Reboot? Remake? Retro? Which direction should the series take next?

[Vanya]

@David_M

@Vanya

“When I kill, its on the specific orders of my government. And those I kill are themselves killers.”

It’s a great line that gets to Roger’s version of Bond: he does what needs to be done for queen and country, but there’s plenty of things he’d rather be doing than killing people. That’s in contrast to Connery’s Bond who seems (to me, anyway) to enjoy a good killing as much as he does a good wine or a good suit. Or Craig’s Bond, who seems pretty much born to kill so we’re just lucky “M” found a way to point him in a helpful direction.

I’m shifting this across threads as I think there’s an interesting conversation to be had with regards to the characterisation of the next Bond. The consensus seems to be a lighter tone for the next film but how do you reconcile that in the Bond character, someone who is a professional and licensed killer?

The Roger Moore ‘he kills but doesn’t like it’ is one way to take it, recognise that there are people who needs to be killed and that he has to be the one to do it. Another quote I love is from TLD “Stuff my orders! I only kill professionals” which helps establish clear lines that he won’t cross.

Another approach would be to consciously take down the kill count of the next film. Have fewer instances of Bond indiscriminately machine gunning armies of henchmen and more non-lethal take-downs. Then when the kills do come you really make them count.