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Is modern Bond action lacking?
I feel there is a large discussion occurring at the moment concerning action in film franchises. Mainly, I feel this has been driven by Tom Cruise’s terrific (and insane) turn in the latest Mission Impossible.
Tom Cruise is a one-off and I don’t think any actor needs to commit themselves as fully as he does. Insane stunts are merely a pastime for him. If someone wasn’t filming him, I suspect he’d do them anyway. The Mission Impossible films are just his vehicles for indulging himself.
However, it does beg the question. Are the action sequences in modern Bond lacking?
John Glen wasn’t a great dramatic director but he was an amazing second unit and action filmmaker. His actions sequences in TSWLM and MR are amongst the greatest in action filmmaking. Furthermore, the 80’s Bond films were pretty ugly to look at but both Glen and Arthur Wooster’s stunts are fantastic and undeniably amongst the best in the series.
People may not like the storytelling in OP or AVTAK but the aerial work in both films is amazing and on-par with anything Tom Cruise does. Furthermore, the tanker sequence LTK is a benchmark of excellence in the series. Glen was able to cram a lot of great action work in 10 years of directing Bond.
However, modern Bond is lacking. Aside from the parkour chase, I can’t really think of a great standout action set piece. This is a slight cause for concern. Even, the Brosnan era was more accomplished than Craig’s run.
Is it time to bring back the ‘stunt’ to the Bond film? You only really need one standout stunt to really sell a movie on…
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Comments
There's certainly less than in an MI film, but then again Bond isn't MI, and nobody can do Cruise like Cruise. That shouldn't be the target.
While it's true that Bond owned the action stakes for many years historically, I don't think it's realistic to expect EON to be able to dominate like it did during the early Cubby years going forward, particularly with such intense and esteemed competition.
So what to do? Well, I would focus on the quality of whatever action is delivered rather than the explosives and quantity. Make it organic and meaningful - integrated into the narrative rather than tacked on for effect. Ensure it's surprising, inventive & intelligent rather than linear & predictable. Make sure it's done for real (and I don't care if it's the lead actor up there doing it - stunt men are perfectly fine for me) rather than with ubiquitous and pathetic CGI. This is what makes or breaks it for me, rather than the number of sequences in a particular film.
Even the most simple of things like a fight can be executed in a fashion that makes it memorable, or not. It's a matter of setting it up properly and then executing it with finesse and passion.
During the Craig years I've enjoyed the CR parkour chase (perhaps the last 'great' benchmark sequence in a Bond film imho), the QoS PTS chase and the SF PTS. In terms of fights, I've liked the CR stairwell, QoS Slate and SF Patrice. I also enjoyed the SF 'Home Alone' finale very much, even though it really wasn't as heavy on action as some of the other finales. It had emotional heft in compensation.
The Craig era has a different tone to the past. Given their direction with him, I don't mind the perceived relative lack of action in comparison to other franchises. How much they choose to incorporate once he's gone will very much depend on what direction they take with the next chap. Whatever they end up doing, I just hope it's consistent and integral to the actor's style and approach.
I liked the boat chase and the airplane and parachute drop into the cave in QOS. QOS has crazy action - those shaky cam fast cuts are insane. If you like fast cuts then QOS is a classic! (er.. I'm sure many fans will disagree).
Skyfall - pre-credit scene was good! I liked the end too.
The pre-credit heliocopter scene in SPECTRE - brilliant. Instant classic, in my humble opinion. The helicopter roll is a wonderful moment. Up there with the very best Bond action scenes. The car chase in Rome was a bit flat, though.
Timothy Dalton agreed to hang onto the jeep when he was filming TLD. I can't see a major reason why Bond actor#7 can't do some hanging onto fast moving vehicle action. Cruise has help - he's often on wires so it's not as if he's totally crazy. The next Bond actor can do the same - hang from wires. If the next actor does a bit of the 'risky' action it will look great in the trailers. What a cool way to market Bond 26 - the new Bond actor doing some dangerous stunt! I think it's worth EON considering. The next Bond doesn't have to hang from a plane but hanging from the side of a car, perhaps the car door opens and Bond is hanging from it, his shoes hitting the ground - that would look cool.
As long as it's all 'safe' and well-supervised I don't see a major problem.
You beat me to it,i was going to say the same !
And Brosnan running to catch the plane in GE PTS.
