cigarette with M in my screenplay as a symbol of joint defiance (sorry , couldn't resist, won't mention it again) promise,
    I will definitely read that soon. I've been meaning to get to it.
  • edited September 2016 Posts: 11,189
    One thing I would certainly NOT want to see though is a No Smoking sign on the door of a casino that Bond uses.

    That would be a big F-you to Fleming.

    I suppose as a non-smoker I've never felt bothered about whether Bond smokes or not.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited September 2016 Posts: 15,718
    I miss Bond being a smart-ass in the M briefing scene, where he showcased a deep knowledge on a vast number of topics.
  • Posts: 4,617
    Could not agree more on that, spot on.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I miss Bond being a smart-ass in the M briefing scene, where he showcased a deep knowledge on a vast number of topics.
    Agreed. Even Laz did it, when he visited M's home in OHMSS. Btw, that's another thing I learnt from an old Bond film: 'lepidoptery'.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I miss Bond being a smart-ass in the M briefing scene, where he showcased a deep knowledge on a vast number of topics.

    Yeah I liked that too.

    I suppose they (sort of) did that at the start of CR with Bond knowing M's personal details.
  • edited September 2016 Posts: 4,617
    "Unusually small for a Nymphalis polychloros" It works as it shows Bond is knowledgable, he uses it to gently annoy M but it cements the relationaship as it annoys M but, at the same time, M knows that Bond's breadth of knowledge is a key asset in the field. So it's a great one liner but it works so well. It would have been so easy for Bond to walk in and just receive the briefing but that extra few seconds and the additional dialogue just sets up the rest of the scene perfectly. IMHO
  • Posts: 11,189
    patb wrote: »
    "Unusually small for a Nymphalis polychloros" It works as it shows Bond is knowledgable, he uses it to gently annoy M but it cements the relationaship as it annoys M but, at the same time, M knows that Bond's breadth of knowledge is a key asset in the field. So it's a great one liner but it works so well.

    I love the way Bernard Lee looks at Bond there.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I guess Bond smoking in general isn't as big of a deal as Bond drinking is, to some? I don't drink, but I'd definitely notice and care if he stopped drinking from here on out.

  • edited September 2016 Posts: 4,617
    we should also remember that the drinks firms are happy to pay for product placement, no option re fags so its not as if they lose revenue. I bet BAT would get their cheque books out to have Bond smoking their brand? we take booze advertising for granted but fag adverts are now history (in the UK anyway)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    As long as he doesn t snuff, I am Ok.
  • Posts: 16,169
    I'd like Eon to bring back ending the films with Bond and his leading Bond girl on the water in a bright orange dingy.
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