NO TIME TO DIE - Questions Thread

1242527293032

Comments

  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,789
    1. He wasn't off the radar in Matera, he had retired. Spectre had already set up the bomb at Vesper's grave because there was a high likelihood that he would go it at some point, and it seems logical that Blofeld would be keeping tabs on James' whereabouts generally.

    2. As to how Blofeld can do this all in prison is through his bionic eye. I don't think there's anything to suggest Primo was hired while Blofeld was incarcerated. The phone is an interesting bit of fridge logic that I'd not thought about but given that James nor Madeleine converse with it that it could be a message that Blofeld had pre-recorded. It's somewhat baroque, but then it is Blofeld we're talking about.

    3. No I don't think Safin orchestrating Matera would've worked, the whole point was to make James distrustful of Madeleine, what better way than implying she's working for Spectre for which she has a familial connection (which ties the themes of the film together) and which Bond has his own animus towards. I guess Safin could've used Spectre as a guise but at this point Safin and Bond haven't met so it would ring hollow and doing it just to split Bond and Swann up sounds more baroque.

    4. Okay I've already answered how Blofeld communicated in prison and the phone, so as to why Madeleine is hired as Blofeld's psychiatrist. Presumably before settling down in Jamaica James does tell MI6 about Matera, or at least about Madeleine being an accomplice of Spectre. As per the script:

    BOND
    Madeleine Swann? Really

    M
    Well yes, we took your information seriously, but that was five years ago. Nothing came up.

    BOND
    She’s very smart and very good at hiding things.

    M
    She’s a useful asset. She’s the only psychiatrist he agreed to speak to. I had to exercise my judgment.

    BOND
    Your judgement is the problem.

    So MI6 have seemingly done there due diligence in regards to Madeleine and that if not it's worth the risk. It's implied as with Heracles that M and MI6 more generally are quite bad at their jobs which I quite like on a personal level (how they didn't know Madeleine had a child is the one that sticks for me), but does mean that it's only when Bond and Madeleine reunite in Madeleine's childhood home that he realises the truth that yes he has been an monumental spanner.

    5. Also Safin finding out where Madeleine worked is well within the realms of possibility, it's public knowledge that you could probably find it with a quick google. Whether Madeleine would be that blasé given her character and after Matera is another matter. The bigger leap in logic is why Safin waits 20 years to show up, because the Doylist explanation is that he didn't exist before Spectre the film. In-universe there could be any number of reasons why, it's not a huge problem for me but it's something that's never concretely explained in the film.

    6. I'm not sure how you missed it but Madeleine definitely does shoot Safin in the cabin, with Papa's Beretta no less. Again as per the script: 'Madeleine rises, SHOOTS WILDLY, EYES CLOSED. Bullet after bullet hits the man. Until CLICK CLICK CLICK. The clip is empty.'

    Thanks! @CharmianBond for clarification. 👍
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    One question that I'd have to watch the film back to check: did M & Tanner realise that Bond had been covered in the Spectre-killing nanobots in Cuba before they let him in to see Blofeld?
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 557
    No worries @MI6HQ, it's nice to spout off about NTTD.
    mtm wrote: »
    One question that I'd have to watch the film back to check: did M & Tanner realise that Bond had been covered in the Spectre-killing nanobots in Cuba before they let him in to see Blofeld?

    If they do they don't mention it, Bond certainly doesn't proffer that he has in the scene beforehand where's Q's explaining it. Again I think it's a case of M thinking it's a risk worth taking, all Bond has to do is not touch Blofeld, he wouldn't do a reckless thing like that now would he? 😄
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    I think she meant why didn't adult Madeleine shoot Safin at the shed in the woods?
    Good spot re. M's 'we took your information seriously but that was five years ago' showing that Bond had told MI6 about Matera and Madeleine's apparent involvement with Spectre. I don't think that'd quite registered with me and now I can't work out how it didn't!
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 557
    Venutius wrote: »
    I think she meant why didn't adult Madeleine shoot Safin at the shed in the woods?

    Ah yes that does make more sense, it is very 'blink and you'll miss it' Bond hears gunfire after dispatching Logan Ash and the next shot is Madeleine taking the henchman down and for a split second you can just see and hear the slide being drawn back showing she's out of bullets.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Venutius wrote: »
    I think she meant why didn't adult Madeleine shoot Safin at the shed in the woods?

    Ah yes that does make more sense, it is very 'blink and you'll miss it' Bond hears gunfire after dispatching Logan Ash and the next shot is Madeleine taking the henchman down and for a split second you can just see and hear the slide being drawn back showing she's out of bullets.

    Yep, she pulls the trigger but is out of bullets.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,803
    mtm wrote: »
    One question that I'd have to watch the film back to check: did M & Tanner realise that Bond had been covered in the Spectre-killing nanobots in Cuba before they let him in to see Blofeld?

