Experimental Stage

Sweepy the Cat

Me and my brother have notice something that TWINE seemed to be the last "normal" Bond film as the 2000's seems to have been the experimental stage for Bond with three completely different films (Different Bonds, different directors, different run-times, different styles, different tones, different writers etc) with the producers basically dipping their toes into the water to see what does and does not work in a Bond film.

Hopefully, now that that decade is just about over, we can move along with a more traditional Bond 23 which does not try to be something that it is not (e.g. XXX, Bourne)

Loeffelholz

I see your point about DAD, Sweepy---Bond being captured in the PTS, imprisoned for over a year and looking like Robinson Crusoe when handed back to the Brits in a prisoner exchange---indeed, it was a largely unappreciated bold step for Eon to take at the time of the series' 40th Anniversary. Regrettably, the second half doesn't do justice to the first...

And of course the casting of Craigger, the no-frills* reboot and the darker, more post 9/11-observant tone of the stories, etc., continue to take the character along a path that is fairly distinct from where he's been. I would tend to agree that the time is approaching when Bond should perhaps bring some elements of the Precious Classic Formula^TM back to the dance. As ever, the question is: how much, or how little?

The difference between success and failure along these lines is indistinct, however, and endlessly arguable between clearly-defined camps of Bond fandom---the dangerous and dodgy arena of Bonditics^TM :v ---to the extent that, no matter what Eon does in #23, it will either be too much, or not enough, for someone. Regardless, I envision #23 as an historic opportunity to produce a once-in-a-generation classic, given the foundation that's been laid.

* _{No Q, Moneypenny, et al.}

thesecretagent

That's a good observation Sweepy, and it does seem that the last three have certainly been very different. I loved the feel of DAD, but it went to pieces about halfway through. I liked both CR and QOS, but I do miss aspects of the traditional Bond formula. I think they could tone it down a bit for the better now.