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Comments
Of course, seeing/hearing your father commit suicide would be traumatizing. I thought the scene was horrifying for that reason alone. This was maybe the only drama in the movie that "worked" on me - in the sense that it affected me emotionally the way the filmmakers intended. Craig's reaction helps sell it. The music and look of the scene are really creepy, too. But the footage doesn't really contain any revelation or betrayal for Madeleine... Unlike the Vesper interrogation tape, which would have doubtless contained revelations for Bond and made him feel betrayed.
When the torture begins, that's when it switches and worry comes to her face. Prior to that, her feelings are ambiguous at best. That's my read of what's happening on screen, anyway.
Being used to and approve of are two different things.
I never said that it would not be emotional to watch. I just won't buy your original statement that it would be completely traumatizing. In fact she had many good reasons to watch that footage for the very reasons you describe: It shows that her father did good in the end, and it proves Bond was telling the truth about how he died.
When I watched the scene first time I thought Blofeld would be better of trying to saw some seeds of distrikt between her and Bond.
I think you are right when you say that he is somehow over Vesper's death at the end of QoS and I think that the ending is pretty good (my favourite part of the film actually). Therefore, I enjoy Craig much more in Skyfall an Spectre. But I really wish for a Bond film where Bond is just a normal special agent and not half of the film is about his mental condition. I am honestly a bit tired of the "Can we really trust Bond" story. Maybe I just like a traditional film more where not everything that is going on needs to have a deeper relationship with Bond himself. The first two films were about Bond becoming Bond and Bond's relationship to Vesper, Skyfall was about Bond being too old, his relationship to M and finally his childhood memories. And now Spectre has completely crossed the line by making a film about his former step brother responsible for all Bond's earlier pain who is also trying to kill Bond or his new love interest. It is just too much for me and the emotions are really forced in many parts of his films.
Don't get me wrong. I like an emotional approach but I like it much more if the emotions are not thrown directly into my face but are more subtle. As I said in FYEO I guess they did it very well when Bond is laying flowers to Tracy's grave, talks to Melina about revenge or when Bond recognises that Ferrara was killed. These are all very quiet moments. When Bond is checking Ferrara's pulses and recognises that Ferrara is dead is a very calm and subtle scene. We have similar scenes in many other Bond films and I personally just prefer these rather calm and quiet scenes.
It's why he doesn't shout or overly express his feelings when Vesper can't be saved in CR, why he locks himself up and acts like he doesn't care about Vesper when he's grieving in QoS or when Fields turns up dead while helping him, why he has to hide his disgust with a throwaway one-liner as Silva kills Severine in SF, and why he simply inspects and then quietly pushes away the memories brought up by the interrogation tape in White's hotel room in SP.
I can't think of a moment in the Craig era where Bond actually breaks out of that mold and truly releases his emotion. It's just not his way, as his work has crafted him into a machine of repression and chilly calm.
I agree on what you say. I just find all these sequences to be less effective in the Craig era because I feel some kind of an overkill of emotional elements because Bond himself is so heavily involved in all these tragedies. In a Roger Moore film like FYEO where there are also quiet some comedic or at least less serious scenes and Bond himself is not so much in the focus, the serious and emotional parts are more effective for me.
Can't say I miss the overload of comedic stuff though. Never really fit Bond for me, or how I envision a Bond film being. I can take it when it's not laid on hard and appears in brief moments that feel natural (the Connery films did this well). But the Moore era just took that and ran far, far away with it. I get why some love it, though, and nobody but Roger could have sustained that tonal approach for over a decade.
However, when a specific scene called for serious reflection or a subtle emotional response, Roger Moore was absolutely outstanding in my view, and there are several scenes to confirm that. They are actually some of my favourite moments in the entire franchise.
Roger Moore's best scenes: Interrogating Anders (TMWTGG), killing Locque (FYEO), with Orlov on the train (OP), centrifuge scene (MR), dialogue scenes with Christopher Walken (AVTAK)
I recall Moore saying if the acting shows, you're not doing it right. That is one element of the art of acting that Roger Moore never has problem with. No matter what scene he plays, whether it be casually walking in a hotel lobby or confronting Orlov, he is extremely natural. I think his natural charms and ability to throw away lines and quips can often make audiences forget how impressive he is in dramatic moments. It is usually subtle: his contempt in FYEO as he tosses the pin to Locque, and his disdain of Zorin is genuine. Criminally overlooked is his excellent performance during the OP bomb defusing. He is plays the urgency trying while to convince the general a bomb has been planted brilliantly, and does whatever he can to get to it before it blows. I love when he turns around and kicks the officer in the groin. There is no indicating in his performance yet, the scene gets knocked because of his clown disguise.
It's a pity he often only gets praise for the scene with Anya in TSWLM admitting to killing her lover and kicking the car off the cliff. Throughout his seven films there are countless moments of dramatic tension.
I've said this before but, at his best, he had an "old pro" quality to him. That's why I agree on his best performances being TSWLM, FYEO and OP - his gives off a feeling of being more worldly-wise.
I don't remember Moore's comments on acting but I do remember Michael Caine saying something very similar ("if you are knocking yourself out you are doing it wrong").
DN, OHMSS & TLD are the three finest Bond movies ever.
Depends on your definition of finest.
I would agree on OHMSS and TLD though, add GE and it's a perfect threesome.
Couldn't agree Moore (do you see what I did there?)
In the PTS he is absolutely classic Rog throughout right up to 'Fill her up please'.
He carries that through the early Sotheby's and India scenes and you think you're just getting a standard Rog film. But then it turns on the death of Vijay who is one of one the most amiable Bond allies and Rog seems to take it pretty hard. Once things gets to Germany and the stakes escalate he plays it deadly seriously (gorilla suit apart), the scene with Orlov where he appears horrified at the plan, coldly killing Grishka (no trademark quip just 'And thats for 009'), his exasperation at the various members of the German public he encounters and the idiot on the gate at the base.
And then we have the piece de resistance, Hitchcockian in its black humour and absurdity, of a desperate Bond dressed as a clown trying to convince the disbelieving general.
The reason I consider OP's bomb sequences to be possibly the most suspenseful of the series is down to Rog selling it superbly. This is Roger Moore FFS, the most relaxed, most unflappable man that ever lived. If he's looking visibly worried then you'd better believe things are getting pretty serious. Brilliant stuff.
Roger is amazing throughout OP.
Bolded for truth.
Bond is amongst all the innocent civilians who will be killed if the bomb went off. Hence why it probably comes off as more suspenseful than TSWLM.
OP would be one of my picks for the most underrated film of the series (along with TWINE). Top ten for sure.
My ranking pre-Spectre:
1 GE
2 TLD
3 OHMSS
4 CR
5 OP
My ranking pre-CR:
1 GE
2 TLD
3 OP
Sean had his moments where he produced some information he'd picked up previously like in a briefing with M or when he talks about wines in front of company, but Moore's Bond is the most bilingual, always pulled out a random fact or history about something that you'd think nobody else would know, and truly felt like a man who took in all the cultures of the places he'd been while on the job and let those cultures infuse his own life and how he led it. Moore's Bond felt like a learned student of the world, which is what I think Bond should always be. Before or since though, I don't feel we've seen that matched at this point.