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Themes of individual Bond movies.

Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
edited August 2013 in Bond Movies Posts: 4,409
I'm very interested in professional movie criticism, and I've always felt slightly disappointed by some reviewers rather lazy approach to the Bond films. Often critics compare the Bond films against each other instead of looking at the artistic merits of the individual film they are meant to be reviewing.

I thought it may be nice then to explore different themes and ideas discussed in individual Bond films.

For instance:

CR - is all about the 'creation myth'. How did Bond become Bond? The big thematic concern of the film seems to be in the issues concerning violence and the repercussions of said violence. The film is the only Bond movie that could be said to be a character study of the leading man.

QOS - here there seems to be a lot of discussion on trust. Also the film tackles the ideas the divide between heroes and villains.

SF - resurrection, there is a metaphor about rats running through the film, the old vs the new, Mothers.

FRWL - espionage is the big theme here, and the latent paranoia and mistrust that is inherent to the notion.

What others can we think of.

Comments

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,186
    LTK - Carefully planned revenge.

    GE - How to cope with the new world.

    TND - Media manipulation.
  • Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
    Posts: 4,409
    on LTK, both Davi and Dalton talked about how they wanted to mine the 'The Nature of Evil' passage from CR. They wanted to make Sanchez charming and likeable, whilst showing Bond as the villain. QOS also deals with 'The Nature of Evil' passage.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited August 2013 Posts: 18,281
    TLD - The theme of fakeness, things being counterfeit, not appearing what they seem at first blush very much runs through Timothy Dalton's first film as James Bond.

    TMWTGG - The theme of the Anti-Bond in one Francisco Scaramanga and how that reflects back on our hero James Bond himself.

    LALD - The theme of masks and personae runs though the film. Again the old line of things not being quite what they seemed at first blush.

    FYEO - the theme of aging gracefully and of mortality and the falseness of some "friends" we meet in life. Things not being what they at first seem, yet again.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,804
    In LTK loyalties are pitted against each other. Loyalty to a boss, loyalty to friends, loyalty to Queen & Country...
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    edited August 2013 Posts: 7,314
    FYEO - The theme of revenge runs deep throughout Glen's first Bond movie as well. Melina is seeking revenge for the death of her parents. Bond gets revenge on Locque for killing Lisl and Luigi. Lastly, Columbo gets revenge on Kristatos for a multitude of reasons.
    Edit - Oh and how could I forget Bond getting revenge on Blofeld in the very beginning of the film.
  • Pierce2DanielPierce2Daniel
    Posts: 4,409
    GE is most definitely a story about Bond in a new world, coming out from the Cold War and finding himself in a new setting. What I love about the film is that instead of simply updating Bond, Campbell and prods made the decision to really drag Bond kicking and screaming into the 90's. It's a film about coming out of the Cold War and I think it's a perfect and rather anarchic image to see Bond, a British agent, driving a tank down St. Petersberg.

    TWINE - It's about the corruption and greed within the oil industry. As well as dealing with themese of love and manipulation; Electra essentially has Bond and Renard wrapped around her little finger with both doing her bidding. The best part of the film is in second act where Electra has Bond chasing his own tail. I also think the discussion around Stockholm Syndrome rather mature for a Bond film.

    DAD - Seems to have a very strong thematic goal in the first half. The film wants to totally deconstruct the character of Bond by forcing the character to his knees and then forcing him to rebuild himself. However, this notion is pretty much ignored as soon as Bond shaves off that damn beard. It's a shame because it's a great idea (interestingly SF did something very similar), but because the idea is never fully explored, Bond's torture just seems like a gimmick. It feels like the prods and Tamahori simply were chasing after a mere shock factor before plunging into a more traditional story.

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