What direction should Bond go in from here?

[Good Will Riker]

I love that the ridiculous gadgets and the lame, adolescent-level double-entendres are mostly gone.

Moneypenny? Well, I don't really have anything against her, but her sole purpose seemed to be to make googoo eyes at Bond and feed him straight lines for even more of those ridiculous double-entendres. Do we really need her?

Hopefully, there will be so few (preferably none) outlandish gadgets that an appearance by Q will seldom be called for. (In fact, should Bond ever be required to, say, switch handguns for some reason, I personally hope the guy delivering the replacement will be referred to as "Major Boothroyd" or "Quartermaster."

Please, God, NO MORE of that damned, irritating, jerky-camera, quick-cutting Bourne action scene crap!

So, in otherwords, you dislike James Bond of the past and the present.

 

[Barbados Slim]

I've had a bit of a Bond weekend, watching Tomorrow Never Dies and the opening of TWINE (I can't deal with any more) yesterday, then Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace (again) today.

The gadgets and puns from the Brosnan movies are groan-inducing. Terrible. The scene where he drives a BMW with a cell phone is ridiculous.

I much, much, MUCH prefer Daniel Craig's Bond films. They have style in spades and soul. The Brosnan ones are pretty empty-headed action films.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Without those, it really is not James Bond from the movies...

It's my understanding that a major goal of the new reboot is precisely to get away from some of the excesses of "James Bond from the movies." I personally find the change quite refreshing.

So, in otherwords, you dislike James Bond of the past and the present.

Not at all. And may I say that's quite a leap to make based on just those four points I made.

In fact, I love the early Connery films (certainly an example of "James Bond of the past") and I also very much like Daniel Craig's interpretation of the character (surely Bond of the present, no?).

Of course, I like the Bond of the books best of all. The closer the movies get to that, the happier I'll be. And in that light, I find the recent films with Daniel Craig - not to mention this thread - highly encouraging.

 

[Siwilliams]

The gadgets and puns from the Brosnan movies are groan-inducing. Terrible. The scene where he drives a BMW with a cell phone is ridiculous.

My favorite scene from Tomorrow Never Dies, it is cool and funny

 

[Siwilliams]

Without those, it really is not James Bond from the movies...

It's my understanding that a major goal of the new reboot is precisely to get away from some of the excesses of "James Bond from the movies." I personally find the change quite refreshing.

Well, they certainly succeeded in not being funny in parts anymore and the reboot of 20 movies, seems like a back stabbing is what it is

 

[Skywalker]

James Bond isn't a comedic character.

 

[Zachary Smith]

North by Northwest.

 

[S. Gomez]

I think it's worth pointing out that Miss Moneypenny, double-entendre names, villainous lairs, and a few down-to-earth "gagdets" (such as the briefcase in From Russia With Love) are all elements in the original Ian Fleming novels. They didn't have as strong a formula as the movies have had, though; in Moonraker the "Bond girl" turns out in the end to be engaged and so has no romantic interest in him! Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service--all are Ian Fleming novels and all are relatively faithfully adapted to the screen. A bit more cinematic style was thrown in (the Aston Martin certainly has more armaments) and some plot mechanics were altered, but by and large they are still recognizable as Ian Fleming's Bond.

That being said, Casino Royale is my favourite James Bond movie to date (to be fair, I haven't seen them all) mostly for the reason that it got away from the silliness. Lightheartedness is one thing, camp is another, and the movies have definitely strayed far into the latter enough times. The first two Craig outings I found to be generally pretty solid (the first more than the second) and if they can keep just on this side of reality while still getting wit and humour in, it will only get better from here. From Russia With Love is an ideal to aim for, in my opinion.

 

[Siwilliams]

James Bond isn't a comedic character.

I did not say he was, but the 20 movies had comedic scenes (small scenes), a sense of humor in them, the last two....none

 

[MyCylon]

^
Not true. One example off the top of my head from QoS: Bond and Felix meet up in a bar. Shortly thereafter, Bond leaves and the place is raided by special forces. Felix calmly finishes his beer while the place is turned upside down.

