The point is, shooting the armor was clearly not working and yet he kept doing, wasting all of his shots.
What else are you going to shoot at other than the guy you’re trying to kill?
You know the armour was invisible under his clothes, yes? You’re not thinking of the clear plastic face shield on the gun, are you? Why do you think it only covered his torso?
My point is, all 8 of Bond’s shots hit the plastic shield.
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No they don’t - see post above. In fact, Bond’s first three shots all hit Whittaker’s torso. Apparently not everyone noticed…
Maybe no one will notice something because some things are not so clear cut as one believes them to notice?
Frankly, it’s too long since I’ve last watched TLD to remember for sure. I really only recall Bond shooting at that shield-thingy.
But come to think of it, that’s not why this scene irks. It’s pointless whether Bond shoots at the body or the shield; the important thing in that scene is that Bond shoots his entire magazine rather mindlessly at Whittaker. If six shots don’t show any result - and we can be confident Bond hits his target - how probable is it eight shots will achieve what six didn’t? One would expect Bond to change his tactics, not just empty his magazine.
True. Then again, that’s why I cannot remember any action film that remains logical up to the last minute. It´s always about delaying that gratification arising from putting the hero in jeopardy one last time.
TLD, which I love, does suffer from this last showdown. But it does so many things right, I just decided not to notice it. 
I see: you’re wrong, then.
Bond first shoots at Whittaker’s apparently unprotected body, then he tries shooting the shield. Watch it again.
He’s shooting in quick bursts: he doesn’t have time to see how well each shot lands before he chooses to fire the next one or not. There’s nothing wrong with that: he has the target so he has to use the short time he’s got. Even if Whitakker were unarmoured he’d fire several shots at him in one burst because his gun isn’t that powerful.
And bulletproof glass can often weaken after a few shots: it makes sense to try and hit it a few times.
As I said above, there’s only one person in the room he’s trying to shoot, so what’s the problem with emptying his magazine trying to do so? What else did you want him to do with the bullets?
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Save them for a better shot?
He’s stood right in front of him; what better shot is there?
Hey, I’m only a secret agent fan, not a secret agent.
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I think it’s all good until the last quarter, in Afghanistan. The plot gets muddled at this point with the drugs etc.
To me, the whole main villain scheme is unclear. I know Whittaker wants the opium for…reasons? And what was koskov’s goal? Have Pushkin killed so he could keep embezzling state funds to buy arms for Russia’s war in Afghanistan? Meh.
Defraud the Russians to buy into the drug trade. Basically using the Russian govt’s money to buy opium with a high street value rather than the weapons it was meant for. They’ll then buy the Russians their arms and keep the difference for themselves. Pushkin got suspicious about the holding of their money by Whitaker and Koskov, so he had to die. Rather than kill him themselves which could attract more attention to them, Koskov decided to trick (the politically desperate) Mi6 to do it for them and get rid of his girlfriend at the same time. There was a reason Whitaker thought it was bad idea.
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Long story short…
Koskov had a deal with Whitaker to supply arms to the KGB, which both men would profit from. Pushkin, the head of the KGB, cancels the deal, and also seeks to arrest Koskov for embezzling Soviet funds.
Koskov and Whitaker want Pushkin dead so their scheme can continue. Koskov fakes a defection to escape the KGB, then kills 00 agents so the British will kill Pushkin for him.
Koskov and Whitaker use diamonds to buy opium from the Mujahideen, which they can sell in the US for a huge profit and use said profit to continue buying arms.
I think.
You have to remember at this point in the Cold War, Russia was going broke and gaining money and arms was kind of a big deal to them. It was definitely a reflection of the state of geopolitics at the time.
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Maybe no one will notice that Bond has an awfully good time with the remote-control BMW in the parking garage, considering that one of the great loves of his life was just murdered a few minutes ago. Cold-hearted bastard indeed . . .
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Well, you take joy where you can find it…
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The same thing happens after Paula’s death where he apparently grief bangs Fiona. Anyway…
Maybe no one will notice that Dario conveniently drops out of the story while Bond is in Isthmus City getting close to Sanchez. Thus making him unable to make Bond or Pam.
Maybe no one will notice that the drive from LAX to Slumber’s Mortuary outside Vegas would have taken over four hours, which is a long time to endure the company of three dimwit mobsters. Maybe they played license plate bingo?
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