Should They Continue The James Bond Film Franchise ?

[BAYLOR]

One thinkg if like to have seen in the Bond films . James Bond meeting up with have to work and get along with with Super spy Derek Flint . The meeting alone would be worth the price of admission.

 

[CupofJoe]

Working for MI6 'more exciting than James Bond film', says spy

A director at MI6 spoke to the BBC as part of a drive to recruit people from minority backgrounds.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Toby Frost]

The major selling point of the film were fancy stunts--but there are so many other films doing that now--and with CGI assistance, the series just does not have the advantage of novelty anymore.
I am sure one reason for a delay in making another is they can't decide how to proceed with so many conflicting investor interests and what kind of image they want to present. They have to satisfy a board room of people at the very least and far more than they had to think about in 1960.

I agree. I think a lot of the things that Bond films were for - action, stunts, glamour, funny foreigners and mild titillation - don't really work anymore. CGI covers a lot of bases; you can see naked ladies on the internet (so I've heard); you can book a holiday or have a zoom call across the globe. Perhaps if society changes a lot - people become poorer and maybe more prudish, there are more dictators and a deeper cold war - the ideal circumstances could come back.

 

[CupofJoe]

I think one of the selling points of the more recent Bond films, at least with respect to the car stunts, is that they aren't CGI heavy.
It really is people throwing around fast and expensive cars with reckless ease.
And long may it continue!
I think it could work if they went back to the time frame of the books, 50s & 60s cold war. Or even as far back as what Bond did during WW2...

 

[paeng]

I forgot to add that the Americans are considered second bananas, e.g., Felix of the CIA.

 

[Rodders]

James Bond will continue to be made as long as it makes money. I don't have a problem with that, at all.

I've never been a Bond afficionado, but (with the exception of the last one) i have enjoyed them all. My favourite Bond is probably Timothy Dalton, but i loved that each actor brought their own feel to him.

Perhaps James Bond and 007 should die, but other stories can be told with other agents in mind.

 

[BAYLOR]

I forgot to add that the Americans are considered second bananas, e.g., Felix of the CIA.

Jack Lord who played CIA agent Felix Leiter in Dr No was was not asked to repair the role in future Bond films because he demanded a bigger part , to be a costar and he wanted more money .

 

[CupofJoe]

James Bond will continue to be made as long as it makes money. I don't have a problem with that, at all.

I've never been a Bond afficionado, but (with the exception of the last one) i have enjoyed them all. My favourite Bond is probably Timothy Dalton, but i loved that each actor brought their own feel to him.

Perhaps James Bond and 007 should die, but other stories can be told with other agents in mind.

007 had already been replaced by Nomi in NTTD

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7170637191675235589

 

[reiver33]

They should have called a halt at Spectre, letting him retire with the girl and the car...

I enjoyed the Daniel Craig reboot (a thug in an expensive suit), but I think that character is done.

 

[Peter A]

Probably not. The quality can diminish with a long running franchise. It's what tends to happen when Hollywood and whatnot constantly does all this rebooting, retconning, or whatever they prefer to refer to it as. And I noticed they like to use the term "reimagining" a lot now as well.

Call a spade a spade. You know?

 

[CupofJoe]

The Bond Franchise has proven that it can reboot and change.
It does so about every ten years when the "new" Bond appears.
I am actually thankful and hopeful that they are taking so long to even get around to looking for a new Bond.
Daniel Craig will be a hard act to follow.
So they are going to have to think of something new to do with the character.

 

[paeng]

About the second banana bit, there's a book about the phenomenon and more:

The Man Who Saved Britain

Bond. James Bond. The ultimate British hero--suave, stoic, gadget-driven--was, more than anything, the necessary invention of a traumatized country whose sel...

us.macmillan.com

Bond. James Bond. The ultimate British hero--suave, stoic, gadget-driven--was, more than anything, the necessary invention of a traumatized country whose self-image as a great power had just been shattered by the Second World War. By inventing the parallel world of secret British greatness and glamour, Ian Fleming fabricated an icon that has endured long past its maker's death. In The Man Who Saved Britain, Simon Winder lovingly and ruefully re-creates the nadirs of his own fandom while illuminating what Bond says about sex, the monarchy, food, class, attitudes toward America, and everything in between. The result is an insightful and, above all, entertaining exploration of postwar Britain under the influence of the legendary Agent 007.

