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Bond 23 - 007's new Mobile/Cell phone of Choice

007JamesBond007JamesBond
edited June 2011 in Skyfall Posts: 321
Been thinking about this for a little bit now and I wondered what others thought may be the new 007 mobile phone of choice, or even what it may be like compared to other mobiles on the market at the minute. The reason I ask is that, after the 1st two Craig movies, I have gone and got hold of the mobiles used (thanks product placement type people). First the Sony K800i from CR and then the Sony C902 from QOS.

I’m guessing that due to the advance in technology used in mobile phones that they’ll go down the smartphone route as opposed to the standard mobiles as mentioned above. Maybe something along the lines of the Xperia Arc or even the Playstation phone, which could be given to 007 by Q (if he were to return of course) and have the ability to ....ahem... control his latest car (kinda similar to the one used in TND).

Either way, I’ll no doubt have to get my hands on it and just wondered what other people’s thoughts were and what sort they would like to see.

Comments

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,723
    The Playstation Phone is quite ugly... The Xperia X10 is much better - would be a great phone for Bond. But please - less use of phones in B23 - it was appalling that Bond's cellphone was conveniently used for CR's plot development.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    The Playstation phone looks like it would have been a cool, futuristic gadget in the 90's (ahem TND) but not so much now. The Xperia is a nice looking phone but I guess the rationale is that Q branch, even if not named or seen, could outfit any model of phone with any tech or gadgets that would be needed. so I think it will simply be a matter of which company ponies up enough cash for product placement.

    DaltonCraig007 - were you appalled that Bond's cell phone figured prominently in CR because it was blatant product placement, or just that you don't like the idea of cell phones in Bond's world? They're a pretty huge part of our lives now so I think we're no more likely to see them *not* be in Bond films or plots than we are computers...
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,723
    @thelordflasheart There's a difference between having cellphones in Bond's world, and having them as the sole mean of making the plot go forward. I was expecting CR to have more wits from Bond, as there were no gadgets... All I saw was Bond massivly relying on cellphones... And besides, I was unhappy with Q not in the film.
  • dragonskydragonsky
    Posts: 2,491
    i dont want him to use too much 21st century technology it is like transforming bond into bourne
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    @dragonsky I agree - let's bring back the practical low-key gadgets like the ataché case.
  • 007JamesBond007JamesBond
    edited June 2011 Posts: 321
    ...............or they could possibly go down the "Carte Blache" route and give hime the iQPhone?? ;-)
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    i dont want him to use too much 21st century technology it is like transforming bond into bourne
    Drangonsky, can you clarify that? I don't remember Bourne using high-tech gadgets in the films. However, Bond has a history of using high-tech gadgets - one could say "21st century tech in the 20th century"!
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,584
    i dont want him to use too much 21st century technology it is like transforming bond into bourne
    Drangonsky, can you clarify that? I don't remember Bourne using high-tech gadgets in the films. However, Bond has a history of using high-tech gadgets - one could say "21st century tech in the 20th century"!
    This obsession with Bourne has taken over to the point where we are now crediting him with pioneering the use of gadgets in the field.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,723
    Actually Bond should not go too far the Bourne way... Meaning : grabbing newspapers, towels, books and slapping people with it - The Slate fight scene in QOS screamed Bourne to gigantic proportions... No really Bond should go back to practical, low-key gadgets given by Q... Something in line with the Daltonite toothpaste, the ataché case... And enough cellphones... reminds me too much of ordinary action flicks... Where has the big red telephone in M's office gone ??

    The bottom line is - bring Q back, and make him give Bond cool, low key gadgets. Simple, yet terribly original and cool !! :-bd
  • dragonskydragonsky
    Posts: 2,491
    hahaha now i am not obsessed with bourne i just mentioned but i think that bond should use his brain and muscles not some extra gagdgets,he should use gadgets but not too much
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    How about... no cell phone for once? Spy films these days seem to be thriving on the many applications of cell phones, which isn't wrong by the way, it's part of our times. However, how about cleverly working out a field op in which Bond doesn't need to bring up a cell phone?

    Modern as they may seem, cell phones are the first to reveal a film as 'old'. Take TND for example, an otherwise perfectly 'modern day' Bond film. Perhaps true car connoisseurs can tell its age based on the BMW models presented in it, but to the average viewer I bet it's Bond's cell phone that gives it away.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    dragonsky - agreed, but he must have very cool, low-key gadgets given by Q himself. Bond movies feel less 'Bond' when Q is absent... But I disagree on one thing - using his muscles... I am tired of putting the emphasis on Craig's physical strenght. More wits, more gadgets, less muscles.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited June 2011 Posts: 13,999
    Daltonite toothpaste,
    Fantastic phrasing. I'm off to engrave that on something.

    As for the topic at hand. Let's not go overboard with wanting to bring all the convenient gadgets back. I'm all for toning down of all the book smacking and pen stabbing, but let's not ask for Bond to go too far in the other direction (SEE Bond .1995 - 2002). Connery and Dalton managed it...
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Yes MajorDSmythe... I don't want the convenient gadgets of the Brosnan era back... But I am talking about the low-key gadgets - the utterly cool, original stuff, not sci-fi gadgets like the invisible car... More ataché case, revolving licence plates, mini breather, homing capsule please !! :-bd
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    I think that the lack of gadgets can be a good thing - but like anything else, if used properly.

