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
But his motivations beyond revenge aren't clear. I think Silva's motives were pretty clear before we even see him on the screen. The characters were hypothesizing his schemes, so we got an idea of who Skyfall's villain is and what he wants. If Silva decided he wants to take control of MI6 after killing M, it just doesn't work because it's absurd and even he would know it.
If we just had more evidence in the film to give credence to his motivations suring the speech, then it would have made more sense. Either that or ditch that part entirely and make it all about revenge, and obsession with Swann. Give us more evidence for his twisted desire for her in a scene or two.
Lea’s arc should have been more morally ambiguous. Her revenge plot was killing Blofeld. In NTTD she was coerced into it, I would rather have had her make an active choice to join forces with Safin, only to be redeemed when Bond comes back for her, and they go after Safin together.
I agree Nomi was too much of a side character, she should have been tied into the plot better. They should have prolonged her tailing Bond, have him think she was a baddie, later to be revealed to have cleaned up after him, saving his ass several times. Develop into Bond’s moral compass because he is too personally involved. A scene where she almost threatens to kill Madeleine would have put Bond in an interestingly uncomfortable situation, where his loyalties would be tested, where he ends up shooting Nomi and going rogue.
I also think the rogue CIA agent was too unclimactic and just plot point, and the henchman was incredibly generic.
M, Mr. White, Felix and Blofeld were like GoT trying to kill of Barristan Selmy and Littlefinger for the effect. there wasn’t enough buildup. Leading up to Bond’s death, his became even more overshadowed. They should have all died like in a Tarantino film.
Too many reveals thinking they were twists with little to no build up. (Nomi is a 00, Nanobots released, Spectre ambushed, Rogue CIA, Felix dies, Safin was the killer, Bionic Eye, Blofeld set madeleine up, Blofeld died etc.)
Ever since Skyfall, too much of the films were set in Britain. They should haves stayed and explored the international locations more exhaustively.
Films are better when they are multilayered and have more meat on the bone.
The jump would have looked even more iconic had Bond seen no other alternative than to speed up the stairs and over the wall. Then you could have the people following not have the guts or skill to attempt it
I quite like the idea of playing up his obsession for Madeline more, I think that would have worked.
When you compare him with Silva (both villains out for revenge), Silva seems genuinely hurt and raging, especially towards the end of the film, whereas Safin is just doing all of this serene implacable Bond villain stuff; Bardem is selling it way better. I think it’s a direction choice but also certainly I’d say there’s a difference in the quality of the actors.
What I liked about Le Chiffre and Dominique Green (Quantum), is that they were more or less completely disinterested in Bond or his significant others, they were all focused on their mischevious plans, no vendettas, no emotional burdens, just stone cold villains.
Bardem is one of the best living actors and he just excels in the role.
Yeah just something that elevated it even more. It's an iconic moment, that feels like it could be up there with the barrell roll or the dam jump
Possibly it just needed more set up like Bond being chased or seeing no other way out. Such a brilliant stunt
Agreed with that last bit. It feels like a good inclusion for marketing material but feels like such an aside after the bridge jump/fight with Primo, especially when it's just a new path Bond takes and isn't using the jump as an escape from danger.
But instead
Get rid of the daughter
Bond hooking up with Paloma
The title should of been Garden of Death
Bond should of been more prevalent
I will write more when I think about it
It's important each Bond movie has it's own identity and not to homogenize them all.
Yes ! Could have been a bit inspired by Steve McQueen's motorcycle jump in The Great Escape ! They don't just run right up and do it. There's a bit of deliberation...
Why they didnt give it a blast of the James Bond theme I’ll never know....
Bond's first kill, he kills Dryden, a man with a family, Bond dies, a man with a family.
That should have meant more to the overall narrative
Yep completely agree. It doesn't feel like the same sinister shadowy organisation from the last film. Cuba would have been far more exciting, if it had been less camp
See, I'm of the opinion that there should always be a good dose of camp in a Bond film, but only insofar as it contrasts with our hero and doesn't feel tonally inconsistent.
The reason why I liked the Cuba party was because it was rather bizarre and otherworldly. It felt like Bond was slowly 'getting in too deep' if that makes sense, slowly infiltrating this dark, fantastical world of villains. I felt that was missing in SP with its stuffy boardroom meeting and inability to replicate the tension of the old school Bond film SPECTRE meetings. I especially got this when all the SPECTRE agents started dying from the nanobots (it honestly looked like something from a horror film, which I loved).
I think where the sequence wasn't quite as strong were the more 'Brosnan-esque' elements. Stuff like Bond throwing a tray and hitting someone, downing a martini in that pseudo Moore way, the general sense of comedy during the fight with Bond. I think they should have kept the latter limited to Paloma, but otherwise have tried to retain that sense of darkness/tension when it came to Bond's scenes.
My frustration with the later Daniel era films, is the need to interject out of place humour. It worked for Sir Roger and Pierce because that was their style but with Daniel it feels hit and miss. It's as if Daniel said to the producers after Skyfall, I want to be a funnier Bond.
I definitely understand that. I've always said that going forward I'd like the Bond films to evoke the novels more in the sense that the story should draw upon ideas that are fantastical or even outright camp (things like fighting a giant squid, having a shootout in the villain's cowboy ghost town, the villain requiring a bunch of gangsters to rob Fort Knox etc) but have it be taken seriously. So Bond should be the 'straight man' in that sense, slowly uncovering these strange villains and otherworldly scenarios. Ideally no eyebrow raising or moments of slapstick from Bond - ultimately he's just a man who finds himself in unusual situations. It might make the character more relatable going forward.
I will say out of the Craig films SF and to a lesser extent NTTD came closer to having that balance, but obviously it wasn't done fully.
Exactly, that's why I also call NTTD for its tone being inconsistent, like this is where Craig tried to play different Bonds, he tried to copy all of his predecessors, like culmination.
I've just come to realize.....
1. He tried to play Lazenby's Bond in the Matera scenes.
2. He tried to play Connery's Bond in the Jamaica scenes.
3. He tried to play Moore's Bond in the Cuba scenes (yes, the Cuba scene felt like it came from a Roger Moore era).
4. He tried to play Brosnan's Bond in the London and Norway scenes.
5. He tried to play Dalton's Bond in Safin's Island lair scenes.
Like, he played the Previous five Bonds in this film.
Yeah, Craig's performance was definitely mixed. Although, we're not certain if he deliberately copied his predecessors, even if it looked that way on screen. But I always enjoy Craig.
Another thing is, one of the reasons I didn't feel Felix's death was the director's decision to take the leftover comedy of the Cuba party into the ship where Felix died.
Maybe you could have Blofeld, tell Bond about Madeline's secret, being she had his daughter. Then have Blofeld reveal to Bond he's sent Primo to kill them both, which would promote enough rage in Bond to throttle Blofeld to death
Followed by Bond racing to Norway in his Vantage to protect Madeline and their daughter. Raising the urgency of that Norway sequence and also utilising The Atlantic Road more than they did.
Rather than Bond be in the car with Madeline and Mathilde, you could have him in the V8 protecting them from the land rovers and get some more use out of the Vantage.
Also that would be something new, in that Bond isn't the one being chased. It would have certainly made the Norway sequence more thrilling. As it was the Norway sequence was a bit of a let down in my opinion