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I think it’s less him trying to be the definitive Bond, and more Bond aging and growing more mature with experience. Someone on here posted a great quote from Craig about Bond in CR, where he says that he doesn’t think he actually knows very much about life. And I reckon that’s true. He probably went straight from school into the military and then into MI6. Vesper seems like one of the first women he’s had genuine feelings for, and he falls for her ridiculously quickly. He‘s got a real chip on his shoulder, and he seems kind of immature in a “look at me, I’m so badass” way in some scenes like breaking into M’s flat. I think his early performances could easily be taken as Bond being kind of emotionally stunted. And it makes sense to me that he’d get more humourous and playful as he matures a bit. I think we all learn to not take ourselves so seriously as we get older, and he’d get more and more used to the darker side of his job as he went on more missions.
I do get where you’re coming from on him not being his own man, because that makes it difficult to sum up his Bond in the same way you can the others (Roger was the comedy one, Tim the darker one, Pierce the Britpop action hero, etc). But I think how his Bond has evolved and changed with his films is what’s made him his own man for me. I like that we’ve seen him age and that Craig has altered his performance accordingly. It didn’t always work (I agree on the Blofeld scene, and some quips in the last few films didn’t land for me), but I think having a Bond who actually changes and grows as a person has been very fresh. I think I’m in the opposite camp to most on here when it comes to Craig. I actually struggled to take to him at first. He was great, but I didn’t get why he was getting so much praise when Dalton (my favourite, so I was a bit bitter) got there first in some ways. But then we got onto the Mendes movies, and his Bond kind of clicked for me. He’s the Bond with an actual character arc, the one who grows and changes as we go on.
I understand why that might not work for people who loved him from day one, but if nothing else, I think it shows the passion he has for the role. He could’ve easily just turned up and done what he had done in CR for the next few films. But instead he took a risk and tried to keep finding new sides of him. I think he’s got to deserve some credit for that.
But if you do think he was acting out of character then that's the director's fault.
But why would he mouth the words to Mathilde? That doesn’t make sense to me. I also find it hard to believe that they missed this. But, stranger things have happened. I never the saw the words be strong. I’ll check it out on the next viewing. In any case, it seems really out of place. And what’s the odds that a 5 yo can read lips?
In certain moments I wish the writers weren't forcing Craig to be funny as Bond, especially in more serious moments in NTTD
But listen its all subjective, I'm glad the film has given loads of talking points if nothing else after this massive wait 😅
Because she's a child in a very stressful situation.... It doesn't matter if she can read his lips or not..... There's a basic familiarity in him and he hasn't put her in a situation that's deprived her directly of her mother like Safin has... It's meant to comfort a child who is terrified.
I hope so.
There is a part (maybe only a line from Bond) that seems to coincide with exactly what Safin is saying, then things become a bit less clear.
Rami is staring at his own reflection
Sounds good. It’s an odd scene to say the least. I’d like some clarity on it. And I’m not trying to say it makes or breaks the film, but it is quite puzzling. And it’s not 2 or 3 seconds, it’s long enough to intuit.
LOL. I was joking. That would be absolutely hilarious though if while sitting through the first screening CJF notices Craig mouthing Malek’s lines in the finished cut for the first time and goes, “Oh, for ___’s sake, did nobody…?”
Good point. I'll retract my statement.
The imdb page has a couple of bloopers/gaffes that mostly rely on things not lining up with the timeframe (apparently, Safin's gun from the PTS was only released in 2007) or some minor background things (a container ship in the Cuban harbour has French signage, which shouldn't be possible under the sanctions on Cuba). The only one I would like to nominate for someone to check out in a rewatch is that supposedly Madeleine switches shoes while in Safin's layer? From stilettos to shoes with a wider heel? I would consider that an actual production error, albeit an inconsequential one.
Sounds like a reasonable one if true to me; although why she'd have been wearing stilettos in her country house while having breakfast I'm not sure! :D
Of course we don't see his face in the first part of the movie with the mask. But when we do see him with Madeleine later in the film. It's hard to see the two of them, with Safin being considerably older.
This is my only gripe with the film, for the rest of the movie, I enjoy it a lot.
No, you see she was probably wearing house slippers during breakfast and then changed into stiletto heels when they had to go on the run from a bunch of hired guns. She is French after all.
This has been a distraction since my first viewing. Initially, between Safin's facial deformity and the bioengineering plot, I thought there was going to be some kind of de-aging or perpetual youth thing going on with him. In hindsight, I'm disappointed there wasn't because as it is Safin looks right about the same age as Madeleine when you'd think he should be a good 15 or so years older than her. Then again, through rewrites and recastings, Trevelyan's age makes no sense either.
That might be the script's intention, but between his jawline and his build he looks like a grown adult in the PTS. But I concede this might be where the movie just wants us to use our imagination.
The way I understand it, Safin takes a hair he just finds lying around in her office and that is what he has his scientists use to create the virus targeted at her and finally uses on Bond to break his spirit.
The problem with that is that apparently hair only carries DNA in the root and most hair that just falls out doesn’t have the root attached. So it is very, very unlikely that Safin actually had a functioning DNA sample of Madeleine’s to actually have a virus built out of.
2:10:37-2:10:40
I'm not a native English speaker nor a lip reader but the way I see it Bond is not mouthing anything, his lips are twitching because of the tension of the moment in which his daughter is threatened.
Whether it’s a good quality as an actor remains to be seen.
Will Smith famously did it when he was wet behind the ears as an actor on Fresh Prince of Bell Air.
He got a lot of grief for it from the other cast.
Watch early episodes and you can see him mouth their lines before his. Perhaps Craig’s age has impacted his skills?
Yes, 52 is ancient.
I just watched the timestamps in question a few times and Craig is definitely *not* mouthing any of Safin's lines; he's not articulating any words at all. He's reacting to Safin putting his fingers through Mathilde's hair. Your mind is playing tricks on you, "seeing faces in the clouds", etc.
"I want the world to evolve, yet you want it to stay the same", I believe is the line in question? Bond's mouth is twitching, and maybe makes an "M' when Safin says "same", but that's really it.
It'll inevitably be another "white dress black dress" or "death of you, death of him" argument where everyone just believes what they believe and it doesn't matter.
And, in fairness, I was in the "Death of him" camp until I did a total 180 on the matter. ;)
You don’t have to be ancient for age to affect you. And I said perhaps.