Exciting news to hear something concrete about Bond 25. I didn’t really care if Daniel Craig stayed or left. He is a good 007, but his lack of enthusiasm and the long stints in between Bond films was disconcerting. Still, it should be an entertaining final ride with Craig. We haven’t had a “bon voyage-type send off” for a 007 in his final film since really Roger Moore in A View To A Kill. (Timothy Dalton’s run was unceremoniously halted primarily due to legal maneuverings while Pierce Brosnan was unexpectedly not re-signed.) Hopefully, they will get Bond 25 in theaters no later than 2019. Regardless, it can’t come soon enough.
I did not need another CraigBond send-off but I look forward to a final CrsigBond which at least has the chance to end better.
And if I were writing it I would try to put SPECTRE in perspective, continue to retcon it into a larger arc and have 25 culminate everything with a real showstopping closer.
If all five films could be formed to tell one big story I could see SPECTRE as one chapter which left off many threads unsatisfactorily… because it was designed that way.
In other words: Now Waltz has to come back, too.
Well, at least finally we have some official news on it, and he’ll get the chance to fulfil his contract too, unlike Brosnan.
My money is on the fact that Eon had a story arc, and needed him back. Might be the first and only time they create a story arc for an actor as it has cost them dearly!
Regardless, I am pleased DC will return. I’m just hoping we are over the dark and moody theme’s that were present in Skyfall. Here’s hoping his last outing will be as spectacular as his first.
With this being the last Craig film I hope we get Jeffrey Wright back as Felix. David Arnold will probably be doing the score again.
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The return of Jeffery Wright would be most welcome. I hope they make it happen since he’s been MIA the last two films.
Ummm… lol
That’s news…yesterday’s news!
They’re a bit behind in the news cycle. 
Great news that he is back for one more and only one more! DC isn’t ageing well.
Hopefully he’ll go out with a bang, and not a whimper a la Lazenby.
I want Martin Campbell back directing and Arnold doing the score.
New forums, at last! Looking good. I’m formally PPK_19 with a slightly different username now, showing my age! Can’t believe i’ve been on here for 11 years…
Well, he looked great in the Stephen Colbert video, without his military haircut from SF/SP and with his leather jacket from CR.
Well, we now have two pieces of the puzzle: a release date and Craig’s return. Wonder when the next pieces (title, director, cast) will fall into place.
It would tie things up nicely. It may be only for a second, but namedropping Felix in SPECTRE at least gave him continued presence in this timeline.
Wright’s tweet a fewmonths ago seems to point into the right direction, so does Arnold’s.
Could really be a fun reunion.
I’m very optimistic that we’ll get Waltz and Arnold back, and I think there’s a decent chance Wright returns as well.
I’m somewhat indifferent towards the possibility of a Seydoux return. I didn’t particularly care for her character in SP, but if they can weave her into Bond 25’s plot appropriately then I guess I’ll be okay with it.
The only person I specifically do NOT want back is Mendes (and by extension Newman). Time for some new blood who can return us to the CR / QoS mold.
Definitely do not want Mendes back either. We need the CR/QoS ruggedness that set the tone for DC’s era.
Precisely. The quality hand-to-hand combat was sorely lacking in SF and SP (yes, I am one of the few who was underwhelmed by the Hinx fight on the train-- it was alright, but nowhere near the masterpiece many are making it out to be).
I missed the part where he said this is definitely his last (and it’s not like actors haven’t said that before, only to change their minds), but I have to say from a marketing standpoint it’d be a great idea to be up front about it from the get-go. If people know, going in, that this is a farewell to a lead actor and their last chance to see him in the role, it seems to me they might be more motivated to fill the seats. Eon’s milked the “new guy” angle successfully on many occasions, but this would be the first time they exploited the valedictory angle. I’d welcome it.
@Tiin007: I wouldn’t call the fight with Hinx a classic, either, but it was a highlight. Several times now I’ve popped in the SP Blu-Ray to watch the pre-credits sequence, fast-forwarded to the train fight and then taken the disc back out again. For once I wasn’t even that impressed with the opening credits, and not just because of the lame song.
It’s at the end of the interview, David_M. After they talk about Logan Lucky they briefly revisit the Bond discussion.
As for the Hinx fight, it may have been one of the high points of the movie, but when I look back upon classic moments from the series I doubt I’ll even think of this one. I’d personally rank the Mr. White scene and Spectre meeting higher than this (at least in terms of memorability).
I think it’s telling that EON’s statement doesn’t mention it being his last, I’m sure they’ll try and convince him back again.
I’ve long given up on expecting new entries to provide me with “classic moments.” I loved a lot of moments in CR, but none of them compare with anything from the Connery-Lazenby-Moore years when it comes to “indelible memories.”
The train fight in SP suffers, first of all, from being a train fight. We’ve seen lots of them in this series, some better than others, but it’s old hat. Is it better than the one in FRWL? No. Is it better than the ones in TSWLM or LALD. Probably, depending on your taste. But it’s not new. Also, Hinx doesn’t get a lot of screen time before the fight; he kills a guy in the meeting, chases Bond in a car and materializes from the ether on the train. We know he’s big and beefy, but other than that, we’re not that invested in the character. Certainly he hasn’t loomed over the film like Jaws in TSWLM and there’s nowhere near the simmering, creeping tension that was allowed to build up with the wonderful Red Grant. His only prior confrontation with Bond is when they’re both in cars, and the “unbeatable muscle man” schtick is wasted behind the wheel; anybody could’ve driven that car. Ultimately, Hinx is just another straw man to be knocked over, Formula Henchman #24, so whatever the scene has going for it is entirely down to the choreography, camera work and editing.
But in a film that’s pretty short on thrills (IMHO) it’s still a highlight. And I’ve got to justify shelling out for the Blu-Ray by watching something.