Those are positively Shakesperean next to this…
It’d be awesome if Leiter’s first scene had Bond beating up Magnussen’s character, just before Leiter reveals himself…https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fsoLM_okkZU
Wright has name checked Jack Lord as an inspiration before, so I imagine he’d be game for a blatant reference to this moment
I suppose on paper the ‘With pleasure’ x2 line may not seem as cheesy, but it’s hammed up to hilt in that incredibly arch scene.
However, I certainly appreciate the irony of complaint about Bond movies being too hammy. Moore would’ve nailed it, and I’m sure Connery would’ve made it sound perfectly natural. But Craig doesn’t do ‘ham’ well at all; he does drama and sarcasm (“C, I I’ll call you C”), wonderfully. Just not the ham.
It was so on the nose that it felt to me more like part of the comedy olympics vignette than it did a part of a Bond movie.
That damned mouse was the best thing about SP, in retrospect…
Or maybe the PTS is just Bond sitting in a chair, drinking a Red Stripe and smoking a HUGE fatty. For 7 minutes.
I’d be fine with it.
With Shirley Bassey playing in the background, on an old record player.
There are many absurdities in Skyfall, but that list, stored on a laptop drive, in a field, is definitely the greatest one.
I wonder if we’ll hear Underneath the Mango Tree playing softly in the background at some point? Or maybe the pre-titles will open with Craig stepping from the bushes singing it. That would be new.
That was Boyle’s big idea. To make Bond a Gilbert and Sullivan musical…!
Well, he was doing a musical with Richard curtis just before…
Surely given the various delays he should be singing " I don’t wanna wait in vain"
Amy Pascal is off to Universal. Could she once again somehow find herself a part of Bond?
I don’t think Madeleine should be killed off. We’ve already been there, done that with Tracy and Vesper. What should be done is showing the love affair wearing off as was the case with Tiffany Case in the novel Diamonds Are Forever. That would be different.
In regards to what little we know about Bond 25 here’s a thought I had:
With Bond “retired”, the PTS is not likely to have him in it. So no Bond, but rather we get Felix Leiter, front and center, finding himself having to stop a dangerous situation when a bunch of bad guys suddenly appear and try to steal some big tech gadget/weapon. Leiter is there on protection detail and manages to stop them getting their hands on the tech–or at least damages it in some way–forcing the bad guys to kidnap the scientist to reinvent the tech or make the necessary repairs. At least one henchman is left behind who Leiter captures or wounds and who is revealed to be a member of a resurgent SPECTRE.
Cue the main titles.
After the titles, we focus in on Bond snorkeling in the Caribbean where he’s enjoying himself. But when he returns to his cottage where Madeleine awaits, we soon realize things are not idyllic in their relationship and Bond soon appears bored with domestic life.
After a bit, Leiter shows up, much to Madeleine’s chagrin, and appeals to Bond for help since he is the expert on SPECTRE. A gleam gets in Bond’s eye at the thought of more action, but he hesitates and says he’ll think about it and let Leiter know in the morning. That night he and Madeleine argue with her not happy about the business proposition. The next morning, she is gone, leaving a note saying she is leaving him. Bond has an instant pang of regret, which he quickly shrugs off, and tells Leiter he’ll join him on his mission.
And with that Bond is back!
All sounds plausible. I do suspect that they will go down the route of 007 having been reassigned to a young lady of attractive geography - the number now being the property of a lady, no less - and much hilarity ensues during the film when they both answer to the code number until she’s tediously revealed to be a traitor and Bond has to shoot her, or something.
Does look as if Bond is alone in Jamaica, I think he is forced to reconnect with Madeleine, I don’t think she will be killed off, it would represent something original for the Franchise
Very good ideas there. Flows nicely.
Interesting thoughts, and I would ask those from the Spoiler section, not to chime in with contradictions to our ideas on this thread.
Afraid I’m going to be a bore and continue to root for Maddy being bumped off in the pts, with a reworking of Barry’s OHMSS theme to follow and a loose adaption of YOLT thereafter. All ending with Bond tootling off to SPECTRE under the amnesiac misapprehension that he’s one of there’s. Bye bye Craig.
Allow me to dream until Bond 25 doubtless proves me wrong
I agree with you wholeheartedly about the ending but not Madeleine.
I could see Bond 25 having Blofeld escape thanks to Rami Malek (and potentially Irma Bunt?), Bond thwarts their grand plan, whereupon he kills Malek and recklessly/relentlessly chases after Blofeld (and Bunt?) as they flee. But as he closes in, he’s captured by the remaining SPECTRE henchmen. Then just as the lackeys are about to kill Bond, Blofeld says: “Wait, I’ve got a better idea on how to deal with him.” The SPECTRE henchmen then haul him off in Blofeld’s wake and we fade to credits.
James Bond will return?
That perfectly sets up the opening of The Man With The Golden Gun novel for Bond 26’s PTS and the debut entrance for Bond #007.
Madeleine indeed is a story problem. Not bringing her back would have diminished SPECTRE´s ending and Bond´s decision (what, she’s just another conquest to be forgotten?). Bringing her back is also prohibiting a new story to unfold without the need to justify Madeleine as a story element.
So, she was the one Bond left the service for and was a victim of Blofeld´s schemes (and her father’s legacy). Will she at some point follow those examples? Can Bond be the guy who brings solace to her pain and vice versa?
In a way, the treatment of her character will be one of the most interesting aspects about BOND 25.