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As for tie-straightening and lots of destruction, that just doesn t excite me in any way whatsoever, at least the way it is executed there.
A few action scenes that are infinitely more catching in my view:
The train fight in FRWL. The tie-straightening here is cool and for a reason.
The GF pts. Connery climbing the wall to set off the explosives, and his later fight with Capungo, now that is classic stuff.
OHMSS, any fight Lazenby is in, ski escape, bobsled pursuit and several more. Action, music, cinematography, actors, everything melts together perfectly to create an exciting atmosphere unlike anything in GE. Haha, to just compare those two...
Ski chase and car chase in TSWLM, MR pts, all the action in FYEO except the daft hockey scene, all of that puts a smile on my face.
Paris car chase in AVTAK. There are some truly great car stunts there, like the cab driving over a bus. Lots of destruction too for those who enjoy that. And the humour works for me in that one, unlike Ourumov drinking vodka looking out his back window.
TLD, opening exercise, cargo net fight.
CR, too much to mention but parkour chase stands out, stairwell fight, even the short car chase.
SF, the scene on the frozen lake. This may have to do with the exquisite photography, but these things also play a part. I never managed to see what others see in GE in that department.
SP-pts and Rome stand out. The minimal cgi use doesn t bother me in the slightest. All the bitching about that seems absurd. What next? Bitch about the actors wearing make-up?
Other stellar sequences in GE for me include the confrontation with Ouromov in the pts, the Ferrari/Aston chase, the theft of the Tiger, the theft of the Goldeneye, Bond and Natalya escaping Ouromov in the library/barracks, the confrontation at Janus HQ & the Alec/Bond fight atop the satellite dish.
The tank sequence may have been well executed, but it did nothing for me. It's there for a laugh.
I'm not about to argue with any of those.
Including the pedestrian submarine sequence and the underwhelming final fight with Kriegler?
Not denying Julienne's epic work (which is underrated - probably because of the woeful stunt doubling) but having a racist stereotype so bad that all he's missing is the beret and stripey jumper shouting 'Ma caaah' in an 'Allo ' Allo accent is hilarious is it? I've never even thought Ouroumov swigging some vodka was meant to be funny. That's just what a Russian general does isn't it? 'Use the bumper, that's what it's there for' on the other hand is meant to be funny I presume but isn't.
Are you taking the piss now? Two blokes falling through some bits of polystyrene on the Pinewood tank better than a balls out action sequence on location in a major European city (yes I am aware that about 80% of it was on the backlot but there's a fair bit that isn't) with the Bond theme - remember that? - blaring out?
I don't see how photography has a bearing on this debate. I'm sure every shot by Deakins is better than the third reserve cameraman managed halfway up Mount Asgard yet to suggest that any of the action in SF compares to the ski jump is ludicrous.
So out of a series of 24 films youve come up with about a dozen or so? Hardly conclusive.
To hear you talk about the tank chase it's on a par with the moon buggy chase or tsunami shark jump.
It's not the best action sequence of the series but it certainly deserves more respect than you are giving it.
You're a joke mate.
So presumably you're putting the TWINE ski chase above it as well? QOS freefall? The finale of CR67
TWINE ski chase is shit. Those other two are so-so.
Haha. Ok I get it now. It's all been a colossal wind up which I fell for!
Phew for a minute there I thought you were suggesting the tank chase was worse than the moon buggy chase.
"Sam and I talked about "how are we going to top Skyfall - it's SPECTRE.""
Dennis Gassner.
It seems pretty obvious to me that the decision to bring back Blofeld and SPECTRE now was to trying and live up the hype of Skyfall. In other words, they didn't really have any proper plans of how they wanted it to happen, but the expectation was that Blofeld and SPECTRE being in the trailer would lead to another boxoffice juggernaut the same size as the previous film. It makes you wonder how the reception of SPECTRE, both financially and critically might impact the evolution of the story going forward. Although SPECTRE was a huge hit, there was a slight lukewarm feel about its release, and it's possible that that could have caused the producers to think twice before making their next move. How can we really be sure that another film in the same continuity won't experience a similar diminishing returns effect? Is now the time to think about changing things up, to avoid repeating some of the series most stagnant periods? These kinds of questions are what producers have to ask themselves on a daily basis - we'll never be certain how much the numbers play a role in the decision making - but my guess is that they'll to make the series look as appealing as possible to a potential distributor, and that means minimizing the risk of having another DAD or AVTAK on our hands.
As for whether Bond 25 will or won't continue from SP, it most certainly will if Dan is on board. Continuity is what the idea of these new films are, and considering how SP ended, with Bond riding off to what he thinks is retirement while his enemy languishes in a state of revenge-fueled hate, there's no way we won't see that followed up. Dan would want it, EON would want it, that's that. It's too big a story and too big a reveal to just never touch on again. People expecting another standalone Craig film at this point are going to be disappointed, so I'd say expectations should be set accordingly.
