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
I just wanted to thank you for providing this link. A very insightful piece which shows that this is a many layered experience. It is not just a visceral experience but one where we can in the years ahead reflect on the way Bond Movie Language has been used to tell an atypical James Bond story and how a very clever refraction of an overlooked book gives it authenticity in amongst the original and challenging narrative.
My favourite Bond novel. It's tough because I always want to reread it, but then I feel like I have to reread the entire Blofeld Trilogy, and then I feel like I need to reread the entire series! Going to start again soon, with Forever And A Day and include the Horowitz books as well as Colonel Sun (which I've never read) in preparation for Horowitz' new book.
I'm very excited for you! Colonel Sun is a gem
:)) This would have been the ultimate tribute to OHMSS!
Yes.
Tarnished, sadly. I really liked DC when he first started, and Casino Royale was (and still is) wonderful. But the Mendes duology irked me for entirely different reasons, and after letting NTTD simmer, it’s fallen to the bottom of DC’s era for me.
As several other users have referenced: The melodrama, the feeling of self importance, the pretentiousness, the bloat - it’s all been too much and not a fun ride to be on. It’s like the reverse extreme of where Brosnan’s run left me with Die Another Day!
So by now I have mixed feelings on DC’s portrayal and I find myself appreciating the direction they were initially heading with CR and QoS more and more.
That said - I’m very optimistic for the next actor’s run. They tend to switch gears in terms of tone and approach with every new era, and I’m ready for something fresh and (hopefully) fun.
If anything it's made me appreciate the other films in the Craig era a little more. I'm not a fan of QOS, and feel SF is generally overrated. I enjoy SP a lot more than many, but can see its faults. CR is a wonderful film and really cemented Daniel Craig as a great Bond on debut. Over the course of the last 15 years, it's been very hit and miss for me. However with NTTD, I feel like we have the complete package. No they're not all great films, and I still have the same feelings towards most of them. But they are the first time in my mind that an actors tenure has felt complete from beginning to end.
Third IMO after Lazenby and Dalton. Love OHMSS and LTK myself. DAF and DAD are my two least favorites in the series, while I actually enjoy AVTAK more than most but still recognize it's not one of the best in the series.
I think it's the best last film for an actor comfortably, but on the whole I'm wrestling with it as I was with Spectre. It's not a bad film at all but it should have been better.
Something like, Die Another Day was always going to be crap but NTTD could have been Casino level. So it's different type of frustration for me
Daniel has said working on these movies is a bit like an art house film with a huge budget and for much of the film, the intimate scenes in the pre titles, the second act and the final act it has that feel. In that sense it bookends CR because I remember all those years ago thinking my god we actually have real dialogue and real people coming off the screen which was something Majesties did all most by accident because George was warn down to produce those vulnerable moments.
Whatever type of Bond Movie you like and I appreciate this film like Skyfall will go down better in general with the wider audience than deep fans who will be more divided the challenge is the third act.
So many Bond films start well with strong motivation TWINE, LTK and then end badly with weird characters and a wip back to the formula but on its own merits once Bond reaches Norway to the end its focused and driven with Safin being the uncomfortable inexplicable enigma.
I am glad he made the fifth instalment and finished his arc perfectly. Talking of his arc I think looking back Skyfall was the most important film because we avoided any routine mission films and the only place to go was where we went.
We know the flaws of Quantum and Spectre and CR is to my mind flawless but for the wire on the chair in the pre titles but film for me is a journey of suspension not an analysis frame by frame micro joy or uneasiness can come later.
My only regret with NTTD is Matera, understandably it could not be longer but I hope we get a directors cut where we linger longer on the Paradise Element when the constraints of first hit are not there.
The one actor or performance I am not crazy about is the scientist.
Blown up sky-high.
I recently realized why the Belmarsh part feels a bit off for me. I like the Silence of the Lambs vibe very much and overall like the scene. But the 'Die Blofeld Die' bit always feels forced with each watch.
I realized that for me it wasn't so much that Bond breaks and lashes out at him (as it appears to be for other folks). While not sold super well, I think they are clearly trying to show Blofeld getting under Bond's skin, triggering the reaction.
Rather, my conundrum with this scene is with the fact that Bond refers to Blofeld as Blofeld throughout the scene. It's nails on a chalkboard for me. Why does Bond give any credence to Franz Oberhauser's alter ego? Doesn't it make more sense for Bond to use Blofeld's real name, if for any reason to make a jab at Blofeld? 'Die Franz Die' while still corny, would at least come across more natural than the borrowed Fleming line we got.
The other part that I got hung up on is why Blofeld refers Madeline as the daughter of Spectre but yet in the same breath shares with Bond that she was innocent of the Vesper grave bomb. But I do have a theory...
While the bomb reveal may simply be because of Blofeld's ego, I think he may actually trying to rekindle Bond's emotional attachment to Madeline. His reason for this is to set the trap to "destroy him":
- He knows Bond still deep down cares about Madeline and with this innocence verdict will do anything to save her.
- He may even know Madeline was pregnant, depending on when MI6 hired her.
- It seems implied that he knows Safin is the one who hijacked his plans and has Herecles.
- He also is likely aware that Safin will target Madeline, given his history with White and Spectre.
- These last two statements could theoretically be backed up with the fact his eye had a recording of Primo defecting to team Safin. While not explicitly indicated, Blofeld was likely privy to Primo's defection via his eye and even perhaps additional discussions Primo had pertaining to Safin's plans.
So in essence, through one method or other, Blofeld at this point knows that sending Bond to Madeline will allow him to rekindle his love only for it to be broken by Safin, through use of the Heracles weapon on them.
Not sure if this was truly the intent, but if so, it's actually quite thought out...
Bond is not there to 'make a jab at' Blofeld, he is there to lure information out of him. The scene is clearly making the impression that Bond is carefully choosing his words and tone according to what he thinks would more likely get a conversation going and give answers. It is only natural since we were told Blofeld only would talk to Madeleine (and please, everyone: it's Madeleine, not 'Madeline'). The common point being made that he doesn't act Bondian enough rings hollow to me, as the very point is that Bond is putting on an act. The interesting twist is that even though it is Bond who tries to manipulate Blofeld, it's actually Blofeld who gets under Bond's skin in the end.
+1
On the other hand, wouldn't he snap back to the name he knew him as, once he is so riled up that he tries to strangle him? At that point he isn't playing along with anything. He is just raging. I know he mainly says "Die Blofeld, die" because it's from Fleming (and they want us to forget the whole Oberhauser shenanigans), but it kind of points toward him actually having internalized that the person who sits infront of him and who is the author of all his pain is in fact Ernst Stavro Blofeld and not the boy he spent a few years with back in the day.
As for the "daughter of Spectre", my girlfriend told me she fully expected Madeleine to die from Heracles because they spent so much time emphasizing that she is a daughter and the virus also infects blood relatives. But those two things never cross in the end..
I could feel myself watching it as a last hurrah rather than a new Bond film.
At points in the film it felt like they were trying too hard to tie up loose ends and kill characters because Daniel isn't coming back
Now I wanna watch The Rock big time!!