Has Technology forced Bond to be 'Bourne' again-?

chrisisall

IMO, LTK was the last classic James Bond film.
With GE he had to be dragged into a new post-Cold War era, but the old elements were still there, in large part.
In TND he was brought up to speed with global communications. On his own at times, but why was he not wearing a com device?
TWINE was an attempt to tell an old fashioned Bond tale with the new tech blended in, but it just felt retro for the sake of it.
DAD a was full-on 21st Century embrace with OTT elements that thrashed the original formula of Bond as an agent inserted into a situation undercover.
Craig's films have been heavily influenced by Bourne & the new technology inherent in today's spy biz.
No longer is he the agent on his own in a hostile environment (without stretching it a bit), but an operative connected (most times) to a base of operations.

Has our James Bond of old ceased to exist?

Thunderpussy

I think the "earpiece" scenes are simply a way of getting the " office faces"
Into the story. Although it doesn't bother me, I'm guessing it's part of
Modern "spy craft" ( anyone in the know to put us straight on this ? ) .
It's like the use of spy satellites, as the art of spying has changed so
Has Bond, to remain a contemporary character and not become an
Historic Anachronism.

AlphaOmegaSin

It's more of a 'With the Times' Focus.

Higgins

IMO, smartphones immensely changed action movies.
In the beginning, the heroes used their phones to solve hairy situations - with todays possibilities, screenwriters more and more have to explain danger of the present situation by the first question: What is the reason why the hero does not simply pull out a smartphone and gets the necessary info/calls for help?

Thunderpussy

The scene in FRWL where back in London M, Moneypenny and some military types are
sitting around listening to a taped interview from Bond. Would be filmed today as the
same group listening in "Live" transmission via smartphone.

Charmed & Dangerous

DC's Bond relies much less on gadgets than he used to, in many respects. Bond had gadgets supplied by Q in LTK and even as far back as FRWL. It's only when Bond is 'going native' in the villain's lair that he has to avoid obvious communications devices - and the miniature radio in Skyfall (virtually an homage to Marge in Connery's heel in Goldfinger) is the least technical device you could imagine.

Besides, if the tech is available, why not use it? Isn't Bond supposed to be set "5 minutes in the future" too? -{

Blackleiter

Charmed & Dangerous wrote:

DC's Bond relies much less on gadgets than he used to, in many respects. Bond had gadgets supplied by Q in LTK and even as far back as FRWL. It's only when Bond is 'going native' in the villain's lair that he has to avoid obvious communications devices - and the miniature radio in Skyfall (virtually an homage to Marge in Connery's heel in Goldfinger) is the least technical device you could imagine.

Besides, if the tech is available, why not use it? Isn't Bond supposed to be set "5 minutes in the future" too? -{

+1

Gassy Man

I don't think the technology is the issue. Spy TV shows and movies in the 60s routinely showed them with gadgets that included "communicators" of some sort that were more or less like cell phones today. If anything, the Bond films adopted the Bourne signatures for fist fights, dark "the man alone" characterizations, and a blond, buff anti-hero personality as the lead character. The reboot of Bond wouldn't have happened, in my opinion, had Batman Begins and the Bourne series not already introduced these sorts of elements.

CmdrAtticus

I personally hated Bond "on the line" with M through the whole SF opening.
It took all the mystery out of what he was doing. I've imagined the whole sequence up until he leaps to the train without his earpiece. Though you won't understand he's trying to get the hard drive, it's obvious that one of the reasons he's after Patrice is because of the shootout in the hotel. They could have just had Moneypenny call M after Bond got on the train and told her what had happened and then the whole issue with the hard drive and what they were doing could have been said.

I realize Bond operates in our current age of spy satellites and mobile communications...I just don't believe a 00 on such a mission would be doing a walkie talkie with HQs while in pursuit of someone or snooping aroung somewhere. He's a spy, not a SWAT unit.

Thunderpussy

I think it will only be a matter of time before Bond gets some
Q branch " Google Glasses" which will project an 3D image of M
On to Bond's eye ( and so into the room he's in, in another country ) )

chrisisall

And Spider-man gloves like in MI:4...

Thunderpussy

So long as Bond keeps his Spider-man PJs )