The Abundance of Personal Missions in Modern Bond Movies

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  • GrindelwaldGrindelwald Posts: 1,341MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    So the tagline for the next movie should read-

    "James Bond 007 is back. And this time it's NOT personal".

    :)) :)) :))

    M : James , I don't think you're in shape for this mission....in fact I fear for your security.

    007 : I'll just wing it...whatever happens happens , no biggie.

    :p
  • GrindelwaldGrindelwald Posts: 1,341MI6 Agent
    "after GF"

    The trend happened *during* GF so it's not really TBs fault......same as DAF started the comedy trend , not LALD.
  • heartbroken_mr_draxheartbroken_mr_drax New Zealand Posts: 2,073MI6 Agent
    Would you really like to see one Bond doesn't get affected by anything? How would you keep the lead actor interested?

    Obviously the lead actor needs to care about the mission. But I agree with the point raised in this thread, there were a few personal missions back in the day OHMSS, TMWTGG - but since LTK there's been a barrage of them!
    1. TWINE 2. FYEO 3. MR 4. TLD 5. TSWLM 6. OHMSS 7. DN 8. OP 9. AVTAK 10. TMWTGG 11. QoS 12. GE 13. CR 14. TB 15. FRWL 16. TND 17. LTK 18. GF 19. SF 20. LaLD 21. YOLT 22. NTTD 23. DAD 24. DAF. 25. SP

    "Better make that two."
  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    Would you really like to see one Bond doesn't get affected by anything? How would you keep the lead actor interested?

    Obviously the lead actor needs to care about the mission. But I agree with the point raised in this thread, there were a few personal missions back in the day OHMSS, TMWTGG - but since LTK there's been a barrage of them!

    Films have changed since the seventies. Natural progression.
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,610MI6 Agent
    Would you really like to see one Bond doesn't get affected by anything? How would you keep the lead actor interested?

    Obviously the lead actor needs to care about the mission. But I agree with the point raised in this thread, there were a few personal missions back in the day OHMSS, TMWTGG - but since LTK there's been a barrage of them!

    Films have changed since the seventies. Natural progression.

    Yeah, they've become less original.
    Visit my blog, Bond Suits
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 4,112MI6 Agent
    the recent films have had an abundance of "this time its personal" type plots because they've been trying to tell proper stories, where character generates plot and the hero has motivations, instead of formulaic cartoon thrillers
    it did start mostly from the Dalton films, because the Moore films had been becoming less and less fashionable throughout the 80s, they had to reinvent the franchise to keep people buying tickets

    I would also include the Living Daylights in the list, because, knowing my Fleming, Bonds choice to not kill Trigger (Kara), in direct defiance of orders, is the whole point of the short story, and the film expands upon that decision to show him pursuing her to find out the real story

    License to Kill is a whole 'nother level of personal though, its the whole You Only Live Twice-type revenge scenario we never got

    even going back to Moore, they started changing the tone with For Your Eyes Only, and in that Fleming source, M was unofficially assigning Bond to the case for entirely personal reasons - I think that got lost in the film though, but MooreBond does seem to take Melina's revenge mission on as his own responsibility that he is committed to delivering for her

    M's personal relationship to the deceased in that story is transposed to the World is Not Enough, again making her use of a 00 agent (a government resource like stationary, credit card, or email address) to find the killers/exact revenge a bit conflict-of-interest-y

    as for Paris Carver, that's exhibit A of good story idea poorly executed during the BrosnanBond era - M cynically assigns Bond to the case knowing he's had a "history" with the villain's wife, and Bond re-seduces her because thats his job, knowing from experience she'll inevitably end up dead because of his choice to follow orders - much more interesting in theory than what the filmmakers made of it, and it doesnt help that the actress went on to become the klutzy Desperate Housewife, that future career success really undermines the suspension of disbelief in her scenes, retroactively speaking


    going back to Fleming, the books had the luxury of internal monologs to let us know what Bond was thinking of this crazy world he lives in, and he thought plenty... the films cant show us that, thus he tends to be reduced to a prettyboy in a tux going through the motions unless there's a plot that specifically involves him emotionally
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