Trailer looks cool. Tho I must say, I’d prefer a P99 or a PPQ in the hand of Bond, given that this is NOT a period piece. I can’t see many secret agents still using PPKs these days.
I thought Casino Royal was one of the best Bond Films ever made…tho Quantum of Solace was one of the worst. Let’s hope this is a good one. Certainly Sam Mendes has the chops…
I feel Solace was no where near the worst. It didn’t measure up to Casino Royal, but by god it was better than anything with Timothy Dalton, or heaven forbid Roger Moore. Those awful pieces of tripe make me do nothing more than get up and walk out of the room if someone puts it on.
I think we have some differences here!
First up, I’ll agree that “License to Kill” was a total turd, and It is VERY hard to see a shrimp like Dalton as Ian Flemming’s Brutish secret agent. That being said “The Living Daylights” is probably #3 on my list of best Bond films, after “Casino Royal”, and “From Russia with Love”, in that order. All because those portrayals of Bond are closer to the Flemming anti-hero, to the more fantastic wise-cracking gadget-using Bond that appeared from “Goldfinger” Forward. Also Dalton was the last Bond to smoke cigarettes. Bond is a spy who doesn’t for a moment think he’ll die a natural death, let alone live long enough to cash in those cancer investments!
Rodger Moore was a mockery of the series, and should be ashamed, the only Moore Bonds I own and watch are “View to a Kill” and “The Man With the Golden Gun”, and that’s because Christopher Walken, and Christopher Lee are FANTASTIC villains, and make up for Moore’s schlock.
That being said at least Moore’s crappy films you could follow the plot line. Can you say the same thing about Solace? I don’t know a single person who saw that film on DVD or in the Theater who could tell me exactly what that foppy eco nut was actually up to in that film. I guess I could look it up, but why bother?
The look on Dalton’s face when he walks out of the amusement park restaurant was quintessential Bond, and it was the first time since the early Connery movies that Bond looked like the gun for hire he really was. Bond is an iron hammer in a velvet glove, and if you read the books, a borderline psychopath.
And yeah, I’m kinda bummed they kept with the PPK as well.
WEW! Glad there’s at LEAST one Bond Fan on my side! 8)
Also Dalton MOST looks bond in the Briefing scene at the MI6 Safe House with Georgi Koskov, just before the SMERSH agent trashes the place. He’s just sitting there smoking and looking like a caged cat.
This wasn’t topped until Daniel Craig was chasing after enemy operatives with hemorrhaging knuckles and blood running down his face, and the scene where he strips off his blood-stained tuxedo shirt and patches his wounds.
Bond looks even more brutal when you know that he isn’t immortal, he CAN be hurt…he JUST DOESN’T CARE! That’s badass!
That guy singlehandedly ruined the James Bond franchise.
+1 I won’t see another Bond film until they replace him.
This.
Won’t see it simply because he is an anti-gun nut who has said that it made him ‘feel ill’ handling guns in his movies, but that hasn’t stopped him from making millions off of it.
I refuse to intentionally add money to his bank account.
Yeah, I read that interview too. The truth is I’m a conservative gun nut and film buff.
Either I can be morally pure, or I can be happy.
I’m sorry but the words”morally pure,” and Weer’d just don’t go together. 😀
I suppose I act like I live in a vacuum, but I don’t ever, ever listen to people who pretend to be other people for entertainment purposes when it comes to social commentary. Except for Jenny McCarthy, because boobs. Kidding. She’s a great reason to justify mute buttons on remotes.
People don’t live in a Vacuum, and people DO listen to what these communist retards say. That being said, I see it as no different than asking a doctor when I should have the brakes serviced on my car, or asking my mechanic if he thinks this rash will clear up on its own.
Actors may be experts in their field, it doesn’t mean they know jack about anything else.
Sure George Clooney Helped the President raise a TON of money for his re-election, and some of that money raised, as well as the party that roped in other donors was in-part paid for from me watching a ton of his movies in the theater, and owning a ton of them. I’m not thinking I’m swinging the election, nor is he.
And the dude is a filthy good actor with a great resume of fine films.
Of course my biggest conflict is Roman Polanski. I fucking love his art…I fucking hate the man.
Hey, I still carry a PPK. So there are a few of us left!
Moore will always be the Saint.
Brosnan will always be Remington Steele.
Connery will always be BOND!!!
Although I did like Dalton, but maybe that was because he followed Moore.
Just out of curiosity, what is it about the PPK that keeps you with it?
I get that it was one of the best carry guns for ages and ages, but now it just strikes me as under-powered and overweight.
My pocket gun is .45, and the same size as a PPK, and weighs less. With the locked breech and the flex of a polymer frame it kicks only a bit more!
If one were to bump down to a CM9 or many of the other micro-9s hitting the market you’re talking all the benefits for about the same price.
Nothing wrong with the PPK, and I’m hardly one to denounce the tried-and-true, as my daily carry is a 1911…just seems to me the PPK is REALLY showing its age these days.
