I still vote for retro reboot. Start with Forever and a Day and go from there. We don’t need to continue on with the softer side of Bond. Anymore soy gets inserted into this franchise and there will be nothing BUT estrogen.
Find unknown but talented actors. If anything, it’s time to start small again and build up.
Soy and estrogen is exactly what real men need.
Damn the “defund the OO section” brigade?
Almost 40 years and 3 different actors since…congrats on your up to the minute references.
I stand by it, nothing Bond does as a series will ever stop these kind of “headlines” - the current Bond will always be the “first” to do it which seems a bit disingenuous to me.
Sleeps with five women per film? I don’t remember Moore’s Bond doing that, I’m doing a marathon of the Bond films, and Moore’s Bond never slept with Five women in every film! Come on!
I think that’s getting a bit too much from that statement.
This guy, surely have little knowledge about Bond, he clearly didn’t watched the whole series.
And it’s only Moore whom the Bond he only knew, does he have any other Bonds in mind?
I though appreciate the praise he gave Craig’s Bond, but to summed up the Classic Era or James Bond in a wrong perception (sleeping with five women per film?), And just one Bond actor (only Moore), I think isn’t right.
In other news: Luke Evans has a new album out (really). So… promotion time.
I mean the man kept the British end up with 19 total women (his per movie average is the most of any Bond actor), including 4 in AVTAK alone. He’s not THAT far off…
But honestly - any reasonable person reading that will know that he’s speaking in general terms of Bond’s reputation of sleeping with multiple women. That’s all it is.
Not five women in every movie? Call the Bond Police, he’s getting Bond wrong!!!
I don’t expect anyone who mentions Bond to first study the entire history from scratch. He’s exaggerating on purpose, it’s a Bond cliché. Everyone will get that.
Of course, MooreBond didn’t do that, and of course, the change already started with Dalton. But when you look at past criticism aimed at CraigBond, it’s almost exactly that: he’s not the womanizer who jumps into bed with any girl and who doesn’t make a funny quip any other scene. He’s not the Bond I grew up with, he’s not my father’s Bond, he’s not my grandfather’s Bond etc etc.
Major faux pas aside I’ve long considered Evans to be a strong candidate for Bond. The time may have passed though, he turned 43 this year which may be just too old. He still has potential as a villain though, especially if you want someone with a ‘this guy could have been Bond’ vibe.
As I think weird continuity has become part of the franchise for long, I would actually love to see them make kind of a sequel to NTTD, with Bond coming back from the dead like in the TMWTGG novell. There are plenty of funny dialogues they could come up with (Mankiewitz style). And the movie could be all about “wait, are you sure this guy is Bond? He does not look like Craig!” while the guy being full compliant with Bond’s pre-Craig definition. They could even introduce the scar. And of course, just ignore Bond’s family and Blofeld’s death. Really looks like a sequel, but makes absolutely no sense, so is not a sequel. Or is it?
Makes no sense, you’re right.
Now that there is a Space Port in Cornwall, Moonraker ‘79 doesn’t seem that far fetched anymore. I bet if Fleming were alive now he would be dispatching Bond to Newquay
I notice Mendes is massively still keen on working with Eon…
https://mobile.twitter.com/007/status/1590647507771863041?cxt=HHwWgsDR-eHejpMsAAAA
Stand by it: he said he doesn’t envy the one who directs the next Bond, this will probably end with him directing Bond 26.
Most interesting…
Does the budget really have to be so high all the time?
https://twitter.com/mccrabb_will/status/1596231965958471685?s=61&t=8eFkIOSlRuqxlNBPBf5SeA
Maybe Wes Anderson should do the next Bond. 
Or maybe serve as a budget consultant to help EON drive down the costs of the films somewhat.
I bet for a similar shot (Bond staring out the train at the villain), they would have spent at least ten times what Anderson did there and needed countless more people on location for the shoot in order to pull it off.
It’s really mind-boggling how real this scene looks in the film. I would never have guessed that this is the way they did it.
