Bicycles and 007

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  • Time for some videos !

    "Stallone" on a bicycle : the scene itself is not really OTT as far as the bike is concerned, but clearly something does not work, doesn't it ? (it starts at 1:00)



    Another movie from the Besson team : Statham is a bit more believable on a bicycle, but here it's far too OTT (it starts at 1:20)



    So, really, it looks hard to do a bicycle action scene when your hero is 40/50 or more...

    Now, a movie with several assassins and a bicycle : it starts at 00:40



    Here it works. It's even very successful in setting the tone of the movie (in which being a professional killer is treated like an everyday job)

    My remark is not that Bond has not done yet an action scene with a bicycle, it's that a bit like kids, bicycles are almost nowhere to be found in the movies. Even Necros distributed the milk bottles with the help of a motor :)


  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Time for some videos !

    "Stallone" on a bicycle : the scene itself is not really OTT as far as the bike is concerned, but clearly something does not work, doesn't it ? (it starts at 1:00)



    Another movie from the Besson team : Statham is a bit more believable on a bicycle, but here it's far too OTT (it starts at 1:20)



    So, really, it looks hard to do a bicycle action scene when your hero is 40/50 or more...

    Now, a movie with several assassins and a bicycle : it starts at 00:40



    Here it works. It's even very successful in setting the tone of the movie (in which being a professional killer is treated like an everyday job)

    My remark is not that Bond has not done yet an action scene with a bicycle, it's that a bit like kids, bicycles are almost nowhere to be found in the movies. Even Necros distributed the milk bottles with the help of a motor :)


    Never say never of course and if its done well then who knows but these videos really show it as being unworkable for Bond IMO.

    Its just unbecoming for someone like Bond to be commandeering a bike off some passerby (which is the only way I can envisage it being viable) as in these instances. The Stath in a suit on a BMX looks ridiculous but I'm fine with that because its a Stath film, whereas during the Stallone one I keep expecting the Kick Start music and Peter Purves to make an appearance.

    The Grosse Point Blank one is just stupid. A serious assassin would never do that. What happens if something goes wrong? There are you are pedalling away with people giving chase in cars. No assassin would use a bicycle where a motorbike would do a much better job.

    The only real way I could see this working is as mentioned above; a Necros type killer undercover.

    You could have a mountain bike chase down a mountain in a similar vein to the para hawks in TWINE but then how is Bond escaping with no snow? Some gadget laden hiking boots or also on a bike? I really can't see how the whole thing wouldn't end up like an ad for Red Bull so its a no I'm afraid.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Grosse Point Blank is however one of my favorite assassin movies with a brilliant soundtrack as well.
    And I disagree, the assassin was disguised as a courier and as such a bicycle is better accepted than a motorbike.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    It's all a bit The Day of The Jackal, but in a good way.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    SaintMark wrote:
    Grosse Point Blank is however one of my favorite assassin movies with a brilliant soundtrack as well.
    And I disagree, the assassin was disguised as a courier and as such a bicycle is better accepted than a motorbike.

    Why not disguise yourself as a motorcycle courier then?
  • Posts: 7,653
    SaintMark wrote:
    Grosse Point Blank is however one of my favorite assassin movies with a brilliant soundtrack as well.
    And I disagree, the assassin was disguised as a courier and as such a bicycle is better accepted than a motorbike.

    Why not disguise yourself as a motorcycle courier then?

    The difference between a lazy and fit assassin??? :D

    It did work and be just glad it was not an invisible bicycle. %-(

  • edited November 2013 Posts: 2,015
    Well this intro actually shows the less cliché killer of the trio being killed, with the two "movie killers" left. You can't imagine in real life a killer just going back into the hotel lobby after a dozen of gunshots heard everywhere (no silencers but big bangs !), with the simple removal of the hotel outfit (that magically seems tailored to him etc...) the magical movie element that is supposed to make him go unnoticed (he even throws his guns to show that he expects absolutely zero problems to escape). Boths killer are also supposed to be killers almost anyone can hire by phoning her secretaries, etc (you can guess this from this scene for Cusack, but for Akroyd it's a bit the same, they're kind of businessmen disputing some contracts).

