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"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No. You don't..."
I prefer the days when SPECTRE had better things to do......like stealing nuclear missiles and holding the world for ransom.
Sadly, I think soap opera level writing is a trend now. After my last viewing of NTTD, I thought this was one of the weakest written films in the series. Elements of the plot: the ending, and the new 007 seemed to have been written as merely a gimmick rather than solid story telling. The nanobots scheme, to me is about as good as Gustav Graves' plot from DAD.
Agreed on the nanobots thing. G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra did it years ago and even in that film it felt stupid. Luckily, it doesn't matter all that much in NTTD (just a bit more than the ATAC in FYEO or the microchips in AVTAK). But I was, indeed, disappointed with this part when I saw the film the first time. Nanobots? Really? That's so comic booky. It doesn't ruin the film for me, though.
To me, each movie sort of plays in its own sandbox. Loosely connected (like OHMSS & LTK). Sometimes not so loosely (CR & QOS).
Then we have the anomalies like SP & NTTD which try to be tightly connected, but feel like completely different films in tone, style & substance....
This is why QOS horribly fails as a direct follow up. It’s just too stylistically different from CR in terms of pacing, second unit, editing, etc to serve as a continuation.
It helps that CR, SF, SP, and NTTD share the same second unit director Alexander Witt. There’s a certain elegance to his action sequences (though let down by Lee Smith’s editing in SP), whereas with Dan Bradley handling QOS is going so hard for the frantic shakycam and rapid editing he did better in the Bourne films, that it makes that film look like the red headed bastard stepchild of Craig’s run.
I feel like you're focusing more on action & editing than I am. And from that perspective, I agree.
That is all true. At the same time however, there are also quite some bigger changes after QoS that seperate the first two Craig films from his final three. The higher influene of the mi6 regulars for instance, the constant focus on the UK as a main location, the change from rather down to earth to more outlandish plots (Silva's escape plan, Blofeld's and Bond's backstory, Safin's character and the nano bots), the return to gadgets, etc.).
I don’t see an alternate reality where Craig’s run didn’t grow more into the traditional Bond formula. And thank goodness, because that would have been more boring than what we got. I imagine if they wanted to push further into the traditional elements rather than stagnate Bond, we probably would have been introduced to a new Q in Craig’s second film rather than held off to the third.
Bond bled more and looked more battered after action in his first 2. Mendes seemed to deviate from this in his 2 films, (despite Bond's injury after falling from the train in SF), particularly with that ridiculous spectacle in SP when Bond is right as rain after having his head drilled moments earlier.
At least NTTD addressed this and we had Bond bleed and look battered again after an ordeal.
Yes exactly. Bond puts himself into God mode a few times in his last three films. The fall from the bridge in Skyfall has been mentioned. In Spectre it was most obvious with the "one man against the whole crater lair battle" and the insane helicopter take down in the end. In NTTD, it is not as extreme, but even then I have often wondered whether it is Bond or a superhero. How many explosions can a single man survive? How lucky can a man be to never be hit by a bullet from a maschine gun?
In his first two films, he seemed to have a few more physical constraints.
One thing you can't accuse NTTD of, is giving Bond an easy time. If you like to see him battered, bleeding, downtrodden and killed off (of course), NTTD is the film for you!
I remember when they were filming, they said "we're really putting him through it". They were right.
Of course, that happened in the novels too, (without the blowing him up to smithereens bit, of course).
I’ll give it to you on SP where he survives a drill torture. Otherwise I don’t think you’re making a strong point. He jumps out of a plane, pulls his chute a few feet off the ground and SURVIVES that. How is that different from his bridge fall in the next film?
I think you’re mistaking cuts on his face for actual consequential injuries that prevent him from physically doing work. It was a big deal in 2006 to see lacerations in his face when talking with M after the airport sequence, because that wasn’t something we saw in Bond films. But that’s all just surface level stuff.
And then let’s not forget NTTD literally ends with him actually dying. Some superhero!
And now: "WHAT THE HELL? HOW COULD THEY DO THAT?"
But did Safin just shoot Bond? No, He was also debating with Bond about how similar they are and that he has to wipe out the evil, bla bla...
Let s allow him a little gloating. He earned it.
Technically, when a shute opens it reaches its maximum velocity immediately (that's the whole principle of it), so it makes sense Bond and Camille survive.
Daniel Craig's Bond is certainly the most physical Bond and there are quite often parts when his actions come close to being impossible. Him surviving that fall down the bridge in Skyfall is the most obvious one, especially since he is also extremely injured and out of conscious due to him being shot by Moneypenny. In Spectre, there are plenty of these scenes where the action is completely unbelievable. The plane car chase, the crater lair action the helicopter shot. In NTTD I still find it a bit boring that Bond again hits each henchman with the first shot and that he survives the explosions of several granades directly next to him. In earlier Bond films, Bond needed much more support to take down the villains. He also missed the villains quite a few times when he tried to shoot them.
Well I agree with you that its often pushing it. Personally I found it more jarring with SP. Especially the plane-scene you mentioned. We know Bond is very tough and keeps on going, but even for him there should be limits. And the plane-sequence is definately one too far. I wondered why the landrovers didn't decide to just stop and let Bond glide past. He had no way of stopping or steering.
I think NTTD finds a better balance in this.
The fall in SF was high, but he fell into a fast streaming river, which makes it easier to servive the first impact. So does the fact that his body was completely relaxed (he was unconcious after all falling down). Still, his lungs should be full of water after initial impact, or did he wake up because of it? And then... yes, indeed, you'll have to make a full story to make it fit.
The shoot-out after those needles to the brain was definitely two or three steps too far for me. I'd have been a little easier with the whole thing if Madeleine had helped Bond somehow with the shoot-out & escape...helping him stand upright & shuffle out of the crater base, if nothing else...but no, SuperBond has to do it all himself.
Maybe it worked like acupuncture?