What direction should the series take next? I’ve been thinking about this for a bit and have come up with some thoughts. While I like Daniel Craig and think he was a good James Bond, I nevertheless find the entirety of his run my least favorite of the series. As a result, this is what I’d like to see from the 007 films in the future (presented in the order I thought of them):
MORE FUN – The James Bond films have historically and inherently been about fun. Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made it a point to put every dollar up on the screen to entertain fans and, to quote Bond, “give the people what they want”, i.e. a good time. That sense of fun has largely been lost in the Craig era–certainly in the wake of the great Casino Royale. In the past, the cliche was every man wants to be Bond and every woman wants to be with him. Craig’s Bond did not fit that mold. He was, if not miserable, certainly not a fun-loving sort, brooding on past loves and his bosses’ questionable decisions. Bond needs a new lease on life–one with a sense of fun and escapism.
LESS MI6 CREW IN THE FIELD (I.E. THE SCOOBY GANG) AND MORE NEW ALLIES – In the Craig era, we got WAAAY too much of the MI6 crew (who I do like, but not that much screen time that often) and not enough other allies. After CR, the only real ally Bond had that wasn’t a series regular was Rene Mathis who made a (welcome) return in Quantum Of Solace. After that we had Kincaid, a family friend who did little in the final fight; Mr. White a former enemy briefly turned informant in SPECTRE, and Felix Leiter in No Time To Die. (Nomi and Paloma could easily be called Bond girls.) Where are the likes of Kerim Bey or Milos Columbo? Shoot, where are the Quarrels and Saunderses. Three to five allies total in four films? In the old days, we used to have that many in one film.
MORE SEX – People used to say Timothy Dalton’s Bond was monogamous, but he DID bed four women in two films. He’s a lothario compared to Craig’s Bond who bedded six in five films–albeit one girl in two separate movies. Bond needs his sexual mojo back. Sex is part of the spy trade (in general movies and especially 007 movies)–a fact that has been lost during Craig’s run, and it needs to return as it is part of the fun of watching a Bond film (think Fiona Volpe). Pre-Craig, the number of times Bond slept with only one woman was once (Diamonds are Forever). It happened three(!!!) times in the Craig era. The filmmakers don’t need to go overboard with it, but two to three sexual encounters per film would be good.
BETTER VILLAINS – None of the Craig era villains really work for me–two of which I find the absolute worst of the series (Dominic Greene and Lyutsifer Safin). But, to be fair, if I were to grant that Le Chiffre and Raoul Silva were good or even great villains which a lot people seem to think, then that’s still a two out of five success rate (40%) which is NOT good. We need some solid megalomaniacal villains like Julius No, Hugo Drax, Franz Sanchez, or Alec Trevelyan. We need villains who are a good threat to Bond whether that be mentally or physically AND who have a good villainous objective. Bond films are often defined by their villains and lately the villains haven’t measured up.
MORE OUTRAGEOUS STUNTS – Bond films used to feature over the top stunts regularly. Sadly, that is no longer the case. The true carrier of that title nowadays is the Mission: Impossible series. The only jaw-dropping stunt of the Craig era was Mollaka and Bond both jumping from one crane to another in CR. I would even be willing to say the whole parkour sequence would qualify on that score. But other than that, the rest of the stunts are basically normal, every day stuff that other films do. To be fair, we really didn’t get a lot of that in the Pierce Brosnan era either after the bungee jump in GoldenEye. Also, to be fair, the Craig era DID do a great job with fight scenes and chases–many of which are among the series’ best. But the Bond films are also known for their amazing jaw-dropping stunts, and we haven’t had enough of those lately.
MORE GADGETS – Quick, name me three cool (non-vehicle) Craig era gadgets. Really, there are only two–the explosive wristwatch in SPECTRE and the electromagnetic pulse wristwatch in NTTD. For better or worse, the Craig era purposely got away from the gadgetry in the series’ past. For me, they lost a bit of fun as a result. Yes, some Bond films got a little too heavy on the gadgets, but the Craig films went too far the other direction. A little more balance would be appreciated.