 

[BAYLOR]

A Felix Leiter spinoff film or films could be intriguing,

 

[CupofJoe]

A Felix Leiter spinoff film or films could be intriguing,

I'm not sure, they've already got Ethan Hunt, Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer...

 

[Elckerlyc]

I'm not sure, they've already got Ethan Hunt, Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer...

Maxwell Smart...

 

[Ursa major]

Don't forget Hiram Holliday (a character who predates Bond).

 

[paeng]

One example from Eco:

UMBERTO ECO: THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE IN IAN FLEMING - Scraps from the loft

In the following excerpt, originally published in Italian in 1965, Eco offers a detailed examination of the narrative formula that Fleming employed in all the Bond novels, a strategy Eco regards as “the basis of the success of the ‘007’ saga. ”

scrapsfromtheloft.com

Dr. No is a Chinese-German halfbreed, works for Russia, shows no definite sexual tendencies (having in his power Honeychile he plans to have her torn to pieces by the crabs of Crab Key), he lives on a flourishing guano industry and plans to cause guided missiles launched by the Americans to deviate from their course. In the past he has built up his fortune by robbing the criminal organisation of which he had been elected cashier. He lives, on his island, in a palace of fabulous pomp. Goldfinger has a probable Baltic origin but has also Jewish blood; he lives splendidly from commerce and from smuggling gold, by means of which he finances Communist movements in Europe; he plans the theft of gold from Fort Knox (not its radioactivation as the film states), and to overcome the final barrier sets up an atomic attack in the neighbourhood of N.A.T.O.: he tries to poison the water of Fort Knox; he does not have sexual relationships with the girl that he dominates, limiting himself to the acquisition of gold. He cheats at cards, using expensive devices, like binoculars and radio; he cheats to make money, even though fabulously rich and always travelling with a stock of gold in his luggage.

...

To the typical qualities of the Villain are opposed the Bond characteristics, in particularly Loyalty to the Service, Anglo-Saxon Moderation opposed to the excess of the halfbreeds, the selection of Discomfort and the acceptance of Sacrifice as against the ostentatious luxury of the enemy, the stroke of opportunistic genius (Chance) opposed to the cold Planning which it defeats, the sense of an Ideal opposed to Cupidity (Bond in various cases wins from the Villain in gambling, but as a rule returns the enormous sums won to the Service or to the girl of the moment, as occurred with Jill Master- son; thus even when he has money it is no longer a primary object). For the rest some oppositions function not only in the Bond-Villain relationship, but even internally in the behaviour of Bond himself; thus Bond is as a rule loyal but does not disdain to overcome a cheating enemy by a deceitful trick, and to blackmail him (cf. Moonraker or Goldfinger). Even Excess and Moderation, Chance and Planning are opposed in the acts and decisions of Bond himself. Duty and Sacrifice appear as elements of internal debate each time that Bond knows he must prevent the plan of the Villain at the risk of his life, and in those cases, the patriotic ideal (Great Britain and the Free World) takes the upper hand. He calls also on the racialist need to show the superiority of the Briton. In Bond there are also opposed Luxury (the choice of good food, care in dressing, preference for sumptuous hotels, love of the gambling table, invention of cocktails etc.) and Discomfort (Bond is always ready to abandon the easy life, even when it appears in the guise of a Woman who offers herself, to face a new aspect of Discomfort, the acutest point of which is torture).

 

[CupofJoe]

Pierce Brosnan: 'Cillian Murphy would do a magnificent job as James Bond'

The former Bond star reacts to rumours Murphy could be the next 007 at the Oscar Wilde Awards in LA.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Harpo]

 

[ZroSkeerd]

I'm a casual James Bond fan. I've seen around a dozen of them. I was actually introduced to the films because of Goldeneye 007 on the N64 way back when, so Goldeneye was the first Bond film I saw.

I don't think anyone disagrees the series has peaks and valleys as far as quality, but I think it could absolutely continue, as to whether it should, I'm undecided.

I do remember hearing a rumor a few years back that they were considering Idris Elba as the next James Bond, which I think could be an interesting take on the character, and I personally love Idris as an actor.