Mmmmm: Judi's a Hit in South Bay
highhopes
Posts: 1,358MI6 Agent
007's boss finally rises as role model for Bond girls
By Sue Hutchison
San Jose Mercury News
Since ``Casino Royale'' has become a big box office hit, James Bond fans are backpedaling madly on their year's worth of grousing about how the new Bond, Daniel Craig, would not be stirring enough for the role. It turns out that he's delicious. This is no surprise to me, since anyone who had seen him eight years ago as a homicidal monk stalking the Virgin Queen in ``Elizabeth'' should have known that he'd be a killer Bond.
But I did find a satisfying surprise in ``Casino Royale'' that I have interpreted as a triumph for Bond broads everywhere. The character of M, chief of the British secret service, has finally come into her own.
Of course, the formidable Judi Dench, who has played M in Bond films for the past 11 years, came into her own long ago. And any actress who could portray both of Britain's great queens, scoring an Oscar nomination for her Queen Victoria in ``Mrs. Brown'' in 1997 and then winning the prize the following year for her Elizabeth I in ``Shakespeare in Love,'' would have no trouble taking on M.
Macho doesn't cut it
Still, the past decade of Bond scripts haven't given Dench much to work with. Yes, M did discipline the smug Bond in several films, kissing off her employee with such remarks as ``You're of no use to anyone now.'' And in ``Tomorrow Never Dies'' she slammed an arrogant admiral who said he didn't think she had the, shall we say, male equipment for the top job. ``Perhaps,'' she retorted. ``The advantage is, I don't have to think with them all the time.''
This sort of banter seemed too obvious, though, and too defensive. The tone reminded me of the sort of complaints I've heard from female executives in Silicon Valley over the past 15 years. They don't want to be forced into a role of being ``mini-men.'' They simply want to do the job their way without having to act all the time as though they've got something to prove.
Now it seems as though M, at least, is able to do just that. Considering that Bond films represent the culture at its most macho and Neanderthal, I'm taking this as a positive sign.
In fact, Bond's first line in ``Casino Royale'' defines him very clearly as the good soldier to M's general. Before he dispatches an evildoer, Bond says, coolly, ``M doesn't mind you drawing money on the side. She'd just prefer it wasn't by selling secrets.'' Then the guy's dead.
No confusion there.
Dressed to kill
Not long after that, M is seen riding through the streets of London while she is in throes of cleaning up an international incident. ``I report to the prime minister, and even he's smart enough not to ask what we do,'' she says in her withering, clipped accent. ``Christ, I miss the Cold War!''
Nothing defensive there.
Still, there is nothing male about M's equipment. For one thing, she's always wearing fabulous diamond earrings. Also, she takes Bond's calls in bed, wearing her red satin pajamas while her old man sleeps peacefully beside her. It's about time.
M may be past her bikini days, but surely Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder), Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore), Halle Berry (Jinx) and even the current independent Bond girl Eva Green (Vesper Lynd) would agree that running the secret service -- and James Bond -- is where all the real action is.
M is the quintessential Bond woman for the 21st century.
By Sue Hutchison
San Jose Mercury News
Since ``Casino Royale'' has become a big box office hit, James Bond fans are backpedaling madly on their year's worth of grousing about how the new Bond, Daniel Craig, would not be stirring enough for the role. It turns out that he's delicious. This is no surprise to me, since anyone who had seen him eight years ago as a homicidal monk stalking the Virgin Queen in ``Elizabeth'' should have known that he'd be a killer Bond.
But I did find a satisfying surprise in ``Casino Royale'' that I have interpreted as a triumph for Bond broads everywhere. The character of M, chief of the British secret service, has finally come into her own.
Of course, the formidable Judi Dench, who has played M in Bond films for the past 11 years, came into her own long ago. And any actress who could portray both of Britain's great queens, scoring an Oscar nomination for her Queen Victoria in ``Mrs. Brown'' in 1997 and then winning the prize the following year for her Elizabeth I in ``Shakespeare in Love,'' would have no trouble taking on M.
Macho doesn't cut it
Still, the past decade of Bond scripts haven't given Dench much to work with. Yes, M did discipline the smug Bond in several films, kissing off her employee with such remarks as ``You're of no use to anyone now.'' And in ``Tomorrow Never Dies'' she slammed an arrogant admiral who said he didn't think she had the, shall we say, male equipment for the top job. ``Perhaps,'' she retorted. ``The advantage is, I don't have to think with them all the time.''
This sort of banter seemed too obvious, though, and too defensive. The tone reminded me of the sort of complaints I've heard from female executives in Silicon Valley over the past 15 years. They don't want to be forced into a role of being ``mini-men.'' They simply want to do the job their way without having to act all the time as though they've got something to prove.
Now it seems as though M, at least, is able to do just that. Considering that Bond films represent the culture at its most macho and Neanderthal, I'm taking this as a positive sign.
In fact, Bond's first line in ``Casino Royale'' defines him very clearly as the good soldier to M's general. Before he dispatches an evildoer, Bond says, coolly, ``M doesn't mind you drawing money on the side. She'd just prefer it wasn't by selling secrets.'' Then the guy's dead.
No confusion there.
Dressed to kill
Not long after that, M is seen riding through the streets of London while she is in throes of cleaning up an international incident. ``I report to the prime minister, and even he's smart enough not to ask what we do,'' she says in her withering, clipped accent. ``Christ, I miss the Cold War!''
Nothing defensive there.
Still, there is nothing male about M's equipment. For one thing, she's always wearing fabulous diamond earrings. Also, she takes Bond's calls in bed, wearing her red satin pajamas while her old man sleeps peacefully beside her. It's about time.