MORE FEMME FATALES – Oh, where have all the bad girls gone? The femme fatale used to be a staple of the Bond films. Not anymore. The ONLY femme fatale Craig’s Bond had was Valenka in Casino Royale. And the only evil thing she did was drop some poison in his drink–practically a blink and you’ll miss it scene. The last femme fatale who really mixed it up with Bond was Miranda Frost in Die Another Day. We need some evil women back. They not only add some fun and sexiness to the proceedings, they add good scenes and memorable moments as well. Just think of Fiona Volpe, Fatima Blush, May Day, and Xenia Onatopp or Rosa Klebb, and Irma Bunt. Even lesser femmes such as Miss Taro, Helga Brandt, Naomi, and the aforementioned Frost make their presence felt. Bring back the bad girls.
MORE HUMOR – The Craig era wasn’t humorless, but it wasn’t a barrel of laughs either. The few times Craig did do humor, it worked, but it was WAAAY too far and in-between. Now, I’m not advocating for a chucklefest, as some of the Roger Moore and Brosnan films went too far toward that direction, but some good one-liners and bon mots would be greatly appreciated. Something along the lines of the Sean Connery era would be good. Bond films are renowned for that type of humor and it would be good to get more of it.
HAVE BIGGER STAKES / WORLD SAVING PLOTS – The Craig films featured, for whatever reason, smaller stakes. We had the attempted bankrupting of Le Chiffre and his terrorist organization in CR (which failed as Quantum/SPECTRE still got the money), setting out for revenge and ultimately saving a country’s water supply in QOS, stopping an assassination of M (which failed) in Skyfall, stopping a criminal organization from gaining secret information in SPECTRE, and stopping a killer nanobot virus in NTTD. The latter being the only one that could qualify for big stakes. Now, Bond films don’t always have to be about saving the world–in fact, some of the best Bond films have smaller stakes–but it’s good to see Bond save the world every now and then.
MORE JAMES BOND THEME – We didn’t get a lot of the James Bond Theme in the Craig era. In CR, it was understandable. Then they stretched the story out with a direct sequel in QOS–less understandable, but ok. But Skyfall didn’t have a lot of the Bond theme. Neither did SPECTRE. NTTD had some but not in the traditional sense. Outside of the ending to a few of the films, the best and longest traditional type of James Bond Theme in the Craig era is Breadcrumbs in Skyfall. We need more of that type of JB Theme–at least two or three times in the film. It’s a Bond film and the audience should be reminded of that. It’s a great tune–the most iconic piece of film music of all time–and we should hear more of it.
In short, the filmmakers should go back to the past and bring back all of these successful and popular elements of the Connery to Brosnan films and (possibly) give them an updated tweak. Do that, and they will prove that James Bond 007, like diamonds, is forever.
And that’s my list. Oh, and the producers should put the movies out on a regular three-year cycle and a return of the 007 theme would also be most welcome.
Sorry for the wordiness, but I needed to get that off my chest. Hope you enjoyed it whether you agree or disagree.
After DAD I’m glad they retired the femme fatale, it was a character type that became really over used. While I think it’s had enough of a break to return I feel they’d be better served evolving the role of the female villain. That is to say; more female villains who aren’t sexualised. Give us a female CEO, criminal mastermind or mad scientist. Maybe an assassin who relies on weaponry, combat skills and ruthless cunning rather than her sexuality to get the job done.
Agree with pretty much everything here!
In short, we need Bond to be the escapism it was meant to be, the “entertainment for adults” that Fleming presented, and not the gritty Bourne-wannabe and psychoanalysis of the leading actor that Craig turned it into.
We’ve clearly lost the specific Bond touch with the Craig era. Sure, they were commercially successful and I guess that’s understandably the main driving force, but I would go as far as saying that the Craig films were not Bond movies (except maybe CR).
Here’s hoping we will see Bond again in the next Bond films… I sure miss him.