 

[Sci]

The gun barrel being at the end of Quantum Of Solace annoyed me so much (not to mention it did not make sense) and even the semi gun barrel in Casion Royale annoyed me as well. Its' like the Bond producers are trying to make the series non Bond

The gunbarrel sequence at the end of Quantum of Solace made perfect sense. It was a way of symbolically representing how Craig's Bond has finally become the 007 that we're all familiar with now that he's put Vesper behind him.

 

[S. Gomez]

^
Not true. One example off the top of my head from QoS: Bond and Felix meet up in a bar. Shortly thereafter, Bond leaves and the place is raided by special forces. Felix calmly finishes his beer while the place is turned upside down.

Or the exchange: "This man had me imprisoned and tortured and you want to serve him fine wine?" "You only buy cheap wine."

Of course, humour is subjective.

 

[Siwilliams]

^
Not true. One example off the top of my head from QoS: Bond and Felix meet up in a bar. Shortly thereafter, Bond leaves and the place is raided by special forces. Felix calmly finishes his beer while the place is turned upside down.

Wow one tiny scene

 

[Siwilliams]

The gun barrel being at the end of Quantum Of Solace annoyed me so much (not to mention it did not make sense) and even the semi gun barrel in Casion Royale annoyed me as well. Its' like the Bond producers are trying to make the series non Bond

The gunbarrel sequence at the end of Quantum of Solace made perfect sense. It was a way of symbolically representing how Craig's Bond has finally become the 007 that we're all familiar with now that he's put Vesper behind him.

Huge flaw there, he apparently became 007 in the beginning of the previous film

Makes no sense why it appears at the end of the film

 

[Siwilliams]

^
Not true. One example off the top of my head from QoS: Bond and Felix meet up in a bar. Shortly thereafter, Bond leaves and the place is raided by special forces. Felix calmly finishes his beer while the place is turned upside down.

Or the exchange: "This man had me imprisoned and tortured and you want to serve him fine wine?" "You only buy cheap wine."

Of course, humour is subjective.

That is pushing it, cheap laughter at best

 

[MyCylon]

^
Not true. One example off the top of my head from QoS: Bond and Felix meet up in a bar. Shortly thereafter, Bond leaves and the place is raided by special forces. Felix calmly finishes his beer while the place is turned upside down.

Or the exchange: "This man had me imprisoned and tortured and you want to serve him fine wine?" "You only buy cheap wine."

Of course, humour is subjective.

Another good one IMHO.

Here's some more:

Bond (checking in at the hotel with Ms. Fields): "We are teachers on a sabbatical. Who have won the lottery."

M to Bond: "And if you could avoid killing anyone we might learn something from, it would be greatly appreciated."

Also, I think the scene in the taxi with Mathis where the driver kept on babbling was quite funny.

 

[Skywalker]

Yep, there was plenty of humor to be found. Just because it's not in-your-face, that doesn't mean it isn't funny.

 

[Harvey]

How about Bond's "you're not going to shoot me this time, are you?" to Camille (paraphrasing)?

I loved Casino Royale. I really liked Quantum of Solace, too. People too quickly forget how childish and cringeworthy campy James Bond can be. Honestly, I grew up on campy James Bond (from late Connery to most of Roger Moore to most of Brosnan), but I've grown out of that mode of the character now that I'm past being 10-15 years old. I've found the darker, closer to literary Bond in early Connery, OHMSS, Timothy Dalton, and now Daniel Craig to be much closer to my liking.

 

[MyCylon]

This discussion has had me thinking about Bond a lot, and I have to say I'm really, REALLY excited about what the next Bond will be like. They've got things set up extremely well now, I think.
I'm also really looking forward to the DVD release of QoS. I think it's scheduled for March or something, isn't it?

 

[TedShatner10]

The gadgets and puns from the Brosnan movies are groan-inducing. Terrible. The scene where he drives a BMW with a cell phone is ridiculous.

My favorite scene from Tomorrow Never Dies, it is cool and funny

TND's carpark chase was better paced, more intricate and memorable than the opening car chase from Quantum of Solace, that's for sure.