I agree with you on pretty much everything. I still think that EON needs to stop with the artsy, family drama soap opera directors and writers. It’s becoming stale and boring. Stop with the surprise comeback characters. Everyone sees the surprise coming. More fun, less drama for a while, EON!
2 Likes
Erm… the Spectre Aston Martin with flamethrowers says ‘Hi’.
2 Likes
True. I guess I should amend that. I tend to see the cars/vehicles as entities all to themselves who also happen to have gadgets and are not considered gadgets themselves.
1 Like
I like the sexualized female villains, but yes, they don’t always have to be that way (i.e. Rosa Klebb, Irma Bunt, and Annabel Chung who’s No’s photographer). Your variations would also work well and be a nice twist. Even a combination of the two, say a sexy femme fatale who can also handle herself in fights or with weapons, like Xenia Onatopp, would be doubly dangerous and be good as well. In short, it would just be nice to get a female villain or henchwoman again.
3 Likes
I’m against this, purely because it’s nostalgic for a time that never existed and that attitude has put the world on its knees when actually tried in reality.
3 Likes
I’m fully on board with more fun, a bit more humour, stronger villains, and seeing less of the MI6 crew in the field. And yes, a bit more of the Bond theme wouldn’t go amiss! I’m indifferent about the gadgets. Some of the best films had the fewest. But I don’t have a problem with gadgets, as long as cutting edge tech remains reasonably plausible.
More sex: Just that verb ‘to bed’ sounds incredibly cringeworthy these days. Something that belongs in the era of topless calendars and page 3 girls, Carry On films and ‘saucy postcards’. When I rewatch films in general from the 70s-90s, the majority of the sex scenes now strike me as laughably gratuitous interludes (gratuitous as in unnecessary, not as in immoral) and a reflection of a certain infantile mindset that we’ve since moved beyond. That’s before we even get into the shift prompted by MeToo. This isn’t to say that sex scenes have no purpose in any film. Just that in an era of readily available pr0n, sex scenes need a stronger reason to exist in a film.
4 Likes
Agreed and well said!
If we only see Bond in bed with a woman in order to check that box it is silly and pointless.
If Bond seduces a woman to gain an advantage on the villain, it makes sense. Corinne in MR even suffers a grueling fate for it, and I would like to see Bond deal with that.
4 Likes
-
Can we also have the Bond Moneypenny flirtation back, that everytime Bond goes into MI6, he will flirt with Moneypenny first before going for debriefing with M.
-
It’s also nice to see other 00s back, or at least their involvement in Bond’s mission.
-
New continuity, no references to both Classic and Craig Era, like in Jeffrey Deaver’s Carte Blanche, the films has getting more bigger and bigger, it’s time to give Bond a new identity, a new world, let’s not hold on to the past, leave it there, I’m fine with using some unused Fleming bits, but to make some references to the old movies? Get over it, I think this is one of the reasons why the Filmmakers were running out of ideas, because they’re still clinging to the elements of the past, I’m fine with giving Bond a new background, again like in Carte Blanche, I will explain this at #4:
-
Floating Timeline (No Continuity!), okay, so like I’ve explained in #3, put Bond in new world, new background and all, but no, it’s not like in the Craig Era, I will have the timeline similar to the first 20 Bond films (the Classic Era), where there’s no certain continuity, the only difference is Bond now operates in the new and modern world, please stop with overarching storylines, leave it to the Craig Era, this one puts James Bond in modern and new adventures, but not serialized adventures
Just think of it like Comic Books with different stories/adventures in each volumes (and bears no relation to the previous one), it doesn’t need to be a one timeline, comic book style of timelines.
So, in that James Bond could be easily reinvented, you could make him fun or whatever you want to do with him, you could put him in different adventures without thinking of him being a relic of the past.
To be honest, I’d liked to have the new James Bond films to be like the continuation novels, separate continuity from one another.
There’s Gardner, there’s Benson, new adventures, why we couldn’t do those with Bond?
For example, the Classic Films (the first 20 films), then the Craig Era (Serialized 5 film arcs), then in the next set of Bond films would be just modern and new random Bond adventures.
2 Likes
Random seems to be the key thing here.
Modern, new adventures but random (no continuity) films just like the Classic Era.
Set in modern time (contemporary) but not serialized, self contained adventures.
And no references or callbacks to past films.
Let’s say both Tracy and Vesper don’t exist in that timeline, that’s fine with me.
Just for the sake of good storylines.
In that sense, they could easily reinvent Bond, like Carte Blanche, I have no problem with changing Bond’s background, similar to what Deaver did in that novel.