    There are two main problems with the use of gadgets in Bond films IMHO. The first is, if a gadget is useful, why doesn't Bond carry it on every mission? I can't recall gadgets being used in more than one film other than DAD (and that was done as callbacks for the fans). Lazenby *looks* at old gadgets in OHMSS but doesn't use them, there's a mention in GF that Bond's briefcase (I'm assuming the same one from FRWL) didn't "survive inspection". For some reason I had thought that Dalton's keyring finder in TLD would be a standard piece of equipment he would use in all his films. Lockpicks, stun gas, explosives - why *wouldn't* he always keep one on him?

    The second problem is the gadget as the "magic wand" that works as a get out of jail free card for the writers. Q introduces some new, quite specific gadget which by pure coincidence will be exactly what Bond needs later in the film to escape a certain situation. That's just lazy and makes any situation Bond is in completely unsuspenseful for the audience. I'd rather have a no gadgets Bond use his wits, training, and resourcefulness than that type of scene.

    (As a quick aside I loved the Slate fight from QOS - most brutal fight since the train fight in FRWL, and showed how quick thinking and resourceful Bond is. I think that's a great thing)

    One thing that I wonder about with the gadgets - we have so many cool tech toys these days that I wonder what they would have to come up with to impress us? Even my iPhone has more tech than Bond had in a lot of his films!
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723

    (As a quick aside I loved the Slate fight from QOS - most brutal fight since the train fight in FRWL, and showed how quick thinking and resourceful Bond is. I think that's a great thing)
    Ugh - a horrible scene. Screamed Bourne all the way to the bank.
  • Sir_Hilary_BraySir_Hilary_Bray
    Posts: 57
    I don't want Bond to have an iPhone like everybody (not even an iQPhone ;))
    To me a classy blackberry would perfectly fit 007.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,356

    (As a quick aside I loved the Slate fight from QOS - most brutal fight since the train fight in FRWL, and showed how quick thinking and resourceful Bond is. I think that's a great thing)
    Ugh - a horrible scene. Screamed Bourne all the way to the bank.
    Is that because it was cut so quickly though and one couldn't tell what the hell was going on? That's the main problem I find and agree with @thelordflasheart, the scene does show how quick thinking and resourceful Bond is.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370

    (As a quick aside I loved the Slate fight from QOS - most brutal fight since the train fight in FRWL, and showed how quick thinking and resourceful Bond is. I think that's a great thing)
    Ugh - a horrible scene. Screamed Bourne all the way to the bank.
    I'm curious - how do you feel about the train compartment fight in FRWL and the elevator fight in DAF? Do you dislike them or find them "unBondlike"?

    As for the "crash-cutting" that's a technique that was first popularized in the original Bond films - there's a lot of talking about it in the first films's commentary tracks. I remember when I first saw OHMSS I couldn't follow the fight scenes because they were cut so quickly (especially the first fight on the beach and the one outside Draco's office). Now, they still look cool to me but not mind-numbingly fast. We always adapt and I think 10 years from now that a lot of what is considered overly-quickly cut will seem more reasonable. It's like when I was looking at new motorcycles in 2003 - a lot of them looked horribly "overdesigned" to me. Now I really like the look of them and find the 2011 models "overdesigned"! People (whether filmmakers or industrial designers) always want to make things cool and different so they're fresh and more interesting. It can be jarring at first but it eventually becomes part of the "new normal".
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    @thelordflasheart the elevator fight in DAF, and even better the train fight in FRWL, are much better made, and the editing is much better in those 2 scenes. FRWL featured the most modern film making in the entire series... so modern that more nearly 50 years later, the latest films still hasn't reached the modernity and perfection of FRWL's filmaking.

    And, IMO, the move Bond makes by grabbing the book and slamming it into Slate's head, screams Bourne way too much, which makes things worse with that editing.
  • sHell_Is_HeresHell_Is_Here
    Posts: 30
    This obsession with Bourne has taken over to the point where we are now crediting him with pioneering the use of gadgets in the field.
    Quoted for emphases.

    And, IMO, the move Bond makes by grabbing the book and slamming it into Slate's head, screams Bourne way too much, which makes things worse with that editing.
    It is a more modern approach in hand-to-hand combat to use improvised weaponry, but that doesn't make it "Bourne's." You already mentioned From Russia With Love, but glossed over the fact that Connery's Bond used the cabin partition doors and Red Grant's jacket effectively to his advantage during the famous fight scene. In fact, in searching for improvised weaponry combat on YouTube, I found a video that states, "To really employ improvised weapons in personal defense, you need more than James Bond-style tricks; you need sound tactics, planning..." We hardcore Bond-fans may notice that a specific tactic is "Bond" or "Borne" and make a distinction between the two, but the mainstream audience is oblivious to the definitions.

  • VirageVirage
    Posts: 1,856
    IPHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    edited June 2011 Posts: 15,723
    IPHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    This would not be a good choice - iPhone 6 will be released after B23's filming, so I don't want Bond's cellphone to be already outdated when B23 will be released. I don't want to see Bond having an iPhone 5, while iPhone 6 will be available to buy before the movie's release date.
  • imranbecksimranbecks Singapore
    Posts: 984
    James Bond of this era would not be using the iPhone no matter how overrated that phone is.. James Bond is endorsed by Sony, hence it will be a Sony Ericsson phone.. One thing is for sure though, it will definitely be a smartphone... The new Xperia arc maybe...

    On a sidenote, my Quantum Of Solace Sony Ericsson C902 died on me a few months ago, I've had that phone since Quantum Of Solace was released..hahaha.. And becoz of its sudden death after all these years, I switched to the Xperia X10.. Very good phone.. Just as good as the iPhone which I totally despise..
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