It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
<font color=blue size=7><b>Kamal Khan's interest in Octopussy was strictly professional, nothing romantic or sexual.</b></font>
Agreed. My partner-in-crime Miss Smythe only had eyes for Mr. Bond. As for me, I always preferred her right-hand woman, my lovely assistant Magda . ;)
Check out my profile pic.
I'm puzzled as to how this has anything to do with the topic of discussion...
<font color=blue size=7><b>Aki and Kissy should have been one and the same character.</b></font>
Yeah I'd pretty much agree with this one-- in fact I'd even take it a step further and suggest that Aki got a similar disguise as Bond (and keep both actresses!)
Apparently, the producers realized the other (eventual Kissy) actress' acting limitations and were going to fire her, but she was going to commit suicide because of the shame, so instead of firing her (and here you see Broccoli/Saltzman's kindness) they switched the roles so that she had the less demanding role.
I do wonder, if Aki and Kissy were one, whether the actress Akiko would have given the second half more spark, as she did the first. And maybe the movie as a whole would have been stronger.
So upon further reflection, I change my vote and agree.
In any event, lots to do today. Play nice..
I myself agree with the thesis. I think Aki could have been given more to do, whereas Kissy was fiercely underused, which couldn't have been resolved anyway. She was, after all, introduced right before the third act and in that third act, our focus shifts to Blofeld anyway. Kissy takes third or fourth place in every scene she's in. She's never in first or even second place, rendering her character, unfortunately, to screen filler. Also, the deciding part her novel equivalent plays in Bond's future, is obviously absent from this film.
As to Aki being given a dramatic moment, i.e. her death, I only slightly agree. Its dramatic effect, while powerful the minute it happens, carries little weight into the remainder of the film. The very next scene, she's gone, forgotten, out of our minds and out of our hearts. The character has vaporized, and so has her sad demise. No quest for vengeance, not even a tiny bit of sadness, not even a bit of respect as Bond quickly tries to bed his new score.
We know that Bond has never been about perpetual grief over a girl's death, a few notable exceptions not withstanding, but in YOLT a single cut between two scenes suffices to coldly trade one bird for another, whose only advantage over the first one is that she's still alive - basically. And so here's why I'd rather have one girl who lives than one girl who dies and one who lives: the death of the first hardly pays off and the one who lives is squeezed in some empty frame space whilst having nothing if not a painfully minor contribution to the film.
Just my two cents. Debate is welcome. ;-)
Totally disagree. For one, they look very different and besides, Wakabayashi can't touch Mie Hama in the looks department. Hama was known as the "Brigitte Bardot" of Japan. If ever a perfect woman lived, it is Mie Hama. Two, Kissy was chosen because Aki would have been a stranger on her island and Bond needed that extra special cover. Besides, two girls for Bond are better than one ;)
Disagree. It's never really bothered me. In fact, it helps add to YOLT's uniqueness in the series in the fact that the "sacrificial lamb" Bond girl of the film actually has a bigger role than the girl who ends the film with Bond the traditional way.
Well said Dimi! It leaves an uneasy feeling for me. Either Aki dies, thus Bond mourns* or Aki lives, and they get to sail off in their lifeboat, happy ever after.
(I like the way Bond reacts to Aki’s poising. Subtle.)
Agreed