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An assessment of Judi Dench's M
Imo, Dench is one of the worst things to happen to the series.
She's too involved when her character really shouldn't be.
She's too involved when her character really shouldn't be.
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Comments
I would have preferred to see Helen Mirren as M. However, Dench is a decent actress. She's just been progressively overwritten and given way too much screen time and 'emotional' significance.
I disagree. Judi was one of the best things to happen to the Bond films because she is a great actress and she made the character of M compelling for once. What was one of the worst things to happen to the Bond series was that they ran out of Flemming material and struggled to come up with enough original material to make a full movie, thus causing a lot of M involvement and Q gadgetry to be used as fillers in the films, which were all of Brosnan’s save Goldeneye which was brilliant, and probably featured M the least. Since the ree-boot, her character has been an important part of Bond’s development, and now I think in Skyfall she’ll have her last hurrah as she’ll probably get killed off, and Bond will have to grapple with her loss as well as dealing with the fact that he’ll have an ass as his boos now in Gareth Mallory, (Fiennes).
1) She has a Kananga-styled death with Bond repeating his famous line "Well she always did have an inflated opinion of herself"
or
2) Someone kills her with the portrait of Bernard Lee from TWINE
:)) Brilliant mate.
The funeral should involve using the boat-launcher from TWINE to shoot her out the side of the MI6 building into the Thames.
I agree, and at the beginning it was interesting to see her used a lot. However, if this is to be her last go, she might as well go out with a bang as it seems likely that she’ll once again have an important role in Skyfall. However, I think she gets used so much because she is such a good actress who presents a very interesting character, and that’s made me think about Fiennes replacing her.
If you replace one great actor with another in the role of M, isn’t it likely that they should have a similar role in the films? Fiennes is such a big actor, it would seem a waste to set him up as a perennial character in the films who’s only going to get about 3 – 4 minutes of air time per film if the role of M is to be downsized after Skyfall. This, once again, furthers my point as to why Fiennes should play Blofeld, and not M, as that would allow for the films to re-focus on the action and the adventures, and not M butting in all over the place.
Harry Potter did it very well? They had massive actors in peripheral roles...why can't M return to the days of Bernard Lee and Robert Browne where they give the mission and leave Bond to it?
Right, but that's not Judi's fault, it's the writers fault for not making the stories feel more like traditional Bond films. I think the issue was that they ran out of ideas, so they tried to use the M character more as filler, just like the gadgets and stuff were meant to cover up plot gaps. What the films need is not a different M, but different writers. Judi was just doing her job, and I think she made the best of some pretty poor films with her acting.
It's not Dench the actress I'm criticising and dislike. It's her character. It's been done to death...Dench has lost the wow factor. I despise all her scenes and think she is boring.
As for the writers, Purvis and Wade are really dreadful
Dench did a wonderful job, which cannot be said all the way about the people who scripted her.
I disagree. Judicious and carefully rationed use of Dench would actually have made her look better. 3 or 4 minutes of perfectly written and under-stated dialogue is all that's needed. The writers should not succumb to the feeling that just because they have a Dame on the set, they need to big up her part. As previous posts say, the expanded M role often feels like padding to cover up a lack of plot.
M is a bit of a cameo role. There is a long history of good actors dropping briefly into films to fulfil this kind of role. If Judi thinks she's too important for that kind of role, then she's the wrong actress for the part.
The elephant in the room with all these discussions is actually the writing. We have not had a really well-written and well plotted Bond movie for years.
The influence of Cubby Broccoli on the films is evident by the malaise which the series has been in since LTK.
I'd be willing to bet any money that he wouldn't have turned M into what the character has become. If he wanted the films to explore that and bring M into it more, he would have brought M into the TMWTGG more than he did in line with the novel.
CR had some great individual scenes but overall the script was flabby.
I agree with the previous comment as well about Cubby.His influence is sorely missed. The youngsters just don't seem to understand the material.
Dench and Brosnan worked very well because PB was a 'soft' Bond (not a complaint), and there was evident trust, respect and friendship between JD and PB. With Craig's take on Bond, there was a huge need of a return to a Bernard Lee, no bullshit type character, who would have been a more credible figure of authority next to rugged and tough Craig.
IMO, Dench is more a M for Lazenby, Moore and Brosnan, while Connery/Dalton/Craig are in need of a tough authority figure to balance their Bond's toughness.
