It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
...so they did one through St Petersburg instead. ;-)
Or Leavesden? ;-)
True, I forgot! :))
If only Barry had stayed on for just one more film...
Why not score Bond24 with some of his old work? Are there legalities involved that prevents it?
We don't want to piss off Putin any more than is necessary. ;-)
Yes, in YOLT a car is picked up with that helicopter with a magnet, but that is earlier in the film and not at the final battle.
http://caseypoma.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/you-only-live-twice-helicopter-magnet-car-sedan.png?w=853&h=480
I agree. Well I'm not sure you own it, but even though it's unofficial, Netflix Instant has NSNA up for viewing.
It's quintessential Bond. Who else could just hop into a Russian tank and immediately take the measure of it? And crashing through all that Perrier? Wonderschon! Not to mention the winged statue atop the tank, Bond straightening his tie--this has a Fleming heritage--and Ouromov's taking to drink along with his "Use de bumper! That's what it's for!" It's vintage Bondian mayhem and fun at its very best.
I used to experience the same let-down after a Bondathon. My solution was to continually watch a different Bond film every three weeks. Problem solved.
Speaking of which...
I watched LTK last night. This film just continues to rise in my esteem. It's now up to No. 3.
The pacing of LTK is just so dam' good. There's nary a dull or even slow frame. The excitement and expense is maintained from beginning to end.
And something else that occurred to me with this viewing is that LTK is a dashedly funny Bond film. It doesn't contain a lot of thigh-slappers, but there are little chuckles galore. Sanchez is a riot; Truman-Lodge has a few good witticisms, and then there's the priceless Professor Joe, not to mention the tableside repartee in the Barrelhead Bar before the big fight. How people conclude that LTK is a grim, joyless film is beyond me. To my mind the only funnier Bond films are DAF, MR and LALD.
On another note, gawd Carey Lowell is gorgeous in this film. I'm usually not one to act all giddy over an actress, but she was a knockout supreme-deluxe. Perhaps the sexiest Bond girl of them all.
One more positive: Kamen's score is underrated. No, it's not up there with Barry's efforts, but it's pretty darned good. An important goal of film scoring is to not detract from the film--or to distract the viewer a la Arnold's bombasm in TND--and Kamen achieves this. He even manages to add to the film in a few instances.
My only problems with LTK are some dodgy acting by Grand L. Bush and Talisa Soto, and the totally inappropriate choice of Gladys Knight to do the title track (Binder's accompanying titles also are no great shakes). Otherwise, LTK is absolutely superb.
How ironic that possibly the least remembered and definitely the lowest grossing Bond film is now recognized by many as one of the very best.
"Quintesential, vintage Bond mayhem"? When do we ever se the character react like that in the old classic films? Mayhem, nonsensical destruction and endangering of civilians is really not something relatable to the character of James Bond (up until the Brosnan era, anyway...). Roger Moore teared down Paris and San Francisco in one film. Apart from that the tank scene is very much a product of the Brosnan era.
Feel free to enjoy it of course, I'll not argue with your opinion or general tastes, but don't talk it up to something it isn't...
So really, the tank chase scene in GE isn't any different in the fact that who else can slyly hop in a tank and chase down a single car with such a cool, calm attitude like Bond? Nobody. It is quintessential Bond.
And I don't think this scene qualifies as a great demonstration of Bond's skills or competence. The only thing we get to know from the scene is that somewhere along the way he learned to drive a tank. And his actions are simply not coherent with what the classic character of James Bond would do.
You see his talents crop up everywhere, it doesn't make the scene useless. We hear him use numerous languages throughout the series and we see him pilot many, many different types of vehicles while using tons of different weapons. I'd say it's spicing it up and adding something new rather than "Oh, by the way, he knows how to drive a tank, that's why we put this scene in the film."
And regarding these claims:
"He's in a tank chasing them down, of course he's going to be causing destruction."
That's the point. For me it's something the character wouldn't do. And honestly, with some minor maneuvering skills he could at least have tried not to drive straight over those cars. It just seems unnecessary violent to me...
"But I would say "quintessential" in that it's something you'd only find done so casually in a Bond film."
I find this an odd statement considering that practically no scene in the series up to that point portrays Bond in a situation like that. And although I can't give you a concrete example right now, I'm pretty certain you would find similar scenes in other action flicks. By comparison, is the act of "casually" and "cooly" firing a machine gun like Brosnan does so often through his tenure, "quintessential Bond"?
But I think I will give it a rest now. This topic is not terribly important to me. Like I said I have no problem with other people loving that scene. It's just not for me, and not something I would consider a "typical Bond moment". End of story, no hard feelings! :)>-
And just to point out: The main reason why I'm not warming to the Tank Scene, is not that he endangers civilians, but that you get the feeling that Bond is the only person that's in no real danger throughout. It's just the wrong way around and dilutes some of the suspense, and that is one of the reasons why I might prefer the bike chase in TND although both scenes from an objective point of view, are equally well executed…
Okay, that's it. I'm done... for now! :))
You know what the new chap says?
"Do I look if I give a damn?"
And anytime Brosnan does it it is labeled unBond.
If you are referring to "new twists" on Bond's character in general, as I said I'm all for it if its done well and cleverly. But I don't have to like every new idea, do I? And that goes for both Brosnan's and Craigs tenures as Bond.
If you are referring to the fact that nonsensical destruction also appear in Craig's films, I'm fully aware of that fact, and I never said I'm completely fine with all of it, did I? However I am more willing to accept him blowing up the embassy in Madagascar, because the film makes a conscious effort to point out that it was a mistake done by an inexperienced, reckless Bond, and in fact the act sets up one of the main themes of the film: Him learning to overcome his ego and boyish recklessness and realize that there is such a thing as "the big picture". The very point is that his actions were not correct, and an immature thing to do. Adding to that the sequence as a whole is more suspenseful as Bond is transparent and in real danger, not hidden away behind a heavy wall of metal.
I think him tearing down the Venetian house at the end of the film is a bit unnecessary too, and I would maybe have preferred another staging of that ending. I'm not crazy about the havoc he creates in the Bazar in Istanbul in the Syfall PTS either… But again I find those to be more thrilling sequences as he has to demonstrate some real skill, and is in some real danger. If it was Brosnan he probably would have splashed straight through the marked with his tank…
Finally, the point of this discussion was wether these actions can be labeled "quintessential", "vintage" Bond. As far as I am concerned, no. And that speaks for all the sequences I mentioned.