That's what I loved the most about the older films - the sense of irony while the action was in full flight - the feeling that a man was in over his head and could die at any moment but somehow, just when it matters, finds an escape or solution. Roger Moore of course was the master of this, sometimes precisely because of his relative physical inadequacies.
EDIT: Cruise, for all his audacious bravery and commitment, has picked up on this and utilized it to great effect in the last three MI films. It makes a world of difference. The glove not working in GP for instance.
But they did stand out as each film's action highlight. Other good sequences include Bond tracking Patrice in HK, Silva's attack on M's hearing and some of the climax. Spectre had a great train fight.
Plenty of earlier Bond films fell flat in the action stakes as well, so I reckon over all Craig's era had some pretty memorable stuff.
The brilliant train fight is the main highlight for me with SP,not much else though.
Personally,i don't see what all the fuss is about re SP PTS,i find it pretty boring once the helicopter enters the scene.
Besides, Mendes is gone. Boyle is in and all his films have a great energy to them which has me excited for the action scenes. New stunt coordinator too right? I think we should be optimistic or at least give them a chance. I don't see the point in saying EON need to do better (in general, not just with the action scenes) when they're currently making a new film with lots of new crew members. They're trying. I think we should wait and see how it turns out before complaining about the current state of things.
Yeah apart from the 80s films they've always been a bit hit and miss when it comes to action, and even then you've got a few duds (jungle chase, basically anything in AVTAK, etc).
There aren't as many big memorable stunts as there used to be, and that's a shame, but the Bond films have never really been top of the league when it comes to action scenes imo. I don't think there's been a massive drop in terms of overall quality.
THIS! It's really been an issue I've had with most of the Craig era - certain scenes in CR and QoS aside. Even the lesser fighting scenes with Rog' are more entertaining!
Speaking of Rog's action scenes; I love this one personally, just because it's fun:
No actor should try imitate Cruise and risk his life. But even without Cruise risking his life for our enterntaiment, the action itself is darn fun and well shot, that puts the viewer on the edge of their seats.
Audiences do seem to buy it, though and probably walk away feeling the series' action has never been better.
In terms of originality, though I disagree. Possibly with the exception of the parkour sequence, the Craig films offer NOTHING that Bob Simmons couldn't have accomplished with Connery. It just would have been choreographed, shot and edited differently. Even so, the parkour/crane bit and the Aston Martin roll do qualify as signature stunt and action moments.
The John Glen era was truly the peak of Bond action highlights. From the bobsled chase in OHMSS, the ski jump, all the way thru the tanker chase in LTK each film spared no effort to top the film before in breathtaking stunt-work and action.
That era is long over.
I haven't seen a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE since the third one, but my impression (especially from this board) is that the stunt work is outstanding and harks back to the very best of the John Glen films. If that's the case I do hope Eon takes note and realizes that even in the darkest of Bond, the action can be fun. I can attest the audience cheered loudly in LTK during the water ski chase and tanker bit.
That is truly an outstanding sequence (score excepted) and never gets old. This is what Bond films used to be about and I hope they recapture this spirit down the line. I'm waiting for another ski sequence actually (the one in TWINE left me unfulfilled).
At least as far as I'm concerned, they are the spiritual successor to the Glen films in the action department. I highly recommend 4-6 if you're a fan of seat of your pants action done the old school way.
Those are two lovely stunts, that's for sure! Wouldn't hurt Bond to revisit stunts of that sort. The films have become too gritty for their own good.
2 stunts that sum up the Bond films as they should be x I love LTK .
An amazing sequence of stunts x OHMSS n FYEO ski scenes are THE best !’
I hope Boyle/Hodge had action sequences like this in mind when working on their "idea" (and the script)!
Action has never been his main attribute but he is a good director so we should be ok
Hope you're right about that!
Villian lairs of QOS and Spectre scenes are to short. This why there feel need to with another action scene in Spectre. Big problem of Spectre, i have atleast four ending moments.
Skyfall pretitle i am not fan of train scene. But Skyfall house whas best ending since Goldeneye (if i mean airplane scene of DAD as end and hotel scene with QOS.) exept Dench M death. The first end of DAD: The ice palace then i ranked it 3th.
Airport scene in QOS whas a highlight. The boat chase whas a disaster and end of the very good car chase in the pretitle end to fast/weird.
I know there are things to consider - like in QoS Bond has multiple cars after him, while in SP it's "just" Hinx. As stylish at it may look, the SP car chase is the most boring car chase I've ever seen, and Bond never looks like he's in real danger.