@BAIN will kill me for this, but Dench seems so petite next to DC, both physically and morally. It's totally understandable that Craig's Bond has so many difficulties following orders when M is to petite and soft.... which is why the trust and renegade issues of the past 2 films persist.
With Fiennes as M, I hope M will regain his credible authority figure.
I probably agree. I think Mirren could have given him the tough love treatment.
I think a new M with CR would have made sense, but the sad thing would have been the 100% break in casting. As it is, there is a continuous overlap between all the films in terms of cast.
Back in 1995 from what I gather there was a bit of a storm about "Bond's boss being a female". Not only did this highlight the blatant sexism of fans and the general film-going public, it also showed that the producers had the balls to go in a different direction and hire someone other than the usual "crusty" male actor.
Dench has the authority and gravitas to carry off the part of M. She's not overly-effiminate and manages to come off as both funny and dominating at the same time.
Personally I prefer her pre-Craig. She seemed more "in control" and, to be frank, had/has more chemistry with Brosnan. Not to forget that the two actors are closer in age. Maybe its something to do with the fact that Brosnan isn't as good an actor as her and hence looked up to her? Maybe she admired him as the "cocky, keen upstart" Who knows!
Not that she hasn't done a great job in CR/QoS - she has. I just don't like her "what the hell is he doing" attitude. Its not someone who's in control.
Still, for my money Dench is the second best M after Bernard Lee.
Fleming may not have liked it but frankly the old sexist snob can piss off ;)
BAIN, a woman cannot be effeminate. Effeminate is what you use to describe men showing feminine traits. Someone like Brozza for example.
I agree she seemed to work better with Pierce. If anything, her lines in CR and QoS are even worse than in her previous films.
She is probably also the 2nd best M, but there isn't much competition.
While I agree Craig is a tougher Bond, I think that in CR and QoS, his toughness was in an attempt to cover-up an identity crisis. When Bond chases that guy down in Madagascar in CR, he’s obviously got some aggression issues that I don’t think are appropriate for the Bond character. All his Bournish violence in QoS however is justified because he’s trying to avenge Vesper and he’s just pissed off. In that fragile state however, I think Judi was exactly the M he needed, because she could be a boss and a mother for him, if only on a very subtle level. If Judi’s M does die, I feel like Bond would just resent Fiennes’s M for being his now un-companionate father-figure after losing a respected and loved mother-figure.
Insolently on a slightly separate note, if Bond really did get his quantum of solace, and can move on from Vesper’s death, I think Craig’s Bond should be a bit more relaxed in Skyfall, and rather than being overly aggressive from the very start, he should rise to the challenge of his adversary’s violence. He can still be hard, but he should be more refined and let his hopefully now cooler head prevail.
I agree with this. The subtle mother-role was imporant to serve as a counterbalance to Craig's loose cannon portrayal in QOS.
It's a bit creepy though and unneeded. What's next? About 8 films have to explore Bond's relationship with Fienne's M because bond hates him so much, he thinks of defecting? Will we have a scene at the end where instead of Bond getting the girl in bed, he takes her to Dench's grave? It's getting silly.
I just want M to be a character and not a plot driver. Dench should have left after DAD. Instead, we've had the constant trust issues brought up again and again. Let it go EON!
It’s obvious that they are going to touch on Bond’s past as we’ll be seeing his parent’s gravestones at the Skyfall lodge. Incidentally this is where he will be bringing M to protect her, and I think in those moments she will really become like a surrogate mother to him. If she then gets killed after this, and he fails to protect her, then we’re going to be faced with another revenge mission like we got after Vesper died, and I don’t think we need that sort of story line happening again. If Judi does die, I hope it’s because Fiennes is actually a bad guy who was simultaneously running MI6, and Silva (Bardem) to try and kill both M and Bond, as they were his worst security threats as a secret double-agent for Quantum. Than Fiennes could be used as a target for Bond to hunt down in Bond 24, and make Quantum a perennial enemy for him in further films. This would also work great as a way that Fiennes could become Blofeld.
No. No. No. Dench and the memory of her 'contribution' must be forgotten immediately. Why does every film have to be about emotion, exploring revenge/bereavement themes? why can't we have Bond film that is made using the same formula as Connery and Moore? Why can't we have a Bernard Lee/Robert Browne-esque M? Why do we need a big actor to play M? It's all been done now, let Barbara Broccoli's stupid idea die now