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Does Bond contradict himself in FYEO?
pachazo
Make Your Choice
In the early part of the film he warns Melina about digging two graves before setting out for revenge. This is after he has taken great satisfaction in killing Blofeld for (presumably) the death of Tracy. I understand that he didn't seek Blofeld out in this case but we have seen him in a mad frenzy to find and kill the man before in the PTS of DAF. Also, revenge seems to be at the forefront of Bond's mind when he kicks Locque's car off of the cliff. He mentions Luigi specifically and we assume (because of what we saw in the beginning of the film) that he must be avenging Lisl's death as well.
So do you think that Bond contradicts himself in this film? Or is he just trying to protect Melina from harm because he knows that she is in over her head? If so then it doesn't seem to be a wise decision to bring her to St. Cyril's. Either way it's no surprise that his advice to Melina falls on deaf ears when she knows that he kills people for a living.
So do you think that Bond contradicts himself in this film? Or is he just trying to protect Melina from harm because he knows that she is in over her head? If so then it doesn't seem to be a wise decision to bring her to St. Cyril's. Either way it's no surprise that his advice to Melina falls on deaf ears when she knows that he kills people for a living.
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Comments
she would have gone with him nontheless to St. Cyril's anyway
Sure, he kills Blofeld in the pts, but Bond isn't going out of his way to do it - Blofeld comes to him. And he doesn't seem cut up over it, he is quite jolly, unlike the grim, determined Melina.
I think @chrisisall sums up the "digging of two graves" perfectly. She is a "pure soul" at least in her current lifetime, innocent of murder and the damage it can do to one's psyche and the karmic implications it has for such a person's soul. Killing people however is something Bond has always known was a necessary evil in his business that sometimes cannot be avoided. And he signed up for this. There are situations where he kills out of self defense, but sometimes it is an order which he must obey. And we have also seen that Bond can be pushed too far in OHMSS/DAF so there is a precedent for revenge, although the difference there compared to say LTK is that no doubt MI6 sanctioned Blofeld's death as he was a danger to worldwide stability. Governments have had people killed for much less. So no, I do not see what Bond says to Melina as being contradictory.
There is a precedent in FYEO that ties in with LTK and further rationalizes, even if it's a bit off track for a FYEO discussion, that Bond is being more true to his nature in LTK than some like to believe. It's both the murder of an innocent and Bond's attitude there as far as leaving the act "to the professionals".
1. The killing of Locque I see as primarily for Lisl. Not that Lisl is as innocent as Della was for being a part of Colombo's ring, but Bond obviously took Locque's purposeful act of homicide by vehicle as needlessly personal because she was running away from the fighting. Perhaps that is why Moore argued not to kick Locque's car off of the cliff, but rather let his reaching for the dove pin allow natural gravity to take it's course. It was in line with his character besides, but then most everyone more familiar with Bond's particular nature than he was disagreed with him in this case. Ferrara, like Leiter, knew the risks. Bond very likely felt Lisl didn't, the same as he felt Melina didn't. What Sir Roger didn't quite understand here was that Locque was a sick pup who needed to be personally terminated as you can see he's quite sadistic in his enjoyment of killing, and he misses the irrefutable fact about Bond is that he is a "killer of killers".
2. With "leaving the act to the professionals", although Pam is involved with the CIA and proves to be quite capable of killing someone (and quite likely has) in ways Melina would never dream of past a personal act as we see here, Bond somehow refuses to believe that Pam is capable in this area. Eventually she proves that he's wrong about her. Still, he's bent on taking his revenge all by himself and I suppose he doesn't want the blood of Sanchez and his crew on anyone's hands but his own, especially for legal reasons.
If what I said made sense in context to @pachazo's question, considering I was rushing at that time, thanks :) I just wanted to hopefully illustrate that Bond's stance towards Melina was more clearly protective than what they presented with Pam Bouvier and why. I thought the parallels in this case between Lisl and Della were strong as to why he took the actions he did against Locque and why they were consistent with Bond's, and not Sir Roger's motivations. If I've confused anyone, please elaborate.
1) The DAF Bond and the FYEO Bond are not the same Bonds. There's hardly any continuity between any of the Bond films pre CR so whatever Bond may or may not have done in DAF is completely disconnected, IMO at least, from what he does in FYEO. Furthermore, the FYEO PTS exists in a vacuum for me; we know why it's there and we know that FYEO doesn't truly begin until the OT kick in. Also, I think that
is a bit over-exaggerated. Where @pachazo sees great satisfaction, I see EON give McClory the finger and the so-called mad frenzy I fail to see at all in DAF. I really don't think that the FYEO PTS qualifies as valid reference material for any deeper discussion of Bond's psychology and neither do I think that the DAF PTS is a serious revenge act. It holds but a meagre hint of revenge for those who remembered and cared about OHMSS. For most people it was merely a fact of Bond removing a dangerous man for us. ;-)
2) Bond has a license to kill but nothing demonstrates that he enjoys killing. He can commit himself to revenge but surely he won't encourage anyone else to execute personal revenge. Melina already lost her parents at that point and Bond knew that she was about to lose much more if she killed Kristatos. Her own soul is one thing - though perhaps not pure, she needn't make it any less pure - but how about making her a target to some of Kristatos' buddies out there, or business associates or, worse still, the KGB? I agree it isn't perfectly fleshed out in the film; things happen in rapid succession towards the end, and I prefer Fleming's take on the whole thing in his short story. That said, with FYEO already being much more serious and, in a way, dour than MR, I'm not sure those extras would have made the film any more pleasant. But perhaps the opening statement in this thread has a good point that the line about the two graves opens up a can of worms since the film chooses not to explore it beyond only a few superficial ideas.
Dictum sapienti sat est. ;-)
Show off ;)
Eh, nihil dictum quod non dictum prius.
I agree with you for the most part but not when it comes to Blofeld. Bond welcomes Blofeld to hell with a smile on his face after killing the double in DAF. I think that it's fair to say that he enjoyed this experience. He even describes the event as "most satisfying" a short time later.
In FYEO Bond seems rather jubilant when he has "caught" Blofeld and is about to send him to his death. He even cracks a few jokes. Do you really see this as just a statement to McClory regarding what he can do with himself? I find it to be an interesting prelude to the story of revenge which is about to unfold.
Having said that, I don't find Bond to be contradicting himself here. He knows the dangers of his job all too well and is prepared to face death at any given moment. Perhaps a part of him even expects to die on the job someday. So when he tells Melina about digging two graves he is warning her of what to expect when you start heading down this particular path.
Glad to hear you now have greater appreciation for the film than you did before! This is always my "go to" Moore film and and in my view a real throwback to the 60's classics in many respects :)
Wow, @BeatlesSansEarmuffs, you impacted the small metal spike with a broadened flat head on the noggin! Good show!