Posted on October 5, 2021
In which I answer a few questions on an older film… or a new one… or talk about actors and directors… or take on a few YouTube comments…
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Madan
October 10, 2021
M as his surrogate mother? Holy mother of batman, excuse me while I spit out the martini due to laughter. So I will take it one film at a time with CR and read the reviews carefully to decide which are the least overwrought ones from this instalment of the franchise.
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Madan
October 10, 2021
Oh yes, Henry Cavill! Looks like he would make a good Bond.
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Madan
October 10, 2021
Last answer was brilliant! 😛 😛
Do you think part of the problem is that for a new generation, without the context of British Empire and the Cold War, the kind of dark subtext that buttressed the campiness is gone? And that in spite of the best efforts of Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers, there is simply no bringing back GREAT Britain. If you take Bond’s signature car Aston Martin itself, it has been changing owners starting with Ford in the 80s. The British secret service is still a formidable entity, no doubt why Murica wants it in its corner. But the outward trappings of “still-great-even-after-fall-of-the-empire” that informed the classic Bond movies is completely divorced from reality today. Also, Bond movies date back to a time when flirting was ok, when female performers on stage used to in fact tease audiences with gentle flirting. Those days too are gone forever, as Donald Fagen would say. Another product by the way that simply cannot fit into the current paradigm at least once you start looking at the lyrics – Steely Dan. Maybe we can still have something that can be pure fun and games but it would have to be a very different context from either Bond or Steely Dan.
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Madan
October 10, 2021
Apropos nothing at all: Connery talking about Moore back in the 80s and then about Craig in 2009:
Interesting that in the first clip, he sports a news presenter accent as everyone seemed to in the UK back then, whereas in the second, he has an authentic Scottish accent.
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Aman Basha
October 10, 2021
This is GOLD
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Saket
October 10, 2021
I’m cross-posting some lines from my review that I posted elsewhere:
One of the unspoken rules of being a 00 agent is to never fall in love. But ever since Casino Royale, this iteration of Bond was willing to retire and have a family. Perhaps because he was an orphan, something that makes him an excellent agent but also, perhaps, makes him seek a family life. At least subconsciously. The makers have even taken pains to highlight Bond’s background as an orphan in films like Casino Royale and Skyfall.
And speaking about family, that’s the only thing he can’t have. That’s the overarching theme of Craig’s era as James Bond. In Skyfall, it’s about his loyalty towards M, a mother-like figure. Another family-seeking initiative by Bond. And for some reason, Craig’s Bond is always attracted to smart, independent, and powerful women. Not the usual Bond girls who get quickly disposed of and forgotten. Think of Vesper Lynd, M, and Madelaine Swann.
Also, we see at least four people who are very dear to him die in his arms — Vesper Lynd, Matthis, M, and Felix Leiter. These deaths are also a recurring theme in the Craig era. This Bond is not a heartless, cruel bastard but he has feelings too. And his heart does bleed for his friends and what he considers to be his immediate family. This kind of empathetic figure is a clear departure from Bonds of previous eras. In those films, the emphasis was on Bond’s exploits, be it in the form of his one-liners, his various conquests, whether it was against super-villains or beautiful women. There was always some trailblazing action, and of course, exotic locales were a must in a Bond movie.
This old formula worked for a long time but by the time Pierce Brosnan became Bond, the law of diminishing returns had already struck and Bond films had started to lose their sheen. The makers wisely chose to reboot the series with Daniel Craig and added an emotional core to Bond, and the rest, as they say, is history. Daniel Craig’s era as Bond has been the most successful in terms of Box Office returns till now, and these are massive shoes to fill for the next Bond actor.
Speaking of filling shoes, I also need to address the big elephant in the room — Bond’s death or Daniel Craig’s death, to be precise. This is a contentious topic and is sure to divide fans. Personally speaking, I didn’t have too much of an issue with it, given that Bond was already retired and given his love for his family, it was more or less on the cards. It might seem that this version of James Bond had lost its edge, but that’s the price to be paid for character development. He’s more human and therefore also susceptible to death.
No Time To Die is a film that offers a fitting end to Daniel Craig’s era as Bond, given that his version of Bond is more empathetic, more human and a more developed character compared to Bond’s previous iterations. It’s not a perfect film and has its flaws, mainly an under-developed villain and some moments full of bloat towards the end, but overall, it’s a solid Bond film made with a specific purpose in mind — to bid farewell to Daniel Craig. And it serves its purpose well enough, despite not being a timeless classic like Casino Royale or Skyfall.
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Madan
October 10, 2021
Brilliant, brilliant interview!
Parkinson: “It did change your career, didn’t it, Bond?”
Connery (gasping): “Oh, that vodka’s strong!”
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Madan
October 10, 2021
“I hope you’re gonna be the chief of the party” – Oh no, that aged as well as Obama’s ‘DJT’ set of 2009!
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Madan
October 10, 2021
“And for some reason, Craig’s Bond is always attracted to smart, independent, and powerful women. Not the usual Bond girls who get quickly disposed of and forgotten. Think of Vesper Lynd, M, and Madelaine Swann.” – I would say some of this was already changing in the Brosnan films like Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies or Dr Jones in World Is Not Enough. The problem in the Brosnan years was the films were rather weak and he had a lot of heavy lifting to do to make them worthwhile.
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Saket
October 11, 2021
Also, great to see some appreciation for Timothy Dalton!
He’s criminally underrated as Bond.
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Aman Basha
October 11, 2021
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-edit-page/how-daniel-craig-killed-james-bond/
Never knew a TOI post could be this articulate, but the content Hmm 🙂
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KayKay
October 11, 2021
Gonna go to bat for my Man Brosnan. Sandwiched between a renewed appreciation for the brief Dalton Era and the currently in-flavor Craig films, the Brosnan quartet of Bond movies seemed to have come under even more criticism of late. No doubt the ones following GOLDENEYE were uneven, but that’s not to say they were without merit. As Madan pointed out, for all the praise the Craig era Bond girls get, let’s not forget TOMORROW NEVER DIES featured a Bond girl who was not so much a romantic interest but a legit ass-kicking equal to 007. And Elektra King of the severely underrated THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH is an amazingly layered and complex Bond Girl/Villain, practically a precursor for Vesper Lynd. DIE ANOTHER DAY is quite rightly lambasted for it’s over-the-top plot and outrageous gadgets, but for the all the praise Craig gets for being the first Bond to get beaten, bloody and sweaty, don’t forget the credits for DIE ANOTHER DAY played over Bond getting systematically tortured in a Korean prison with a bloodied, emaciated and bearded Bond emerging from it. The action in the Brosnan films were also frequently spectacular, finally keeping pace with contemporary action flicks which were frequently upping the game (Cameron and Schwarzenegger famously boasted no Bond movie could top TRUE LIES). But I suspect their loyal adherence to certain classic Bond tropes (over the top gadgetry, sexy women, a philandering Bond who ends up with one of them at the end with throwaway quips like “I thought Christmas only came once a year”) which are now considered “toxic” in the current climate renders the Brosnan Era as decidedly “uncool”.
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Yajiv
October 11, 2021
@Aman: Good lord, this is some IMAX level projection by the author!
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