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Full circle
It doubt it would be as simple as "Bond dies." (For real). Continuity plans aside, it would be an unsettling Bond experience for audiences at large, with the potential to generate massive confusion about the larger state of the franchise. Possible, indeed. And a great hook. But hardly a spoiler they'd be able to keep secret. It seems the least likely of possible scenarios to me.
Now, what about Bond "dies". TDKR-style. An adaption of YOLT's literary ending or FRWL's, with enough coda/epilogue to make it clear he's actually survived. Albeit perhaps in a different state. That seems more likely. However, despite EON's penchant for borrowing influence from recent trends--Nolan's influence on Skyfall has been mentioned--TDKR was, to me, such a definitive take on this approach that I think they'd be hesitant to lift the mechanics directly.
So, perhaps, the combination of influence and originality is a third option...
Much as I love the masterpiece that is Skyfall ( :) ), I always felt there was a just-slightly missed opportunity in that final scene with M for an extra nod toward Bond's history.
Your example was one of the two I thought could have worked spectacularly. Even a subtle "Jamaica went offline tonight" in the dialogue nodding toward the full-circling of Bond's continuity.
Or:
MALLORY
Are you ready to get back to work?
BOND
With pleasure, M. With pleasure.
MALLORY
Good. Take a seat. And tell me everything you know about gold."
I hate to say this but that actually sounds kinda genius
I'm pretty sure Bond won't die in B25. I doubt it will even be vague. I'm pretty certain EON know they've pulled that trick a couple of times before, including in SF. Moreover, it just won't have any impact whatsoever, because everybody knows Bond will be back. He's the most certain franchise character to return out of any of them, given the nearly 60 year onscreen history. So what's the point really, especially after the rumour has been exposed and has done the rounds.
RE: the full circle return to DN in some way, shape or form, I'm not a big fan of that idea. It's been played out in other franchises, most notably SW (the prequels). They pretty much already did that in SF anyway.
RE: a TDKR type ending - I'd argue that this is actually what they pulled in SP. Yes, I realize he wasn't thought to be dead or anything, but it was an ambiguous ending, which left things open to the imagination and interpretation. Would Swann be killed by Blofeld's minions? Has Bond left the force? Is he just on another overdue holiday? Etc. etc.
So I'm curious to see what they'll do, but doubt it will be any of the above personally.
Agree. Very analogous to that already, even down to the vague dialogue: "I thought you'd gone...I have..."
As much as I would want Spectre/Blofeld to return, I'm really not interested in seeing Waltz or Seydoux back. Whilst I certainly enjoyed Spectre, I just don't think those characters are interesting enough to sustain my interest for a second time.
I think the idea of a new Cold War and Bond going up against the Russians is much more interesting.
Personally, I hope P&W are writing a new script that incorporates ideas from their treatment and Hodge's draft. Then I hope Fukunaga can be left to work on the script and overhaul it to his own tastes.
I really want Cary's fingerprints all over the film as he's a terrific filmmaker. Though I've read some interviews with him recently were he suggested he much prefers bringing on other writers to develop his ideas.
What do we think Fukunaga is doing today?
On the other hand SP finale was precisely conceived as a more ambiguous end that could've fit almost every possible further development. They even cut the "we have all the time in the world" final line to keep things even more "uncertain"...
I don't think DC can pull off a "Keeping the British End Up" climax. It could be excruciating (although strangely in keeping with a post Brexit environment)
+1
They did in fact keep the last one ambiguous. There was for a time a chance that Bale could return, but he said he'd only do it if Nolan came back too, and that didn't happen. It's true that they brought in Blake, but once again it could have been as a future Robin for all we know. Things were kept vague. Moreover, Wayne was in hiding for 8 years prior anyway, as was Batman. He returned in the last one because of the League of Shadows and so one could argue that they left open the prospect that he could do so once again.
If you go back and read the discussion on this thread from a couple of years ago (prior to Craig announcing his return), you will see that quite a few members saw the SP ending as similar to the TDKR finale, at least in terms of the ambiguous nature of his leaving with his girl to settle down to a life away from solving the world's problems after defeating the organization that caused him so much trouble.
Hunt knew this in OHMSS and turned his back on the fairy tale ending and, instead, gave us one of THE most iconic scenes within the history of Bond and set things up for a superb next installment.
EDIT:
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/james-bond/276428/new-james-bond-director-cary-fukunaga-talks-honor-and-legacy-of-franchise
Hear hear!
And Naval uniform, worn by Bond.
I agree, he has said both he would and he wouldn't, he also said he wasn't Blofeld or the head of Spectre. He may very well return. I want him too, as he deserves redemption, as he is truly capable of doing it.
I thought Waltz gave such a blank performance in SP. He sleepwalked through the film and collected the cheque. I think it was clear that Mendes and Waltz wanted to do something more subtle and quieter with Blofeld (after the flamboyance of Silva in SF). But it just came across as limp and disinteresting.
Madeleine as a character was woefully uninteresting, however Lea Seydoux did a terrific job. she made that character soulful and her performance was loaded with pathos. However, whatever that character had to offer has been utilised now. I feel there is nothing much left to say for Madeleine Swann.
I don't want Fukunaga to deal with Mendes's leftovers.
Let's put it this way. After the success of BB and TDK, Rises was conceived as an ideal thematic ending of Nolan's Trilogy. I never thought about a possible fourth Nolan film simply because Wayne's story arc was completely fulfilled in Rises. Maybe he'd do another one in 10 years, with a super old Batman. That's the reason why the ending didn't felt ambiguous to me. In SP was different, because Bond left on a similar OHMSS fashion plus the big baddie of his era was still alive. So to me SP finale felt far more open than Rises. I'd say that SP finale felt exactly like the TDK finale - even if the implications are obviously different - in which Joker was left alive and Batman decided to quit his "job".
Given the fact that 25 will be 99,9% Craig's last, now I predict they'd go for a more Rises route than, for example, a Logan route.
Not my opinion. His performance was probably the most important reason why the character didn't felt like a complete waste. Even if the writing was lazy, he was able to perfectly handle all the deformations of Blofeld's twisted psyche. I largely spoke about this in the "Controversial opinions on Bond films" so I don't want to repeat myself.
The thing with the Craig films is we've already had two in succession which can serve as appropriate (even if not ideal) endings, at least imho. Namely SF and SP.
So if EON really want to create some kind of Craig specific sendoff then I think they should ideally try for something which hasn't been done before. So ideally a) no deaths, even if equivocal; b) no heading off with the girl where nobody but a few know where he is; and c) no full 360's back to DN. What I'm saying is I hope they will surprise me should they attempt this. Otherwise just don't bother.
Waltz implied that he and Mendes had differing ideas for the character. Which is seemingly quite clear from the two different versions of the same speech used in the teasers/trailers.
I thought Lea Seydoux was one of SP's strengths.
Agreed, I said this on another thread as well that DC should wear that uniform at least once
SP ending felt more like OHMSS ending than TDKR, BLOFELD was cast perfectly and can return imo, but seydoux need to be for a few minutes of scenes or come up in discussion that it didn't work out for her and bond rather than another Killing lover incident.