    Storywise it fits that Blofeld was known to not be in Cuba so he wasn't targeted. Until later.

    Also aligns with standard villainy, delusions of omnipotence and godlike powers to control these things. Allow Blofeld to endure his failure.

    But they should have considered it yes. Did an evaluation of targeted DNA tell them Blofeld was included out.

  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited April 2022 Posts: 16,413
    mtm wrote: »
    One question that I'd have to watch the film back to check: did M & Tanner realise that Bond had been covered in the Spectre-killing nanobots in Cuba before they let him in to see Blofeld?

    Storywise it fits that Blofeld was known to not be in Cuba so he wasn't targeted. Until later.

    Feels a bit of a reach; we keep having to hear how these nanobots target all of Spectre... apart from Primo. And Blofeld. And that guy over there ;)
  • CharmianBondCharmianBond Pett Bottom, Kent
    Posts: 557
    Safin would've had to have to have targeted Blofeld separately anyway because he's been locked away in Belmarsh for five years so just by sheer coincidence the only person Ernst regularly speaks to is the same girl he pulled out of the ice a couple decades prior. That little contrivance aside it makes sense and in coercing Madeleine I like how it plays into the depths of his obsession for her, he needs to control her specifically. He just couldn't have accounted for Bond being there and doing the deed instead. As for Primo... yeah I got nothing. Maybe he wasn't on the payroll, might explain why he switched sides so easily 😂
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    I just realized that apart from Safin at the very end, no one actually uses Heracles the way it was intended to. As far as I understand it, the point of Heracles was to just sow it out into the world and it will just make its way to the target on its own. No need for infiltration, no need to even really know where the target is, at some point, enough people will be infected with it that someone in physical contact with the target will have it too (and btw, how psychotic is Heracles even if it where used „the proper way“? Mallory really was off his rocker). Of course directly infecting someone you know is close to the target makes the process faster, but really it’s main advantage is that you don’t really have to aim, it will find the target at some point anyway.
    And what do people do with it? Blofeld wants to drop it right on top of Bond’s head, which is then turned on it’s head and Safin wants to use just one step from Madeleine to Blofeld. Why didn’t he just infect a henchman and have him shake Madeleine‘s assistant‘s hand and you‘re done. No way for Madeleine to decide against doing it, if she had no idea it’s there…
  • Posts: 1,078
    Why didn’t he just infect a henchman and have him shake Madeleine‘s assistant‘s hand and you‘re done. No way for Madeleine to decide against doing it, if she had no idea it’s there…

    Madeleine had to know she needed to physically touch Blofeld to infect him. Infecting her without her knowing wouldn't necessarily have infected Blofeld if they didn't touch.

  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Why didn’t he just infect a henchman and have him shake Madeleine‘s assistant‘s hand and you‘re done. No way for Madeleine to decide against doing it, if she had no idea it’s there…

    Madeleine had to know she needed to physically touch Blofeld to infect him. Infecting her without her knowing wouldn't necessarily have infected Blofeld if they didn't touch.

    Ah, didn’t think of that. Cheers.
  • Posts: 1,078
    Ah, didn’t think of that. Cheers.

    I actually thought the nanobot idea was quite clever, (I know some didn't like it). I think EON could have made a cracking Bond film out of that idea, had they not wanted to do all that other stuff.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited April 2022 Posts: 16,413
    Safin would've had to have to have targeted Blofeld separately anyway because he's been locked away in Belmarsh for five years

    I dunno, somehow he's got the DNA of every single person who works for Spectre but the boss?
    I don't think Blofeld would have authorised that anyway, because the plan seemed to be (before Valdo switched it around) that the virus in the Cuba killed everybody but Spectre people, so his plan would have involved releasing a deadly toxin into the world which he wasn't immune to.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,803
    mtm wrote: »
    Safin would've had to have to have targeted Blofeld separately anyway because he's been locked away in Belmarsh for five years

    I dunno, somehow he's got the DNA of every single person who works for Spectre but the boss?
    I don't think Blofeld would have authorised that anyway, because the plan seemed to be (before Valdo switched it around) that the virus in the Cuba killed everybody but Spectre people, so his plan would have involved releasing a deadly toxin into the world which he wasn't immune to.

    The Spectre plan in Cuba was to only kill Bond.

    Safin would have Blofeld's DNA on hand. From there it would be about control, when to use it.

    The virus released in Cuba targeted higher level Spectre folks, not all of the group. Including apparently a decision to not kill Primo, to be useful later.

  • BMWTREKPSEBMWTREKPSE Colorado
    Posts: 105
    Has anyone talked about Safin's shoes in the opening scene? What the heck are these?

