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I'll have to watch out for that. Waltz as Blofeld is probably #1 on the long list of missed opportunities in SP (most of which have been thoroughly chewed over here). Everything about him is like a sketch - can't find it, I think it's Mitchell & Webb - were a magician tries to convince a guy something amazing is about to happen and the guy just deadpan knows how the trick works from the beginning.
"We have Waltz as the villain!"
"He's Blofeld, right?"
"NONONO. He's Hans Oberhauser. Totally different guy, but he leads SPECTRE!"
"So he's Blofeld."
"NO, he has this cool crater base and everything."
"All of that really sounds like he's Blofeld."
"No no. He has a personal connection with Bond as turns out to be his greatest nemisis."
"Yeah, that guy is Blofeld."
"SUPRISE! HE'S BLOFELD!"
"..."
They really could have done a better job of introducing both Blofeld and SPECTRE as a threat. As @Mendes4Lyfe has said: Bond just kind of walks through the plot and most of the time it is a bit unclear why he is doing anything and what he wants out of the whole situation.
A few months ago someone on twitter posted script pages from the conversation between Bond and White at Althaussee on, where White explains he was in a group of Foreign Legion deserters with Blofeld and they where trapped in a sandstorm in the desert. One night, Blofeld cut everyone's throat except White's because he needed White to carry parts of the bodies for food on their way out of the desert. Now, hearing that would have made me interested in finding out who that Blofeld fella is!
In my mind I still prefer it that Spectre activated a self destruct on the lair because it was compromised. I know it's not how it happened, but... IMO it would have been the cooler resolution to that sequence.
I remember being so hyped, particularly seeing Mr. White, all frazzled, saying, "You're a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond."
Coming off SF, it seemed that Mendes was going to top himself. But alas, no...it was such a letdown, not at all what I had hoped.
Now, I like the film more. I think it has a unique place in the canon, especially in DC's arc. And I think cinema resonates with us because it takes us back to times and places. SP is a film I will connect with one of my best friends and two of my closest aunts, all of whom died within days of each other, a week or so before SP was released. It was not the best of times. Three funerals. It's now one of those things when you look back and say, "How the hell did I get through that?"
SP was in the thick of that mess. I climbed out of it, dusted myself off, and moved forward, much like Bond following the building collapse in the pts.
FWIW: Newman didn't re-record his old SF score. Mendes made the decision to take that older music and incorporate it into SP. To the best of my knowledge, that was 100% Mendes's decision, to link the two films thematically, and not Newman's.
Not so sure about Mendes overruling Newman on the score. They've been close collaborators for decades.
It may have been that they ran out of time. I think that shows in the script, the editing (especially the Spectre meeting), and the score.
Spectre's teaser was amazing.
Mendes has final say in what music will be used and where. In his liner notes, Newman notes that his score for the Bond/Moneypenny shaving scene, titled "Old Dog, New Tricks" was rejected by Mendes because it was too sexually suggestive. So Newman composed "Close Shave" to replace it. (Good choice.)
In working with David Fincher, Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor would sometimes compose tracks meant for a specific scene, only to then then find Fincher using them for a different scene.
In terms of SP, I'm sure Mendes simply said to Newman, "I want to take some of the SF tracks and use them in SP." And Newman probably shrugged and said, "OK." And that was that.
Maybe if they do a Colonel Sun film, they'll have he and Bond do a swordfight in a volcanic castle.
When I first saw that line in the trailer I immediately thought they were making a reference to DIE ANOTHER DAY. :))
I have no idea what happened. I think that they were obligated to have the bridge in it, because it had already been created on set. So that was a piece of furniture that had to be there. I know Mendes takes a lot of crap for this film, but he knew they were not ready to start filming, and yet he was forced into it. Everything about that third act seemed horribly forced and rushed through, without a whole lot of thought put into it. There were some very talented people working on this film and its script, and they fumbled it.
The first 2/3 of the film are very good. The dialogue is crisp. There are some terrific one-liners. The pacing is good. And then... poof.
The final act didn't need to go so awry. They had TSWLM as a pretty good template. My changes:
1. Change C's role in that he's trying to get Nine Eyes passed through British parliament (not the international community)
2. Move the helicopter fight to the conclusion (see #9)
3. Change Blofeld's lair so that it is actually decoy. There is nothing there except some rooms, almost like a resort (as we see when Bond first arrives). Bond realizes it's a wild goose chase. Perhaps BOnd even quips something about "these damn desert hotels" in a nod to QoS. Blofeld meets them and then imprisons them and leaves via helicopter to deal with C.
4. C is killed at the hands of Hinx for failing to get Nine Eyes approved. Spectre has to go to plan B: a terrorist attack.
5. Bond and Madeliene escape in the Silver Wraith and eventually manage to get back to London
6. Madeleine goes to the safe house
7. Bond and MI6 must try to interrupt or diffuse the terrorist attack (would be kind of cool if this were at Stamford Bridge during a Chelsea match, but...)
8. Bond learns that the safe house was not so safe: Madeleine is now gone. There is a live feed of her on video, strapped to a chair.
9. Bond races to rescue Madeleine, sets her free, ends up on a chopper with Hinx and Blofeld (some details would need to be worked out here). Chopper fight ensures. Hinx is kicked out and dies, Bond flies the chopper into the bridge. Blofeld is injured and arrested. Done.
I'll have to search for this, it sounds interesting.
Of course, the linking of previous villains to Spectre was a bad choice, but specifically how they did in this manner was a really cool idea.
Instead of previous villains, it could have been the people responsible for the international terrorist attacks, who were captured and promptly killed themselves. And Marco Sciarra, etc.
Rewriting Spectre is fun.
Honestly! Rewriting SP is so much fun, because everything is right there. It just needed a linear, yet complex approach to put everything together.