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I feel this is now an excellent opportunity to reintroduce Bond given the increasingly volatile and Flemingian nature of global villainy that's around us whether it's geopolitical hostility, mad men with Napoleon complexes running countries and corporations, the unleashing of potentially sentient AI, climate catastrophes, etc. (I'd avoid viruses for a few films). There should be plenty of inspiration to the producers and screenwriters to come up with relevant and entertaining plots for years to come. As I believe one of Barbara or Michael has said, the villain's plot is where it all begins.
I like the ideas of bringing some of the unused literary characters onto the screen, including May as Bond's landlord who can give Bond a Scottish verbal beating but also provide wisdom and care (especially if the Bond part is one of a 35-year old or so). Ms. Ponsonby as a colleague Bond admires and trusts. A Gala Brand-like female ally.
Obviously Craig has set a very high bar for performance and dramatic credibility as Bond, despite screenplays of varying quality. I hope EON avoids seeking even more dramatic storylines and performances that that of the Craig era. Whoever the actor will be, I hope he will give an authentic performance bringing in his own style (as Craig did) and not over-reach to outdo any of the predecessors. Keep it cool, keep it natural, have fun with it, and I'm sure the audiences will be in for a positive surprise.
Eon's been copying trends since at least 1973 and possibly earlier...I see echoes of Planet of the Apes in DAF. That's how the franchise has survived since Connery.
That's a fair point. It's just hammered home so blatantly throughout the film, along with the excess drinking and pill popping, that it always ends up being my takeaway.
This. I don't mean make a sequel to DAD, I mean going back to the original "timeless" continuity where Bond is just an ever-present character. It's a pretty foolproof formula that worked for 40 years. There's no reason why it can't work today, especially seeing as how, unlike with Marvel, the Bond producers don't have a ton of already-existing material to adapt and plan things out in advance.
If that’s the case, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t reboot again. Because they’re all standalone, it wouldn’t matter if it is or isn’t the same guy we saw in previous Bond films.
Michael G Wilson has already said as far back as 1994 that he views each of the Bonds as different characters rather than being the same exact guy we saw since 1962.
I think we can count on that. Every Bond actor has had their films make call backs to previous eras. Even Craig’s, despite having a clean break with CR still had plenty of callbacks peppered in. The thing is though, it has never been about continuity, it’s just the filmmakers having fun by including Easter eggs. When Brosnan is toying with a jet pack, it’s not the filmmakers trying to confirm to you that all the films are in the same continuity any more than Daniel Craig driving the Aston Martin from GF.
I only hope it is a soft reboot (TLD/GE) rather than a hard reboot (CR) where we have to go back to the beginning again of Bond's career.
- Standalone adventure
- Single location/country (except for pts)
- More emphasis on standout action
- Younger Bond at the peak of his powers
- More emphasis on humour/one liners
- New triumphant version of the bond theme
- Gunbarrel opening with traditional design
- practical and inventive gadgets
- At least one showstopper original stunt
- Run time under 2 hrs 15 minutes
- Bond beds multiple women
- No driving sequences involving the DB5
- true rock and roll title song (no ballads!)
Its obvious to me that most fans have been yearning for a standalone, no strings attached Bond adventure ever for years, and cinema in general has been moving in a more over the top direction since the mid 2010's, its time that bond finally catches up with the times. I always feel like the first film in a new era feels the freshest because they have made the effort to rethink everything from the ground up, and EON seems to work best when their back is against the wall and they have to deliver the goods.
I feel like edgar wright is the perfect choice for Bond 26 personally, because his films seem to represent the dynamic, playful style of the 2020's cinema that bond should be targeting. Also edgar is a homegrown talent with a unique individual style and vision (you can't beat that for bond) and hasn't been tapped for a big franchise yet, although he came close before. He also has a strong relationship with Babs and Mickey since they granted him permission to use the thunderball poster in his latest movie.
But apart from that, I actually agree with the rest in the list.
Yeah completely agree mate.
@Mendes4Lyfe we all want most of your list mate but I can't see us getting that lucky somehow
Where I differ: I don’t care about Bond bedding multiple women, don’t mind the DB5 either way, I would favour dry wit over an emphasis on humour/one liners, and I would add that I’d like to see better designed fight-sequences now we’ve got a younger Bond.
Infinitely preferable, yes.
Dry wit is definitely more to my liking. One of the things I actually liked the most about the Craig era was the integration of dry humour as part of Bond's personality, rather than him simply being obligated structurally to deliver a wonky line. I don't think anyone other than Connery managed to succeed in that regard.
Yeah that was one thing I hope remains from the Craig era. The dry wit was well pitched with Craig's dry delivery
Doesn’t get much more in-depth beyond Wilson remarking that he views the James Bond films as a “series of series” rather than a single big one. And this was in 1995 right before GE came out.
https://spycommandfeatures.wordpress.com/continuity-in-james-bond-films/
That would at least explain why he had zero trouble rebooting with CR as opposed to playing with a conceit that it could be an adventure set before DN (a fan theory I think that is immediately debunked by the presence of Leiter). So perhaps when actors like Judi Dench and Desmond Llewelyn carry over between Bond actors, it’s speaking less about continuity and more about Eon keeping actors they like in parts they’ve played.
But the deaths of Bond, Felix, Blofeld, and all of SPECTRE wipe the slate clean. All gone.
My hope is the next actor is a relative unknown. I would like a little more wit without the silliness of the RM era. Not sure what PWB brought to NTTD, but I like her humor as demonstrated in Fleabag. Whatever the villain's plot, hopefully it will be within the bounds of science and plausibility. And of course, each film a standalone.
I think the only villain that should be brought back is Blofeld, in a reoccurring role. Let his presence be known.
Regardless, every Bond film is its own thing. Each has a different identity. I don't think that'll change if they continue to go the route they did with the Craig era.
Violet-scented breath? So does my aunt.
He's not depicted well in the films compared IMO
Even in the books, I'm afraid, he did seemed good in Thunderball, but in the next following novels, he's no longer interesting, he's not threatening nor menacing, he's just a man who's desperate and frustrated, he's a man whom anyone could messed up with.
That's one of the reasons why Thunderball worked, it's set up Blofeld as a criminal mastermind, a scary boss, threatening, powerful, and deadly.
But both in OHMSS and YOLT, he's no longer that, add to that was his silly, ridiculous plots that proved he's frustrated, not a fan of him or his plots in those two novels.
The expectations was high because of Thunderball, but his turn in OHMSS and YOLT disappointed me really, it's a like he became a deflated balloon.
Like it made me think "Is this still the same man that I've read from Thunderball? He's entirely different, but in a bad and lesser way".
It would've been better had Thunderball became a one-off book with SPECTRE and Blofeld, think of how From Russia With Love was with General Grubozaboyschikov (General G), after that, he's never heard nor seen again in the other novels, Fleming just put him there, but never planned on making him a recurring character.
Would have been better if he did that with Blofeld, he's mentioned and described in Thunderball, but after that was never seen or heard again, then both in OHMSS and YOLT, there's an entirely different villain.
Possibly, actually the Franchise did survived without Blofeld, starting from Moore until Brosnan, there's no Blofeld, and yet, the Franchise had still became successful.
And honestly, his comeback did made the Franchise for worst (think of SPECTRE and NTTD).
So, I don't see any reason for the inclusion of the character again in the next era.