I can’t see many secret agents still using PPKs these days.
You’d better delete that before Sterling Archer sees it.
SNERK!!!! 8)
So…who comes after the current Bond?
Jason Statham?
Anybody ever see the Barry Nelson role as Bond?
Was Moore worse than Lazenby?
And what did you think of Niven in the role? When I first saw it, I said, “Really?”
And then set back to enjoy Niven. Not Bond…. but Niven.
Statham has the same issue as Lazenby, he just doesn’t have the acting chops, but he sure looks the part (tho he’d need to be fitted with a wig…dunno about that! Sure Connery did a TON of work in a hairpiece, but he was always seen with it on.
Moore was hands down the worst. I really don’t like to count the Comedy “Casino Royal” its really more like that party in College where somebody talked you into dropping acid. Best not to try and make sense of it or think about it much, it was a mistake, but what’s done is done.
Honestly I think a best Bond Replacement would be a young Unknown who has both the brutish looks and ability to do stunts (I think Craig raised the bar for Bond Realism and brutality), but if I had to pick a Known I’d pick Clive Owen.
Ralph Finnes could do a great older Bond if they wanted to go that angle.
I think that Bond could be bald. He doesn’t need a toupee.
It all depends upon the actor.
As for acting chops…..see early Connery. Meh.
How much emoting do you need more than what Statham has shown already.
Oh, and while Connery was Bond and IS Bond, (He could play it NOW.) Fleming couldn’t stand Connery as Bond.
Not what I heard. I heard that Flemming was surprised at how Bond was portrayed on the silver screen, but wasn’t exactly displeased. Of course I’m sure if Flemming was asked about any movie post Goldfinger he’d probably say different as there Bond to a DRASTIC deviation with the gadgets and cracking of wise.
I will also agree, Another one of my controversial favorites was “Never Say Never Again”, where Connery plays an aging Bond. That angle, plus the fact that the remake of Thunderball was designed to be considerably less schlocky and gimmicky than the contemporary Moor films, and a GREAT cast, really makes it fun.
(also doesn’t hurt that it was the first Bond Film I saw in the Theater, so its kinda permanently imprinted on my psyche)
I’m about to be assigned to Bond purgatory.
Get rid of Q and the gadgets or, at the very least, make them a very minor part.
To paraphrase, “We don’t need no steenkin’ gadgets!”
Bond, done well, is enough.
Q never existed in the books. There was the Q-Branch (Q for Quartermaster) that issued tools to agents, and Major Boothroyd, who simply was MI6’s firearms expert. The Q character played most notably by Desmond Llewelyn while lovable and funny was simply a studio construct, as were his outlandish gadgets.
One reason why I love Casino Royal so much. No Gadgets, Bond shoots people, he stabs people, he strangles and beats people to death. He uses VERY simple tools that are essentially accessible to us all. The ONLY reason why we are NOT James Bond is we aren’t as tough, and aren’t as well trained, and aren’t as smart. Period. Rodger Moore always came off as a Foppish buffoon. He beat the bad guys because he had a car that could drive underwater, or a watch that shot lasers. In the Moore movies ANY of us could be Bond, we just need the fancy toys that probably don’t exist.
Oh and to tie it into acting chops, I agree, Connery doesn’t have a ton of range, but played Bond VERY well. Meanwhile (and I know many here don’t like Craig) Craig took it a step further. Connery played it cool and tough, which works. Craig (and to a lesser extent Dalton) did a great nuanced performance of him toggling between a human man with vulnerability and feelings, to being able to snap into Her Majesty’s personal Golem, unfeeling and invincible (while Bond got bloodied and injured, you could see in his eyes he wasn’t concerned with death or pain). One of my favorite examples is the scene where he stabs Mr. Dimitrios. You see that fire and rage in his eyes as he kills him…and then he’s done, and ready to move on in a second. Or the next scene when he returns to the Bahamas to find Mrs. Dimitrios tortured and murdered. You can see the conflict where he sees it as a cruel tragedy, but also just part of the business.
To do this without making it into a more touchy-feely film where Bond is some sort of tortured child that we should feel pity for (see the main Character of Leon for a good example of that) or see as vulnerable takes REAL acting.
While not necessary, I think that’s the difference between a good film, and a GREAT film. In Casino Royal you see Bond’s first kill, and as you expect you see it as a brutal, difficult, and traumatic experience for him. You get hints that he isn’t a very happy or nice person, and never had a loving family, and you see him hurt and feel anguish…but you never once feel sorry for him, nor do you ever see him as soft, and instead you see him as exceptionally strong.
Connery always faced adversity and peril, but came out smelling like a rose, without his shirt wrinkled. Craig you see get bruised and bloodied, and his clothes torn to shreds…but he doesn’t even seem to notice, and probably wouldn’t even change to a clean shirt if he wasn’t obligated to keep up appearances.
That’s the mark of both great acting AND great direction. Tho Martin Campbell was also the Director of Goldeneye, I wonder how much his skill played into the mix.