    UGr7gyi.png

    rXgGgUm.png


  • Posts: 2,165
    A pair of boots with ice cleats on them.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,803
    The most extreme ice cleats/microspikes I'd seen to that point.

    Believe the ones in the film are meant for pretty flat ice surfaces and packed snow. And crampons are larger spikes for inclines and outright ice climbing.
    1c576e37-6200-4423-aff9-8eb316573fb2.cba298f184d8c86fbf3fdeffd7dfc23d.jpeg?odnHeight=372&odnWidth=372&odnBg=FFFFFF
    comparison.jpg
  • Posts: 5,994
    Must be hell on the floors.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,803
    Not recommended for use with hardwood floors or luxury automobiles.

  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    It's murder on carpets, too.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    edited February 2023 Posts: 15,138
    It's murder on carpets, too.

    And on relationships too. Apparently.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    I'm one of the rare few who quite likes NTTD. However, a couple of things need answering.
    1. Why did Safin kill Blofeld and Spectre? What does he gain?
    2. By infecting people with Heracles, and potentially killing millions of people, what does Safin get?
    Forgive me if I'm a little slow on the uptake or have missed a line of dialogue here and there.
  • Posts: 4,162
    Benny wrote: »
    I'm one of the rare few who quite likes NTTD. However, a couple of things need answering.
    1. Why did Safin kill Blofeld and Spectre? What does he gain?

    It was motivated by revenge fundamentally. SPECTRE did after all murder his parents so it makes sense he'd not only want to kill Blofeld but destroy his entire organisation too.

    It's the annoying thing about Safin as a character - I find him quite compelling for the first portion of the film in the sense that his motives are understandable. It's perhaps a contrived way of going about such a goal, but it makes sense so the audience can go along with it.

    With that in mind...

    Benny wrote: »
    2. By infecting people with Heracles, and potentially killing millions of people, what does Safin get?
    Forgive me if I'm a little slow on the uptake or have missed a line of dialogue here and there.

    This is where the problems come in.

    I think the film implies that Safin has developed some sort of God complex (he seems to ramble on about free will not being real during his confrontation with Bond). I think his plan was to force Madeline to stay with him (out of some weird twisted attraction to her that's inadequately explored) while he sold off the nanobots to shady buyers who were planning to commit acts of terrorism with it for unexplained reasons. So in that sense he's acting as this invisible God and is responsible for this technological plague...

    Personally it makes no sense to me and I find much of Safin's dialogue in these sections bizarre and unclear. I suspect it was a case where the writers wrote itself into a corner with the fact that Safin killed all of SPECTRE by the beginning of the third act. After that he no longer had any goal as a character because he'd accomplished what he'd set out to do. They needed something compelling for the third act to keep the stakes up so settled on the 'ticking clock' plot device of the buyers and had to justify why Safin would do such a thing. Like I said, it makes little sense to me.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,152
    In my head, I just think 'yeah, Safin's a whackjob, he's not going to have a coherent reason or plan for anything'. I know we expect neater explanations in films...but it helps!
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,138
    During the integration scene between Bond and Blofeld in NTTD, does Bond briefly refer to Ernst as Blofield instead of Blofeld?
    It's a blink and you'll miss it line, but I'm hoping others have heard it?
  • Posts: 2,165
    Benny wrote: »
    During the integration scene between Bond and Blofeld in NTTD, does Bond briefly refer to Ernst as Blofield instead of Blofeld?
    It's a blink and you'll miss it line, but I'm hoping others have heard it?

    He does indeed!

    Also, his completely out of character overacting with his arms and hands always generates a good laugh.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    edited February 2023 Posts: 6,304
    Agreed that Safin's motivations are so much clearer earlier in the film. If the whole plan was to keep Madeleine with him (and also to exact revenge upon Blofeld but he accomplishes that goal so early), and he was kind of crazy a la Blofeld in the YOLT novel, calling Madeleine his wife, wearing samurai armor, literally being willing to kill everyone in the world except for Madeleine...

    Yeah, that probably would have worked.

    The mistake was making Safin too rational and the mirror image of Bond. To which I say, yawn, I'm tired of more or less rational mirror images of Bond. Give me a hothead for once.

    It might have been better if he was simply like: "Hey, I found Madeleine first, and Bond I will destroy you, your daughter, and the world, all to keep Madeleine on this island with me."
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I'm still not sure if that interrogation scene is excellent or horribly out of step with the rest of the film. I'd say that entire London sequence is the weakest stretch of the film for me.

    I'll have to keep an ear out for the "Blofield" bit. At which point does he say it like that?
  • Posts: 2,165
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    I'm still not sure if that interrogation scene is excellent or horribly out of step with the rest of the film. I'd say that entire London sequence is the weakest stretch of the film for me.

    I'll have to keep an ear out for the "Blofield" bit. At which point does he say it like that?

    2:28


Sign In or Register to comment.