For a change, let’s give Bond a new world, upgrade him.
1 Like
It´s always the biggest challenge for EON to upgrade Bond without taking away what makes him Bond.
I doubt very much that the nostalgia is the result of a lack of new ideas. It´s the result of expectations which come with mass audiences knowing what Bond is about in general.
I agree: we don’t need another era capitalizing on the old Aston. But audiences do love M, Moneypenny and Q. Those should be back. If they are not it will be an issue for too many, and hey, I want to see them back, too (with other actors).
I don’t need Vesper again, but the hint of Tracy is essential to give Bond´s character texture. I don’t need to have a story about her or see her onscreen. It should just be part of Bond´s past. The visit to the graveyard in FYEO was enough to convey this. Or even just the dialogue with Anya in TSWLM.
Set in contemporary times - yep, but that’s what EON has always done.
Changing Bond´s background - nothing new here, already done in the last three eras, and rightly so.
I don’t think that nostalgia has to be thrown out completely. Using the Bond theme is nostalgia already. But I agree on this: directors should not directly refer to scenes from previous films. It´s unnecessary. We all know these films or have them accessible. I liked it in QOS. But enough now.
I believe EON will go to great lengths in order to differentiate the new guy from Craig whose shadow otherwise will loom too large.
It probably will be wise to go the Roger Moore/LALD route, giving the new Bond his own persona, avoiding everything which was connected with the previous actor.
8 Likes
It’s nice to see Carte Blanche get some ideas and recognizing for the future of James Bond. I know what some people think about the characterization of James Bond in the story. However, I really think that it truly built Bond’s modern day world and supporting characters well. I’d like to see some ideas from it be used in a future Bond movie for the future. The number one thing that needs to be changed in Bond’s immediate future is the writing. Stop with artsy Oscar bait writers and CERTAINLY STOP with Purvis and Wade! They are dried up. Maybe look at Anthony Horowitz for a future writer.
1 Like
Completely disagree.
Mostly because writers are rewritten endlessly and have to react to the wishes of everyone who is important for the movie.
If you are looking for just one party to blame for what you don’t like the writers are definitely not where you should start.
Then again, you will never find a group of people who do what you want. So, this blame game is pointless.
1 Like
I’m just saying that it may not hurt EON to have other people that aren’t usually in their ballpark to write a script for a change. One or two films without a artsy Oscar bait writer or Purvis and Wade might be the fresh writing blood that Bond needs.
Haven’t they been doing that already though?
Each Craig film has brought in a credited screenwriter who had not previously worked “in their ballpark” - Paul Haggis, John Logan, Jez Butterworth, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Cary Fukunaga…
As for turning away from P&W and going with someone different - don’t assume the outcome of doing that can only be good. If the new writers end up in another Danny Boyle/John Hodge situation, the sure hand of P&W will start to look good…
3 Likes
The screenwriters you mentioned are the Oscar bait writers I was referring to. Not saying that they are bad, or even P & W, I’m just saying it’s time for a major writing change. In particular with a new Bond on the way. Even Richard Maibaum took breaks!
You see, the problem you perceive is inherent to filmmaking and in this case what constitutes a Bond film.
If P&W don’t write for Bond anymore, you will criticize the next guy for not delivering what you want.
If „Oscar bait“ does not write Bond, you will criticize the „non-Oscar bait“ for not being good enough.
When Maibaum took a break did you prefer Mankiewicz or Wood or Wilson? And let’s be honest: all uncredited writers and script doctors and directors and producers and studio executives and all their spouses… and then the actors improvising during shooting, they all contributed and rewrote etc.
This is what filmmaking is, a group effort.
And screenwriting is only part getting your ideas into a compelling narrative, and mostly about managing input from everybody else, making them happy and feel creative.
But, sure, people will alway say: oh, the script sucked because the writer was not good enough.
This is especially silly because people don’t even read the scripts in their various versions.
They only think that the finished movie closely follows the script and everybody does what the writer wanted.
2 Likes
I think that if you yearn for “fresh blood” in the series - and that’s certainly a reasonable thing to want - the screenwriters aren’t where you should be aiming, and thus it’s unfair to aim at them.
You really need a change at Broccoli/Wilson level, because it’s from their tastes and decisions that we get everything else…
The people signing the paycheques just changed, which in itself is going to cause change in the films going forward and Greg Wilson does seem to be doing more and more…
3 Likes
Thank you for understanding. I’m just saying that a minor change in the writing department might be somewhere to start. Not trying to start a fan war with anyone.