M may be past her bikini days, but surely Ursula Andress (Honey Ryder), Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore), Halle Berry (Jinx) and even the current independent Bond girl Eva Green (Vesper Lynd) would agree that running the secret service -- and James Bond -- is where all the real action is.
M is the quintessential Bond woman for the 21st century.
Comments
That's great. CR is definitely Dench's best performance as M. There's a real rapport between her and Craig.
Don't worry, Darenhat; I have it on good authority that M will finally act like a real boss in the next film, firing Bond from the 00 section in the pre-title sequence.
The balance of the film will focus on the challenges a chastened James Bond faces as the junior busboy in the MI6 cafeteria. Better?
Everyone from James Bond to Dirty Harry ignores their boss. In fact, it's one of the biggest movie cliches around in the cops/spy genre.
Well, I can't think of anything the Bond did in TLD that was against M's wishes...other than use some personal discretion when buying things at Harrods...hardly what I would call a 'security risk'. He does question the story about Pushkin, but concedes to M's authority about taking care of the matter. As far as LTK goes - Bond does get reprimanded. He gets a stern dressing down before 'going rogue'. I thought it was an excellent scene which displayed Bond's desperation. We never really see him in the aftermath...in fact, Leiter is the one who tells Bond that M was looking for him...but we never know for sure the complete consequences and their relationship afterwards. We do see in OHMSS that when M says "That's all!" he means it, enough to send Bond strutting back to his office to pout. It seems that Bond is given free rein to do what he wants on his personal time (as witnessed by Bond's leave of absences in both OHMSS and TMWTGG with M turning a blind eye as to what happens) but previously M never wanted Bond to do anything that would undermine Her Majesty's Service in an official capacity.
Exactly! Which is one reason why I catalog CR as just another cliche contribution to the genre.
You're painting yourself into a corner, Darenhat.
Bond got a "stern" dressing down in CR, too, but for some reason, you insist M should have done more in this case. Maybe she did, but we didn't see the full "aftermath." But when you think about it, because of continuity (and we know how important that is), one might make this argument: CR's Bond is new to the job. A dressing down for a mistake by a junior agent may be in order in this case. He should have been canned for the laterscrew up in LTK, when he's an experienced operative.
Ah! But you see, Bond had a track record of success at the time of the LTK 'incident'. This, coupled with the fact that there was obviously a strong emotional factor concerning Leiter, and combined with the fact that there were no tears shed for Killifer (sp) and his bribe money, that Bond's deed was 'manageable'. M himself seems more upset that Bond was not in Instanbul rather than Bond's 'extra-curricular' activities.
On the other hand, Bond as a 'rookie' agent, who is using his licence to kill to kill without discretion in an embassy is an entirely different matter. (I understand that supposedly no one died in the explosion, but Bond would have had no way of controlling that). That would simply signal to me (if I were M) that this is a man that should not have 00 status - especially since the whole affair was caught on camera. Even if I wanted to keep Bond, I'm sure the PM would want Bond out of the service...if not out of the country. M herself would most likely be quietly asked to resign if her people are blatantly and openly violating international law.
The LTK 'incident' was something that was actually covertly done. The Madagascar thing, not so much.
The line from Falco in DAD keeps coming to mind when he tells M "You better get your house in order..." I simply want to see M lay down the law. At least in LTK, M basically ordered Bond to tender his resignation. In CR, she pats him on the hand and says 'you cheeky boy...we'll have none of that!"
But he did confront Pushkin, just like he was supposed to. There was even a very tense moment when it looked like Bond was going to pull the trigger in Pushkin's hotel room. Faking Pushkin's assasination may well have been a devious slight of hand, but it might have fooled M that the deed was done. M can't very well reprimand Bond for 'doing' what he was told, even if he found out later that it really wasn't done (since by that time, Bond had proven that Pushkin was not the criminal). As for the delay in investigating Kara, since Bond was not given any 'timeline' he had discretion to choose the time and place of Pushkin's 'demise', I would think.
In fact, M would have probably reward Bond for not actually assasinating Pushkin, since it would have been a blunder on M's part.
As far as CR goes, Bond blows up an embassy for what? To steal a cell phone with the hopes that it just just might have some tidbits of information on it.
Keep talking, 'hat ... You're wearing down my resistance ...:))
You'll see things my way, eventually, HH!
The bottom line for me is that the Bond/M relationship in CR didn't cement for me because I couldn't understand it. I couldn't 'suspend my disbelief' after the first twenty minutes of the film, simply because the characters were not reacting to any thing in the storyline that was important to me. I couldn't empathize with Bond (I kinda hated him, actually) after his antics, and I severely wanted M to swat him down. She didn't do it, and I guess that after I realized that, I began to dislike her character, too.
I never had that feeling in any other Bond movie. Perhaps, to some degree, in OHMSS, I had trouble relating to Bond. But through the film I began to warm to him, and eventually, by the end, pitied him.
M, to me, was always the voice of reason in Bond films. In CR, I felt I lost that voice, and I started to feel detached - like a boat in the ocean with no sail.
My apologies, highhopes, if I seem so stuck on this subject. Of all the things that disappointed me in CR - this is the big one. I would do well to avoid 'M' topics. I, in no way, want you to think I'm trying to destroy any enjoyment you have found in the film. My issues are my own - it just feels so good to air them once and a while! Thanks for listening!
I think you may be projecting your negative feelings towards the Craig-Bond character onto M. You would like to fire Mr. Craig, and so expect M to do the same. But I'm afraid we're out of time for today, Mr. Hat. We can explore that next week. That'll be $300.
{[] Seriously -- I understand. You just plain don't like the damn movie. Nothing wrong with that. It is only a movie.