The sense I get from Bond 25 is that it's going to be the follow-up to the "to be continued" story represented by SP's ending, and that is lined up with the rumor of P&W returning to write the script. They brought Dan in, they can bring him out, if this is the last one. It's essentially a moot point to consider anything else, as all signs are pointing to the above.
There's the fundamental difference in perspective. You seem to view the ending of SPECTRE as the set up for something, whereas I view it as the pay off to something, that being the Craig era. I don't think the fact that Blofeld is still alive points to an immediate sequel, and to be honest I have to make criticize EON for their timing here. They took the first opportunity they could, and forced a SPECTRE story out at quite an awkward time in an actors tenure. The idea that Quantum is just one tentacle, or that it gets taken over by Blofeld from the inside is certainly an intriguing one, but it needed the proper build up and exploration. You could devote an entire film just setting up that shift the transfer of power, setting in place the domino's that would fall, but instead...
Ultimately, I think the film ended up something of a crisis. They probably felt an immense pressure to top Skyfall, but with the script issues, the budget getting out of hand, and Craig's injury, it ended up being a salvage job. The worst part was, they weren't sure whether they could count on Craig coming back or not, so the ending had to be somewhat vague. But, like I said on another thread, I feel like Madeline was the ultimate answer for his Bond. There is really no better way for his tenure to end, even if the execution perhaps wasn't given the care it should have been. From the moment his Bond entered the game, I feel like he's been looking for a reason to get out. Just a few months in the Job he found Vesper, and was ready to give up. Then she was taken from him, and the job became the only thing he had again.
There's no Quantum takeover, though. Quantum served as just another figurehead to mask its parent organization, SPECTRE. They're allies, not separate entities. Blofeld gave White Quantum to run as his partner since they served together in the 'Les Spectre de St. Pierre' French battalion in Morocco as younger men. They slowly grew apart, White died and you assume SPECTRE would just swallow Quantum to join its ranks as the organization's failures made it useless as a serious organization; its cover was blown. We watched Quantum get exposed and go underground in QoS, however, so I don't think there was a need to explain what happened in SP. It's quite obvious from the start and that groundwork was laid.
As for the ending of SP, when I left the theater I knew exactly what would be coming. People won't like it, but we'll see a Bond experiencing a quiet life until something brings him back, and it's highly likely that it involves Blofeld/SPECTRE. It's the most false resolution I've seen in years, and teased of a bigger film to come. With P&W back and no doubt Dan signing on the dotted line, I think that's the film we'll see.
They should've left in the Morocco backstory (not sure I like the name coming from their unit, however) and dropped the ring nonsense. It's cool that the key players would own a ring crafted from a meteorite - it's a unique touch - but it's definitely a bit muddled and convoluted.
I also think the rock/ring connection is very "Blofeld," and fits with their vision.
At least with standalone films, there was more margin for error because it only impacted one film.
Just reading discussions about this Blofeld and his possible background is making me cringe.
That's quite a large % even by the Craig era standards (which have been hovering previously around the 72% mark) in comparison to Brosnan's time (when it used to be in the 60% to 65% mark).
SP's % of foreign gross is even more remarkable when one realizes that the exchange rate in 2015 suppressed foreign gross, due to the strength of the US $ in comparison to other currencies at that time.
Craig's Bond films haven't been as popular in relative terms domestically as they have been overseas, and particularly in the UK, where they have tended to set records.
Roger Moore also used to deliver far larger foreign numbers in comparison to his US take.
#7) Your Name (anime with 99% of its gross made overseas)
#8) Great Wall (yes, that wall. It stars Matt Damon though with 86.4% made overseas)
#10) Kung Fu Yoga (99.9% overseas gross - and you've got to love that title. It stars Jackie Chan)
#11) Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back (99.6% overseas gross).
This is probably where we're headed folks. The power of the Chinese market at play. I noticed yesterday that the Chinese had also co-produced the latest FF entry.
Not necessarily. The crazier the action, the more the Chinese love it. The likes of 'Fate of the Furious,' 'Warcraft,' and 'Resident Evil: The Final Chapter' dominated over there compared to Bond.
And Bond is averse to crazy action?
No, but it's pretty obvious that those three movies and Bond are two entirely different beasts. Says something about a country's interests when the likes of SF don't come remotely close to the box office of the final 'Resident Evil' series.
Yes, but Bond changes all the time. What comes after the Craig era might go down better in China, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Not at all, but at the same time, I hope the films don't turn into CG-ridden explosion fests ala 'Transformers' in hopes of making a little extra in China.
Bond is a prestige franchise, with a long, deep heritage. Transformers and FF are popcorn fluff by comparison. ;)