    I think the use of a bicycle was really to intent to mean : ok, for a few seconds, we'll show you something you never see in movies - you expected a motorbiker with a black helmet ready to ride away between cars screeching tyres don't you ? Then right after this appearance hinting at something a bit less cliché than usual, cut, let's go back to Hollywood logic instead, with big plotholes about how to successfully kill anyone and continue your life as usual, here we'll be rather dealing with "movie killers", and we'll make a comedy about them thrown in the problems of real life (finding contracts, discussing your job with old friends, paying your secretary, etc..)

    So, maybe, it's a kind of proof that bicycles and Hollywood do not go along very well :) In real life, they're the last possible way to go fast in town without any ID displayed on it, with no paper to carry to prove it's yours, with your face hidden with a good reason, and that you can leave with no way to go back to the buyer, so one could think it could be used as a convenient plot device, but with "stolen" motorbikes the sound editor can create a sinister atmosphere, so motorbikes killers are there to stay IMO, black helmets = danger is almost part of the movie grammar now. And about the logistics, well, the audience "knows" they're expert mechanics who can be sure they won't fail, they can create false papers at will in case of control, but anyway they will never be controlled when riding away at 100mph etc...

    In real life for instance, the most sinister French serial killer, Francis Heaulme, allegedly rode away with a bike from the place where he allegedly killed two children (he hasn't been convincted but he's the prime suspect of this unsolved double murder) ! In movie, serial killers use cars that makes no sound when it's convenient, or walk by feet incredible distances when needed... A bike is still too cheesy to see on screen, while it actually can be used for silence and distances too long for a walk :) In movies, it seems, it's only for young people when you want to show they're fit ! (Flashdance, for instance)







  • edited November 2013 Posts: 15,124
    I still think the best way to use bicycles would be with an assassins using it as a sort of cover. Like the three blind mice of DN for their attire. Great for a scene straight after the pts as I described above. Conan Doyle also use bicycles for sinister effects. It can be the vehicle of stalkers, after all.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Ludovico wrote:
    I still think the best way to use bicycles would be with an assassins using it as a sort of cover. Like the three blind mice of DN for their attire. Great for a scene straight after the pts as I described above. Conan Doyle also use bicycles for sinister effects. It can be the vehicle of stalkers, after all.

    Yes, I too could see that working, @Ludovico.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    I still think the best way to use bicycles would be with an assassins using it as a sort of cover. Like the three blind mice of DN for their attire. Great for a scene straight after the pts as I described above. Conan Doyle also use bicycles for sinister effects. It can be the vehicle of stalkers, after all.

    Yes, I too could see that working, @Ludovico.

    I think that would be the best way to showcase a utilization of bicycles in a newer Bond movie, especially if it was in a little small town where vehicles aren't normally seen. Assassin rides up, takes out a target, rides off.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Creasy47 wrote:
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Ludovico wrote:
    I still think the best way to use bicycles would be with an assassins using it as a sort of cover. Like the three blind mice of DN for their attire. Great for a scene straight after the pts as I described above. Conan Doyle also use bicycles for sinister effects. It can be the vehicle of stalkers, after all.

    Yes, I too could see that working, @Ludovico.

    I think that would be the best way to showcase a utilization of bicycles in a newer Bond movie, especially if it was in a little small town where vehicles aren't normally seen. Assassin rides up, takes out a target, rides off.

    Yes, a bit like the assassin The Jackal in The Day of the Jackal.
  • edited November 2013 Posts: 2,015
    The only bicycles one can see during the AVTAK taxi scene.

    381503bikeavtak.jpg

    One can imagine :
    Director : Ok, we're in Paris, put me some bicycles in the scene.
    Stuntman : We didn't plan that.
    Director : Hm, I'll put some in the background then. Hm... when does the camera stay still long enough.. ?

    And then we have two bicycles in the middle of these huge stairs, in the upwards direction, not even on the shoulders of their owners as if they really wanted to climb the stairs with them, etc... I challenge you to see even only one in real life there :)


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