Action sequences you want to see in BOND 23 (and beyond)

edited August 2011 in Skyfall Posts: 1,894
Okay, so, in the wake of QUANTUM OF SOLACE, one of the leading complaints was that there was too much action. Or perhaps too much of the <em>same</em> action; I don't think there would have been nearly as many complaints if there was a little bit more variety in it instead of car chase-fight-foot chase-fight-another fight-boat chase in the first half hour. What I'm looking to do in this thread is brainstorm a few ideas for action sequences that could be included in BOND 23 or future films.

Here's my suggestion to start the ball rolling:
<blockquote>It's the middle of the night, and Bond agrees to meet with the villain for some kind of exchange. The meeting place is an old - and possibly abandoned - cable car station. The cable cars themselves are strung across a wide chasm over three hundred feet deep. At least. Bond and the villain meet at the lower station because the gondolas are closed for the night.

Although it is in the interests of both Bond and the villain for this exchange to go like clockwork, things fall apart. Probably because by this point in the story, Bond has knowledge that the villain does not realise, and so gets caught out in a lie. The villain has placed a sharpshooter in the upper station as insurance, who opens fire on Bond. Bond has a brief gun battle of his own with two or three redshirts in the lower station, but the villain escapes. However, the shooter is currently pinning Bond in; he cannot exit the station without exposing himself to fire. He could wait until the shooter runs out of ammunition and simply walk out, but the shooter is the last remaining member of the villain's party and Bond wants to know why things went so badly.

Naturally, Bond does the only thing he can do: he starts the gondola up. The sniper has realised this, and so starts concentrating fire on the car. And, of course, he's armed with a .50 calibre rifle, which will punch a fist-sized hole in a concrete slab, and a hole the size of a dinner plate in the side of a gondola car. In order to get to the top, Bond must ride the gondola car to the upper station by clinging on to the outside so that he has an entire gondola car between himself and the bullets. In the freezing cold. At midnight. A hundred metres over pitch darkness, probably with spiky rocks below. And he has to remain perfectly still or else risk giving his position away to the sniper, who will instantly perforate him with bullets.

Bond drops off the gondola at the top of the cliffside, and must climb up into the receiving station, which is a fancy restaurant and observation deck and all very touristy. Realising that he is off the gondola, the sniper uses a well-placed shot to disable the cable mechanism (which he probably should have done in the first place, but we all have 20/20 hindsight). Bond stalks the sniper as the sniper stalks him, a cat-and-mouse game that Bond ultimately wins. But now, trapped in the upper station, Bond must find a way out. He uses a length of cable to abseil down the cliff face, down into the dark ravine.</blockquote>
Your turn.
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Comments

  • First, kudos on using the term redshirts :-)

    It's funny, but people have always complained about action scenes in the Bond films repeating the same things - I think there were four films in a row that had fights in airplaines or high in the air. Really, as long as an action sequence is done well then that's the main thing. I remember when CR came out one reviewer said "This is a film so well directed that a foot chase is one of the best action sequences in years - and it shows character as well!"

    Having said that I recall reading that the producers have a bunch of elements that have not yet made it into films and will sometimes use a rejected idea from a previous film for a new one. Didn't GE originally have a sequence featuring Bond driving a car out of a moving train? Although that could be considered too close to the opening of Fast Five for them to do now.
  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    I am afraid of heights and the rock climbing scene in FYEO made me break out in cold sweat.

    Maybe another action sequence involving really high places?
  • Posts: 1,894
    Did you not read my opening post?
  • Posts: 1,856
    ^ if you really think we're all going to write a 100 word essay, your terribly mistaken my friend.

    Roof fight on the sydney Opera house

    or bond at a theme park like Disneyland
  • Posts: 1,894
    ^ if you really think we're all going to write a 100 word essay, your terribly mistaken my friend.
    One hundred words is not an essay. It's a short-answer question. And the more information you can supply, the better. Case in point:
    Roof fight on the sydney Opera house
    And how would that work, exactly? The Sydney Opera House might look spectacular, but it's not a building you just climb onto. How does Bond get up there? How does the fight play out? Does someone end up sliding down one of the roof structures, or do Bond and the villain just stand in one of the creases between the structures and duke it out?
    or bond at a theme park like Disneyland
    And what would he do there? Go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride? That's not an action sequence. It's a holiday.

    So, if you really think a vague sentence really captures the idea that you have in mind ... well, I'm not going to stop you. But it doesn't hurt to supply a few details.
  • Posts: 1,856
    And how would that work, exactly? The Sydney Opera House might look spectacular, but it's not a building you just climb onto. How does Bond get up there? How does the fight play out? Does someone end up sliding down one of the roof structures, or do Bond and the villain just stand in one of the creases between the structures and duke it out?
    The Roofs are better connected then you think start at the land end and move onto the water end, yes have people sliding off roofs, it would have to a have a bit of the CR crane fight as if you move off the center... X_X

    And what would he do there? Go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride? That's not an action sequence. It's a holiday.
    A). I Used Disneyland as an example of a theme park as its the most famous, as some people don't know what a theme park is
    B). Lets see...... action sequences for Disneyland.. Shoot out down main street horses bolting etc.... Assassination on Pirates or Jungle cruise etc.... Fight in on and around the castle....



  • Posts: 5,745
    Just saying, all of these sound like they'd be in the Moore films. I like the opening one, at least the setting, just maybe not how you wrote the scene to play out. But theme park is way too Roger Moore. For Craig, imo, with all the physicality, possibly motorcycle/dirtbike chase through some foreign hills, or a "wrong place, wrong time" scenario for a Bond movie. The movies always seem too out there, if he just came across a stranger in need of a government trained operative (lol, sounds funny), and decided to use his skills (say in the middle of a city, or something) that'd be a pretty unique spin. I also like where Carte Blanch went with him working in Afghanistan, except working with the military and not in the military. They should have done a new origin story to set up for Casino Royale a bit, like what got him recruited, and then went on with CR as Craig's second installment.
  • SharkShark Banned
    Posts: 348
    Just saying, all of these sound like they'd be in the Moore films.
    And what's wrong with that?
    JThe movies always seem too out there,
    That's what gives the movies their personality. The bizarre, fantastical villains and lairs - all of that can be traced back to the Fleming's novel. Once you begin to try to bring Bond down to earth, you start losing its uniqueness.
    if he just came across a stranger in need of a government trained operative (lol, sounds funny), and decided to use his skills (say in the middle of a city, or something) that'd be a pretty unique spin.
    Like the Waterloo sequence in THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.
  • edited August 2011 Posts: 886
    A scene of some sort at the Taj Mahal at sunset maybe a love one and Bond sitting on the famous Diana seat, would be a nice tribute to her. Always connect her to Bond for some reason.
    Or a chase scene where he decides to run around the seat instead of jumping over it.

    Yes my mind's working overtime...too much caffeine. :-S
  • Posts: 5,745
    @Shark,

    Space, unintentionally but intentionally racist themes, exploding black people, oh yea EFFING SPACE, overly stereotypical rednecks, Bond shooting like 3 shots a movie at NOTHING, crappiest chases in Bond history (for the most part, and with plenty o' good technology to improve upon the scenes).

    You may like the Moore films (respect), and I don't blame him for their.. uniqueness, but my opinion is that they stink as movies, and even worse as Bond films.

    And unless you get rid of Bourne's stunt coordinator working on Bond movies, you can't avoid a "Waterloo sequence."

    From Russia With Love is one of my favorite Bond films, and that's about a organization, cough cough Quantum, and in FRWL specifically, it heavily detailed Cold War thinking of the time, unlike later films that tried to (seemingly) distract the public from the real danger in life.

    *And please, any movie with a blimp action sequence is, well, sad (in my opinion).

    But what is left to control in the world that is not so down-to-earth? Oil, oops, water, oops, stretching out here, diamonds, oops, gold, done....

    My point (and opinion), avoid laserbeams in space, avoid space, avoid laser beams, avoid full body transplants, avoid blimps, avoid racist themes, avoid silicon, avoid "out there."

    P.S. You are right about lairs, no more hotels, Bond villains, you saw how well that went (QoS). Half that movie's budget was the freaking hotel sequence, and it just wasn't cool.

    Sorry for the essay <3
  • Posts: 1,894
    Just saying, all of these sound like they'd be in the Moore films. I like the opening one, at least the setting, just maybe not how you wrote the scene to play out.
    I admit, my cable car sequence is inspired a little by MOONRAKER. But I wanted to show a sequence that could be tense without it being a chase. So I came up with the idea of Bond being in a position where he was very vulnerable, as well as playing up to my own dislike of heights. Crossing a frozen gorge in the middle of the night by clinging onto the outside of a cable car while a sniper was doing his best to turn Bond into strawberry jam seemed like a good starting point.
    My point (and opinion), avoid laserbeams in space, avoid space, avoid laser beams, avoid full body transplants, avoid blimps, avoid racist themes, avoid silicon, avoid "out there."
    How about the villain triggering an ablation cascade? It's a theoretical disaster that would take place when two satellites in orbit crashed into one another (which has happened before - two satellites collided over Siberia in 2009). The debris from the collision would expand out, colliding with other satellites. And so on, and so forth. So, the spy satellites have been knocked out, robbing MI6 of its eyes and ears, and so Bond must venture into the affected area to retrieve part of the downed satellite before the villain gets his hands on it. Something very similar to this was used very effectively by Raymond Benson in HIGH TIME TO KILL - a plane crashed in the Himalayas, totally by accident, and it became a race between Bond and the villains to get to it. It was one of the best sequences Benson ever wrote.
  • Posts: 5,745
    I still don't see Bond being sent into space. Its just uncomfortable for me. Now a plane crash, spilling neuro toxins into river streams at the tops of the mountains, and Bond having to race baddies up to it would seem pretty awesome.

    Now if the villain was rocketing around (well, the henchmen) and purposely destroying satellites, or using missiles of some sort or what not, and bod has to get to him, its still and out there idea, but this goes more on the other thread, sorry :)

    But I'm beginning to like you, shadow. haha
  • Posts: 1,894
    Actually, an ablation cascade would probably involve the villain taking control of a decommissioned satellite and subtly re-routing it so that it was on a collision course with another satellite, rather than shooting them down with missiles (which would be obvious) or flying up there and giving them a push (which would be even more obvious).
  • Posts: 5,745
    Hahaha its Midnight here, don't judge.

    But thats a little -puts on sunglasses- down to Earth, don't ya think ;)

    haha excuse the pun
  • in the pre-title sequence i want Bond to do the Total Wipeout course.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    The Total Wipeout course is for pussies. Bond should be forced to run the Ninja Warrior course. Failure is not an option. ;-)
  • Posts: 289
    I want to see the book version of the DR NO pipe crawl....
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited September 2011 Posts: 13,355
    I want to see the book version of the DR NO pipe crawl....
    The rat run or squid fight would be better in my opinion. What we got in the film was good enough for me.
  • I've seen Ninja Warrior and some of the different courses they go through, that would be an idea, to have Craig and some adversary leaping and climbing their way along, that would be a treat for the viewers, even better if they could get the actual course and do it themselves, but this idea is doomed to faliure, for a start no matter how good a shape Craig may be in even he would struggle to make an impact on those courses and the whole structure would seem out of place in the finished movie, one or two obstacles OK, but a whole series of athletic tests would not be recommended

  • Posts: 1,894
    I've seen Ninja Warrior and some of the different courses they go through, that would be an idea, to have Craig and some adversary leaping and climbing their way along,
    So, basically the foot chases in CASINO ROYALE and QUANUM OF SOLACE, then?
  • apparently it's nothing like it

    what I meant was, Craig and some bad guy negotiating their way across the NW course, or some variation

    It's totally different from the Madagascar nonsense and as stated, only saw QOS the once three years ago and it was such a disappointment I can't recall/have chosen to forget some of what took place

    NW would be neat, and plausible enough but this idea would never see the light of day, one can only put forth an idea
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    I've seen Ninja Warrior and some of the different courses they go through, that would be an idea, to have Craig and some adversary leaping and climbing their way along,
    So, basically the foot chases in CASINO ROYALE and QUANUM OF SOLACE, then?
    If that has to be done again there needs to be some kind of different take on it. Bond 23 looks like it may have one but in India so, well, at least it should look nice.

    If I had to choose I wouldn't want another foot chase for a while.
  • yeah, to hell with foot chases

    If it's India, Let's have Bond and some bad guys charging about on elephants..

    Or even a magic carpet ride, from some of the inplausibilities seen in previous 007 capes the audience should swallow that with some ease

    (Incidentally there was a MCR featured in The Living Daylights but edited out of the final version when Dalton is running about the rooftops of Tangiers, I've never seen it though)
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Incidentally there was a MCR featured in The Living Daylights but edited out of the final version when Dalton is running about the rooftops of Tangiers, I've never seen it though


  • Posts: 1,894
    what I meant was, Craig and some bad guy negotiating their way across the NW course, or some variation
    Looking at it on YouTube, it's a very specific course. It would be very difficult to plausibly come up with an exmaplation as to why Bond and the villain are racing each other through it, shot of having them actually chase each other through the set. But even thenm the courses are deliberately designed to eliminate competitiors.
  • It was merely an idea or to try something different, as 95 per cent of actual competitors are Japanese maybe we should leave it to them to get on with..

    I'm kind of relieved they omitted the rug scene out of Daylights, I think the cello case on the snow was enough to stretch the boundaries of what should be seen (in a Dalton release anyway)
  • Posts: 5,745
    That MCR Living Daylights scene woulda been 17x better if he had just ziplined. Wayyyy to cheesy with the hole magic carpet.

    A bit of skilled editing would've patched it up though. Along with 1 or 2 more takes.
  • Posts: 1,492

    or bond at a theme park like Disneyland
    Ugh! You are joking? I cant think of anywhere morre unBondian then a Florida theme park.

    I would love to see

    The Garden of Death from YOLT
    The assault coursse from Doctor No.

    Craig Bond would be great with both of them.

  • edited September 2011 Posts: 1,856

    or bond at a theme park like Disneyland
    Ugh! You are joking? I cant think of anywhere morre unBondian then a Florida theme park.
    AGAIN JUST USED DISNEY AS AN EXAMPLE OF A THEME PARK!!!!!!!!!!

    :L

    (also the better ones are in LA,Paris & Tokyo)
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited September 2011 Posts: 4,511
    Something like this:



    With of course some big changes. No sound effects like those. Less camera angels to to give it a more wide look what should made it les nerfes. The fall in the glass is also a bad idea. If possible to film it with 2 camer's or 1 camera or 1 helicopter. Directers created the widescreen for showing more from the left and right but in the mean time there creat small action scene's. There should created something to film from above and don't swith to soon to another camera as seen in between 1.43 and 1.49. In others words i think the camera is sometimes to close. I whant to see where there fight.

    A example where i like the camera angel be Madagascar crean scene in CR who started with showing it wide and include water.
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