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They have paid GREAT money for writers. Their creative teams are not under paid. They're just not good and NOT well guided by either EON or the directors EON hired.
Blofeld could've have been a great villain if they went to the source material and tried to build out organically... A man who built his empire on clandestine information; created a network of interesting nefarious villains used for their talents; and who prizes anonymity, willing to remake his identity, making him a chameleon. Instead they went with the tropes of the 60s movies and hired a fantastic actor thinking he would be phenomenal just based on who he is instead of a good vision, direction and script. Lame. Lazy. Expensive. Successful (financially).
I wouldn't mind slightly tighter control next time out.
The problem we face is that only Campbell has shown that he can bring it all together nicely, and he's not getting any younger.
So they will have to hire a director who really understands Bond next time (it will help if he's a fan as well), and who can give us a fresh take while respecting the legacy. Not an easy thing to do. I'm rooting for Villeneuve or Nolan (I realize some will lose it on account of this suggestion).
Some slightly tighter control? Any at all would be an improvement on SP's script.
I can see where you're coming from here but when you say 'It will help if he's a fan' what you actually mean is 'It will help is he's a fan who thinks along the same lines as I do'.
There are people on this very forum who would describe themselves as 'Bond fans' yet think DAD is better than TLD.
Mendes has described himself as a 'fan' and P&W keep getting asked back because of their supposed knowledge of Fleming (it cant be for their writing skills surely?) so on the face of it the last two films have had 'fans' at the heart of them yet what has that brought us? Delving into Bond's childhood, Blofeld being his stepbrother and the DB5 flogged to death.
When you hire fans what you actually get I'm afraid is fan fiction.
You might do better actually hiring a journeyman, bread and butter director. A Glen, a Campbell, even a Spottiswoode who will deliver on time and on budget what EON ask him to.
The trouble with that approach is the biggest imponderable question of all - do EON actually know what they want at the present time?
A fan director is not necessarily a good thing, as you correctly posit, because they bring their own fan perspective, which may indeed differ from yours and mine.
I still contend that only Campbell has got it right (twice) in the last 25 or so years, and I don't even know if he is a fan of Bond to be honest.
A lot of the blame must be laid at EON's door for the SP f'up. The script leaks (which I haven't read mind you - I just followed the thread here from time to time) suggest that they only got wind of how far out to lunch some of the concepts were very late in the game, and that probably wouldn't have happened if they were on the ball and exercised tighter conceptual & operational control from the get-go.
The other problem here is that Bond films are now increasingly becoming 'prestige pieces.' The last two in particular had people sitting around talking about the choice of cinematographer, for god's sake, and casts full of esteemed veterans instead of generic character actors.
After all that - and the buzz of critical acclaim and Oscar nods - it might be tough to go back to the workaday/journeyman model. Of course, EON might also get tired of paying a quarter billion a pop to make the damn things.
It's a real shame they weren't able to convince Campbell to direct at least one more film.
I disagree with you about Nolan. Mendes' take was very Nolanesque, I think we need something different now.
'Slightly tighter control' and Nolan don't go hand in hand, I'm afraid.
Agreed. I am not sure the 'auteur approach' is completely appropriate for Bond. It worked with SF, but much less with SP, IMO.
*sidenote, wouldn't Bond in a spitfire be a cool setpiece? Two British icons. Something like the villain having one among other expensive old vehicles and Bond using it to escape.
I agree with you on Nolan's action sequences. I think he gets a bum rap for them. The tanker flip in TDK is incredible, as is the Hong Kong plane hook escape. I love the plane sequence at the start of TDKR (very Glen) and the Bane fight as well. He is indeed the real deal, and it would be interesting to see him get to grips with something that he has often emulated in his own films (including in Inception, which has a very Bond'esque opening).
That's something I found Glen didn't do so well in his Bond films (it was quite notable when I watched TLD yesterday).
I can't recall much about the fight sequences themselves at the moment, but I did like the first Bane encounter where the Bat gets his back broken, but not the second one, which I found pedestrian.
I love Nolan, just looking objectively at stuff he could improve. At the very least, he always delivers clever action. Inception alone proves this in spades. And of course his emphasis on practical effects over anything gains him even more cred.
I don't know. Mendes creates sex without needing to show it, for me. Every time I stare at Berenice in Skyfall, no matter how brief she appears, she exudes sex and passion, which her performance only heightens. She's exactly how a femme fatale should be, almost animalistic in how she preys and entirely irresistible.
As for SP, the start of that love scene with Bond and Lucia makes me feel weird for watching it every time because it feels so intimate and passionate, like I'm spying on a private moment between a real couple. It feels washed in sex to me.
I'm now very intrigued to see what he might do with Bond!
I kind of think it will happen. Seems like the timing might be right. Maybe one more with Craig, and then usher in the new actor.
I also think some people here are being pessimistic about what Bond should be. We should be striving for greatness, not the pedestrian boredom of Glen and Spottiswoode. Those asking for greater studio control should be careful what they wish for, just look at the recent debacles around Fantastic 4 and Suicide Squad.
It's a good thing that Bond is attracting proper talent these days, and our focus should be on finding a writing team with equal credentials to the folks behind the camera.
I have my reservations about SP, and personally even more so about SF. But even though I dislike SF and find it a disappointing mess, it's still a superior fail to the Brosnan films, which are just garbage. Most of the criticisms I read about SP were already there in SF IMO.
95-2002 was the period where I was wondering if EON should just hand over the reins. But I'd say EON have upped their game significantly over the last decade, but still have a lot of work to do.
I don't think anyone has claimed the creatives have been underpaid but when it comes to the Babs and Mike era partnership, yes, they've obviously spent money on writers, afterall they're not writing these things themselves but they're paying a big standard fee for big standard writers who are doing the brunt of the writing. If EoN want significantly better writing they're going to have to reach deeper into their pockets or alternatively take a chance on some new up and comers who are creative and hungry. Either way, EoN need to lose P&W and not look back. Time to ditch the off the rack George suits from Asda and make the time and effort to pay Saville Row a visit and get something bespoke.
Well just because John didnt do arty 5 minute tracking shots doesnt mean he made worse films than pretentious Mendes with his 'Dead are Alive' bullshit.
I dont think anyone has asked for this. They just wanted EON to sort their shit out.
Absolutely. We have world class talent in every department except the most important one - the writing (and music).
Surely Gatiss deserves a crack? He has shown himself to be a fan and he cant commit worse fanboy atrocities against the character than stepbrothergate? He's probably not cheap these days but I'm sure we could find the fee if we didnt waste so much money needlessly blowing stuff up.