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Comments
Bond even says he'll take the champagne later. What happened to later Mendes?
Instead we get needles in the face. Groan.
And the CR torture scene of course is legit, as its a direct lift from Fleming. All the bs torture stuff we get in the continuation books and in this movie though, is lame copycat contrived imitation overkill.
Colonel Sun is arguably the best of the continuation novels, but not a big loss for film adaptation purposes. Other elements of it can still be borrowed.
This is a good point. What are the odds that Blofeld has any idea what he is doing?
But that aside I can roll with the fantasy element, that such knowledge is one of Blofeld's latest twisted hobbies, much like Stamper had supposed expertise with Chakra torture implements.
Thus I can also roll with the fantasy element that the needles apparently had no effect other than putting little holes in Bond's face.
I did find that scene fairly unsettling. I remember wiping some seat away from my forehead after the scene ended. Also, Blofeld being blown away by the exploding watch looked really good to me. Often times movies have some cheesy CGI explosion and an actor awkwardly leaping to the floor to simulate a blast. In SP, it appears a stunt man was actually yanked forcefully by wires or something to create the appearance of a strong blast. Finally, while I wasn't very keen on the return of Blofeld, it was pretty exciting hearing Waltz utter the name "Ernst Stavro Blofeld"... and the cat, I did smile when I saw the cat.
But in the end, this scene felt completely wrong for the Craig era. Most of my criticisms for this film revolve around this notion. It felt forced and unnatural for the overall tone of Craig's films.
:))
Blofeld goes on and on about what's going to happen, and the result is nothing. Bond gets right up, kills a bunch of guys and flies off in a helicopter.
Hospitals are meant to help people get better, but only strike fear into the hearts of everyone.
I once had a dentist with a huge knife hanging on his wall, tagged "Bill Collector Knife."
Bond's recuperative powers have anon been well night miraculous.
Hit the nail on the head. Big missed opportunity.
@Murdock, I had those exact feelings, but for the Hinx train fight. THAT had real stakes and danger for me, and I actually forgot during the course of the scene that I was watching a Bond film and thought, "oh my, this nice British man is going to die." This scene however, didn't take me there.
Mendez come on back, this time pour Bond into a gold press times two even harder :)
:)>-
A lighter/leiter touch, @Murdock? I'll fetch the gasoline.
Le Chiffre was acting out of desperation and necessity. Perhaps Bond would have done the same thing if he was in his shoes. So obviously Le Chiffre doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. Actually, he was close to cutting of Bond's testicles with his own butterfly-knife. And Silva? He was acting out of pure rage.
Blofeld however is...Blofeld. A more psychotic villain whose personal relationship with Bond doesn't let him influence his actions, his scheme. His emotions seem to be more in check than those of Silva. It is not necessary to...torture Bond and get more information out of him. But because of Blofeld's sick mind, his psychotic Mengele-like experimental curiosity I understand why he chooses to torture with remote control, with a dentist-like approach, with buttons, from a distance.
He entirely tries to discover what happens to men when first their souls/consciousness leaves their bodies...and how death behaves shortly afterwards. It's way more 'sick' and psychotic than Le Chiffre's way of torturing.
So this torture entirely fits the Blofeld character. Perhaps for some people the scene felt a bit 'off', but that's because they forgot the character of Blofeld. That's because they forgot how different Blofeld is from other villains from the Craig-era.
Blofeld is way more larger-than-life than Le Chiffre. He indulges himself in more luxury than le Chiffre. He wears moccasin-shoes barefeet as if he lived in Cannes or Monte Carlo. And his bungalow in Morocco is obviously designed by one of the most expensive architects in the world, reminding us of Mies van der Rohe. Even that torture room in heavenly white fits into that. Blofeld also doesn't torture with his bare hands. Like the Blofeld from the 1960's, he uses his power from a distance, with remote control and/or buttons. Although they wisely re-imagined that, so Blofeld mainly uses his iPad.
The chills for me happen when you actually see the entire torture happen. You see those small dentist drills entering Bond's skin. You see those small droplets of blood on those drills. Bond is suffering entirely. And obviously every man in his place would fall unconscious. It must hurt like shit. Finally, we actually SEE Blofeld torturing a nab so intensely.
For me...this was a pure highlight of the Craig-era. The scene has received undeserved bad criticism. If you are a Bond fan, then this is stuff you would only see in a Bond film. Thus people should love this sequence. It also makes me happy to see how Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig and the entire team behind "SPECTRE" indulged themselves so much in the Bond books. And obviously they read Kingsley Amis' "Colonel Sun". Won-der-ful.
And I did exactly the same :-).