I agree that Bond should stay Bond. But you lose me with your pejorative "WOKE crowd" labelling. Everyone throws out the baby with the bathwater nowadays. It saddens me that people won't listen to others' ideas because they are "the other side". "The WOKE crowd" has some good ideas. Same as you.
I’m all for people respecting one another. I don’t care what race, denomination, ethnicity or age a person is.. cool people are cool people. But that’s not what woke is today. Too much of it, goes too far. It’s hurting society and causing divisions rather than uniting.
That sounds nice, but exactly what "good ideas" would those be? I'll settle for common sense--doesn't even have to be good.
I think that endeavoring to tell the stories of all members of a society is largely a noble cause, for instance. I think engaging populations who have been heretofore "priced out" of the moviemaking business is productive. I can believe the above and also agree that a female James Bond is silly. You know, moderation.
Who's been priced out, at least in the last 50 years? Anyone who's had the ability to become a star has been able to become a star. Asians were certainly a minority in America when Bruce Lee became a star in the '70s. Sigourney Weaver became an action star in the '80s and Angelina Jolie more recently. Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby and Will Smith became huge stars through the decades. Jennifer Lopez became a big star in both music and film.
So what are we talking about exactly? A black Bond? A gay Bond? I think blacks make up about 3-4% of the population in England. I think gays make up about 3-4% as well. So randomization would tell us that for every 100 men playing bond, 3-4 might be black and 3-4 might be gay. The woke crowd would tell us that we need such a Bond right away. But we've only had what--five Bonds? So there is no common sense argument that the next one needs to be ... well...you see where I'm going. But I'm basing this on common sense and maths...so... That's a separate issue from the fact that Fleming never intended Bond to be gay or black, which we can set aside for now.
ehhh i don't really care, and the latest Bonds have felt like every other action movie of the last 20 years, (minus the Bond opening and the side characters) Put Bond back in the swinging '60's and make it a retro Bond film!
One name - Jack Bannon He has been playing a proto-Bond the past three years. Build him up a bit...perfect. The problem with Bond though, is not the actors. The scripts have just got worse and worse since the high point of Casino Royale. Needs a new production firm behind it.
Pre-Craig, I was all in on Clive Owen. Now, I like Craig very much, but what I appreciated about Owen was he resembled both Fleming's Bond and Connery's Bond (hell, he even looks a little like Lazenby). True to Fleming, Owen isn't conventionally handsome, and his looks have a darker, hardened edge to them. The actor also possesses a Connery-esque brutish quality even the finest bespoke tailoring can't hide. Steve Martin's remake of The Pink Panther was lousy - you wanna talk about the wrong actor for a role - but Owen's hammy two minutes as 006 demonstrate the man was more than up to the task of saving the world. ...but Owen's 56 and that ship has sailed.
I wish Dalton had been able to do one more film. He was so good and my appreciation for his take on the character has only increased with time.
I always feel his Bond got the job reluctantly. Like no one else was available to take over 007. Not as in the acting job but the spy role.
It's time to do James Bond 007 The Dark Knight Style, and bring back an older Bond in a completely changed world. Maybe they will do it with Craig when they do the next one in about 7 or 10 years. Recasting Bond with a younger guy cannot work anymore because Craig played the early years already. The only way to continue the franchise is to do mini-series, like they did with Craig with the last 5. So I'm guessing he will do 3 more set in the Bond late days when he comes back into modern p***y society to show them how it's done old school style.
Totally agree! For me Owen was the logical 'darker' and more sinister Bond, but Craig got the job and was excellent for the most part... I don't envy the curators of the ongoing Bond-saga; Casino Royale was a excellent new start, but can they do that trick again?
I agree with the support expressed for Clive Owen. But I also think the Broccoli's can't get out of their own way. They've always been the biggest problem with the franchise. If Bond could be rescued from this family the films would probably improve. Every time Tom Cruise makes another Mission Impossible he buries the Broccoli Bonds. If it must be a known and established actor I'd go with Jack Bannon.
Casino Royale was not a high point. For many of us it was rank. It had too many problems beginning with the script and the casting. I know it's popular and widely accepted but it could and should have been better.
I loved it when I saw it in the theater. It had excellent visuals, locations and camerawork, great one-liners and audience reactions. But it doesn't really get better with repeat viewing. You're right, the script and casting had some flaws. Some of the pacing/editing was odd as well. I actually prefer QoS. Still a fun movie.
I think Casino Royale is a masterpiece. One of the best spy or action or thriller movies I've ever seen. Better than all the Craig Bonds and other Bonds I've seen. The big vehicle chases, the hand-to-hand combat and the suspense scenes were all top-notch. And the romance felt like it meant something.
Obviously your opinion, but I disagree. The best Bond film since the Connery era, and I have been going to see these since the 60s. Every Bond movie has script issues, but not every Bond movie has a female lead even close to Eva Green. It's also reasonably true to the book while being modernized, a hard trick to pull off. I've seen it at least 6 times, IMO one of the best Bond movies.
The romance was exactly why it would never qualify as a masterpiece. Vesper went from hating James to loving him to betraying him or saving him, however you wish to characterize it, quicker than two shakes of a lamb's tail. And James did likewise, going from "not my type" to wanting to retire from the service and travel the world with her as she stole the money out from under his nose. None of this was handled properly. There were plenty of "WTF" moments for me, and I don't think I was alone in that. And as for car chase, the one that really mattered with the aston martin was over before it had really begun with the bizarre "jump" over Vesper in the road to justify the car rolling so many times, a physical impossibility. It was a huge letdown for me, as I thought "here we go" and was looking forward to a real car chase. What a tease! I am also not happy with the lack of attention to detail in the firearms, with each gun a sort of cornucopia of ammo that never runs out. But I guess that's "normal" for 007 movies and not at all specific to CR. The M writing in CR was also a let-down. Instead of build their relationship properly, they just had 007 breaking in to M's apartment and laptop and a sort of bad boy/schoolmarm dynamic going. In both CR and QoS, she went from not trusting 007 at all to totally trusting him in the blink of an eye.
This guy Jack Bannon, looks really wimpy… I just don’t get why anyone sees him as a bond.. to me he looks weak and kinda momma’s boy.