I say it tanks, and I'll be glad if it does. Keeping Dench and then trying to pretend that there were never any other films is STOOPID. Also, trying to make a Bond film serious and gritty almost never works, as Bond is an exercise in self-parody. Plus, I don't need to see any more random terrorist/criminal organizations standing in for Those Damned CommiesTM. It was a product of its time and doesn't need to be reinvented for today's world. Either have fun in the old one or LET IT DIE. Some half-ass reboot is worse than death.
-MMoM Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
From what I've been able to see, there's only one action sequence: the chase on the rooftops.
That, and there's no Q, and no gadgets.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Hmpf. No gadgets? That's part of the fun of the Bond movies!
There's really no reason to reboot anything, like they seem to be doing. None of the other Bond movies referenced each other (as far as I can remember). From the beginning, each was a separate mission, and everything was business as usual. Not every "super" hero needs an origin story. Seems kinda similar to the Ben Affleck version of Jack Ryan to me.
Of course, if this is part of the storyline in the actual book, I may have to eat my words.
B.J.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
The Casino Royale novel was Bond's origin story, but I very much liked Quentin Tarantino's idea of doing a retro/prequel-type deal with it. I'm not really interested in seeing the story "updated" to fit with the world in 2006. If they cared to, they could have made one hell of a swinging period piece out of it. (It was set in the mid-to-late 1950s.)
I'm sure that any minute now someone is going to start blabbing about how Bond has actually been rebooted several times before and how there was never a great deal of continuity to begin with but, damn it, at least they did it quietly and never went this far...
B.J., good comparison to The Sum of All Fears, which blew monkey chunks as well.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Blond Bond? I can't buy it...
Mark
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
quote:B.J. mis-opined: None of the other Bond movies referenced each other (as far as I can remember).
When AussieBond (Lazenby) was cleaning out his desk in OHMSS, he pulled out trinkets & mementos from earlier movies as parts of their theme songs played.
The ongoing gag of Sylvia Trench in the first 3 films.
Tracy makes 3 noted mentions. In TSWLM, Major Amasova mentions, "Married once--" & Bond cuts her off. In AVTAK, he's visiting her grave in the teaser. In LTK, Della says she needs to get Bond married off; when he refuses & drives off, Leiter mentions that "he was married once."
The recurrences of Felix Leiter.
That's just off the top of my head.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
-Reference's to Bond's short-lived marriage were in almost every other movie, as I recall. Or whenever a Bond girl gets all pouty when Bond doesn't say that he loves her.
-"Die Another Day" has plenty of references to past Bond films, notably in the old Q Branch scene, where tons of gadgets from previous movies are seen.
-Along with James Bond, Felix Leiter is a Time Lord. Felix has looked different every time he's shown up, and has been played by the same guy only once - with a sixteen year difference and several movies in between. He's even been played by a black man once, and will be again in the new Casino Royale.
Mark
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I thought Bond went down hill with PB as Bond. So if they make a low end prequel that means we've seen the best of Bond already.
Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
I shall wait and see what happens... although I expect a train wreck.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
I second Mim, the QT idea set in period would be great.
I read Flemmings novels way back in the day.
Alas, the Bond films are (as usual) a far cry from the source material, and have been getting steadily worse since Sean Connery left the franchise.
With the exception of the gritty, at times vunerable portrail by Dahlton (even if the films were a bit trite), James Bond of the movies, and of the trashy paperback have been two very different creatures.
So returning to point, Casino Royal - Yes, contemporised (sorry) - Jury's still out.