SPECTRE: In Particular, Ernst Stavro Blofeld

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  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,905
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    A Blofeld spin off showing how he and Bond grew up as brothers! Cuckoo!

    Oh, brother! 😱

    I think EON realized that they were too CUCKOO to make Bond and Blofeld brothers. I also have written down ideas for a Blofeld spinoff story, @Ludovico it's tough. I think at best, I'm aiming for a short story, honestly.

    As for the new book itself, could the press release that week be made because that week would have been Peter Hunt’s 100th birthday? The timing while not on his actual birthday does seem to be more than coincidence. Maybe a Blofeld book series is in the works.
  • edited March 3 Posts: 1,604
    Best Blofeld is hidden Blofeld (TB being my favorite incarnation)

    Pleasance is suitably creepy and iconic, I dare say he's even a little underrated nowadays.

    Savalas is probably objectively the best of the on-screen Blofelds.

    Charles Gray is underrated and fits the film he's in like a glove.

    Christoph Waltz's portrayal was abysmal.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,905
    Best Blofeld is hidden Blofeld (TB being my favorite incarnation)

    Pleasance is suitably creepy and iconic, I dare say he's even a little underrated nowadays.

    Savalas is probably objectively the best of the on-screen Blofelds.

    Charles Gray is underrated and fits the film he's in like a glove.

    Christoph Waltz's portrayal was abysmal.

    Great viewpoints. I still think the best way to bring Blofeld back is reintroducing Irma Bunt.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,691
    Saw something that said the script does a tonal shift with the character and that Christoph does his best but is hampered. The Blofeld at the briefing is suitably creepy and off-putting. I like the part when he looks up to James and says Cuckoo.

    But the Blofeld at the desert location. The one that says to go ahead and touch the meteor. It strikes a different tone and is not written as well as the first part. Then at the end we get back to a little more of the creepy Blofeld. So the script does him no favours.
  • Posts: 1,604
    I agree the script doesn't do him favors, but Waltz's performance to me - aside from the SPECTRE meeting - really lacks... flavor? Everything? It's so flat and they clearly want him to be channeling Hans Landa, but his performance lacks the simmering venom of that one. The raw hate and viciousness beneath the suave veneer.

    In SP, Waltz is just kind of diminutive and doesn't "take up space" with any charisma or sense of threat or menace. He's just doing a rather poor imitation of his earlier, better performance.
  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 771
    Blofeld, or at least SP's version of Blofeld, doesn't play to Waltz's strengths as an actor. He doesn't have much of a physical presence, but his personality and voice dominate scenes where he's playing someone very talkative and intelligent. Waltz is given a ton to do in movies like Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchanged, in IB especially he has lines that probably no other actor could do with such relish.

    In SP he just doesn't have anything to work with. He's barely in the movie to begin with- pretty much only three scenes- the SPECTRE meeting, the SPECTRE base, and finale in London. And not only is he not in the movie enough, he's not given anything to do in the scenes that he does have. He's a stock character with a stock motivation and stock lines.

    Bardem did well playing Silva, a similar villain who's only in a few scenes, because he's tall and has a deep voice. He makes an impression and can do a lot with a little. Waltz can also do a lot, but only if he's given a lot. If they wanted him for Blofeld, they would've been better off going the OHMSS/DAF route by giving him plenty of scenes and a lot of dialogue.
  • Posts: 1,604
    Very well said. It definitely doesn't *all* fall on Waltz's shoulders, even though I'm not super fond of his performance.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,626
    slide_99 wrote: »
    Blofeld, or at least SP's version of Blofeld, doesn't play to Waltz's strengths as an actor. He doesn't have much of a physical presence, but his personality and voice dominate scenes where he's playing someone very talkative and intelligent. Waltz is given a ton to do in movies like Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchanged, in IB especially he has lines that probably no other actor could do with such relish.

    In SP he just doesn't have anything to work with. He's barely in the movie to begin with- pretty much only three scenes- the SPECTRE meeting, the SPECTRE base, and finale in London. And not only is he not in the movie enough, he's not given anything to do in the scenes that he does have. He's a stock character with a stock motivation and stock lines.

    Bardem did well playing Silva, a similar villain who's only in a few scenes, because he's tall and has a deep voice. He makes an impression and can do a lot with a little. Waltz can also do a lot, but only if he's given a lot. If they wanted him for Blofeld, they would've been better off going the OHMSS/DAF route by giving him plenty of scenes and a lot of dialogue.

    This is a good point. Waltz is a verbose actor and the script didn't give him much.

    I know people like the Spectre meeting scene and I've never understood why. It's well shot. But it's long and boring and Blofeld is not commenting on anything regarding his criminal enterprise. Compare the TB scene, which is so, so much better-written.

    Even if they had copied Silva in SF and given Blofeld a long speech at some point (in the crater?), that would have been better than what we got.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 17,609
    Yeah I do think the rat speech is genuinely one of the best moments in the whole series.
  • Posts: 4,718
    mtm wrote: »
    Yeah I do think the rat speech is genuinely one of the best moments in the whole series.

    100%, great writing, perfectly excecuted
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 17,609
    Maybe we should have a 'best moments' thread.
  • edited March 9 Posts: 4,930
    I love a Bond villain giving a weirdly friendly account about something messed up that happened in their past. It’s quite Fleming esque.
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