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I must say this though, while QOS's villains are not supermemorable (except for Beam), they are scary because it's that typical bunch of morally bankrupt opportunists who you can easily find in the real world.
I do like how slimy he comes across. But I think he needed a bit more menace to him. We needed to see what he could do. I think he’s a bit of a misfire as a character in this way.
But I do agree with 007HallY, showing Elvis at least on occasion in a more menacing light would probably make for a more well-rounded and memorable character. Still, since I don’t find the henchpersons a particular hallmark of the Craig era I think he holds up quite well.
Thanks for hosting this, GoldenGun, it will be interesting to follow.
The following GIF sums him up perfectly, not just as a villain but as a character on the whole.
That being said, I would not subscribe to the notion that an asshole is in any way useless... But the character is nonetheless. Apologies to Anatole Taubman, it's not his fault in any way. He was just wasted.
If you mentioned Elvis to a Bond fan, they'd know who he was. But he has no redeeming features or qualities. He's just...Elvis!
VALENKA
by Ivana Miličević
in Casino Royale
Hardly better off is Valenka from Craig's first entry as she also collected five last places. But with only two more bottom 3's, both of them penultimate places, she received two bottom 3's less than Elvis, which saves her from ending last.
Which also saves CR from being the first entry to win one of these games while also ending last in one. (CR won our title sequence game)
She did receive, however, the lowest highest ranking with one 18th place. Comparing our two bottom finishes here too, Elvis did manage to collect one 17th spot.
In total Valenka also ended up with 38 points, but got saved from last place by a bottom 3 tiebreaker.
Perhaps not as useless as the previous one, but equally as unmemorable.
But doesn't get to do anything, except poison Bond ( and I never really liked that sequence, with the defibrillator and all that!)
This was my issue compiling this list, a lot of useless unmemorable henchpeople until we get to the Oddjobs/TeeHee crowd!
I reckon that would have been on a t-shirt in the 70s
'HE'S JUST..... ELVIS!'
She almost kills Bond really, and I don't think she's a bad actress or anything, thought she handled that scene in the hotel room with Obanno very well actually.
She's also stunning, which, if I'm completely honest, is never a disadvantage.
I ranked Elvis at 29 and Valenka at 30.
Elvis is more memorable for me, since he speaks swiss german in one scene. And his reaction at Tosca is funny. Is he a good henchman? Definitely not...maybe this was the plan? At least, they tried something different but they didn't think it through...
He definitely doesn't have enough to do to be interesting enough. I remember an Interview at the Swiss Premiere where he stated that he expected to have more scenes (he sounded a bit disappointed)...if scenes were cut or never filmed or even only ideas that they had talked about, I don't know...
Valenka (always forget her name) is surprisingly forgettable despite being a blonde beauty. (I love the blondes...) She has a tense scene in the hotelroom where she is almost hurt by Obanno. But this isn't a scene, that makes her "a good" henchwomen. Yes, she almost kills Bond (which is much more than Elvis manages to do), but she is only seen for seconds there and is only seen briefly later.
To be fair, there wasn't much to go on. Since Le Chiffre is considered the main villain and I needed an accomplice of his rather than White's, I ruled out Gettler. So the only other option was Krat (is that his name?), compared to whom I think Valenka has a stronger case since she actually at least has a few scenes where she isn't just in the background. Considering she also poisons Bond on Le Chiffre's orders, I went for her. In hindsight I perhaps could have considered Dimitrios or Carlos, but they're not really part of Le Chiffre's crew so they fell off too.
Her role in Bond 21 isn't anything of a standout. Other villains within the film have just as memorable parts. Aside from administering the poison for Bond's martini and looking fantastic, what does Valenka really do?
We don't even see her demise.
I'm not criticizing you here. But there's a lack of dedicated henchpersons in the movie (not to the detriment of it). And I never really could distinguish Kratt from Gettler either, and who is Carlos?
No offence taken, no worries :)
So Carlos is the guy who tried to blow up the prototype plane...
What's missing (not necessarily in the sense of deploring the absence, except if one thinks the movies need that) - from most of the more recent Bond films - is a clearly defined, individual henchperson. Like Oddjob. Like Red Grant. Like Jaws - though I don't like him. Everyone else is pretty forgettable, which is why I forgot about most of them.
ZAO
by Rick Yune
in Die Another Day
Valenka and Elvis are the only participants with more than 1 bottom finish, and indeed, Zao turned out to be only one participant's least favourite.
He did however appear in three more bottom 3's and in four more bottom 5's. That's eight bottom 5 rankings on a total of fifteen, which explains Zao's overall placement.
Zao did crack one top 15 with a single 15th spot, while two other members placed him 16th.
Neither close to a lower placement or a higher one, Zao collected a total of 52 points.
Ah well, I had the man with the sparkling personality at 16. I know DAD is a big no no for many, but Yune is at least dedicated and doing stuff. He does give Bond a hard time on a few occasions. I think he's one of the better elements in DAD.
Same here, 27th on my list.
He has some redeeming qualities for a henchmen, but there are plenty I rank higher.