![]() The accumulation of backstory means some obligatory developments verge on the ridiculous. No, SPECTRE faces the tension between a need to innovate and a requirement to keep on track. ![]() Whether taken as the fourth entry in a decade-old series or the 24th in the saga which began with Dr. The best-timed quip in the film comes when tables are finally turned in this sub-plot and Fiennes concludes “Now we see what C stands for… careless.” The film almost criticises current government policies, M expressing distrust of the private finance initiative that has enabled C to move out of the edifice Silva bombed in Skyfall into a modish glass-and-steel structure (all that glass is eventually one major villain’s downfall). Even the arch-spymaster M – Ralph Fiennes is interestingly less manipulative, more direct than Judi Dench – has qualms about what this means for democracy and public service. ![]() M’s smarmy, ambitious superior C ( Andrew Scott, Moriarty from the BBC’s Sherlock) wants to discontinue ‘the 00 programme’ in favour of drones and satellites. In a neat circularity, the octopus-logoed purveyors of surveillance tech to all comers are fomenting acts of false-flag terror to persuade nation-states to invest in more and more spying.Īgain, there’s a sense of headlines being skimmed for subtext. In the ongoing plot, Quantum, who were (in a modish for 2006-08 touch) super-evil bankers, has evolved into SPECTRE (a 60s revival, introduced in the novel Thunderball and the film Dr. He shoots prospective assassins with panache, finally gets the hang of outlandish spy gadgets (including a classic car accessory and a watch with a “very loud” alarm) and allows himself to be enraptured by passing beauties in a manner that even pokes sly fun at his morbid strain of erotomania (he picks up Monica Bellucci at the funeral of her husband, whom he killed). While taking hard knocks, Craig’s Bond seems to be enjoying himself more – he even allows for the notion Connery and Moore had that the character is aware of his own absurdity and plays up to it. Flashes of the high-living, hard-loving Bond of the earliest films and Fleming’s mid-period novels were allowed in the earlier Craig films, but here they are set free. Having developed a Bond in line with Fleming’s thrill-seeking burned-out case, SPECTRE is determined to have more fun with him. Though memories linger, Craig is here jauntier and lighter on his feet and sometimes might even be thinking about making those post-enemy’s-death quips that have been phased out on his watch. In blowing up his childhood home and killing his twisted doppelganger Silva ( Javier Bardem), Craig’s version of the hero could purge these elements from his make-up, enabling the series to continue without Bond spiralling into the despair of Fleming’s last, amazingly dark novels. Skyfall then delved deeper into Bond’s past than any other film, and had him confront some of the issues responsible for traits of Fleming’s character (self-hating, alcoholic womanising and suicidal recklessness) which most film Bonds have done without. Four films – and one Olympic opening ceremony cameo – later, he shudders to find a VHS cassette of her interrogation in the abandoned office of Mr White ( Jesper Christensen), last survivor of the Quantum plot that wove through Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. With Craig, the series has not repeated that error: the loss of Vesper still haunts this version of Bond. The films didn’t quite get this arc right, making You Only Live Twice (1967) before On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), so that Bond seemed to take vengeance before the outrage that made his crusade personal the series’ first change of lead actor also isolated the murder of Mrs Bond from the ongoing character arc. Fleming reworked this trauma in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by having Bond fall in love again and get married, only for his arch-nemesis Blofeld to murder the bride just after the wedding. Casino Royale, which went back to Fleming’s first novel for its plot and general air of ruthlessness, showed Bond on his way to becoming the emotionally numbed, super-competent gambler/detective-cum-assassin hero through a clash with his first significant villain, Le Chiffre ( Mads Mikkelsen, whose image pops up here along with other faces from the past), and the loss of Vesper Lynd ( Eva Green), the woman who touched then hardened the philanderer’s heart.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |