Should James Bond carry assault weapons?
Absolutely_Cart
NJ/NYC, United StatesPosts: 1,740MI6 Agent
Sorry for too many list threads. I want to get into some discussion. I think the trend of the recent Bond films has allowed assault weapons to be seen as regular. The idea of Connery using an assault weapon would feel out of place. Moore condemned AVTAK for the mass shooting scene. This all seems to cater to a younger generation of kids who are desensitized to violence and have a desire for catharsis.
But I don't think James Bond should be in the business of assault weapons. He's a spy. He uses his wits - not big weapons.
This started, I believe, in Tomorrow Never Dies, which was a bullet-fest. The end of Casino Royale 06 had Bond shoot White with a big gun - not his Walther PPK - because it was cool. Quantum of Solace advertised a Bond in sunglasses toting the same gun in the desert, in a cool way.
I'm not in anyway advocating censorship or saying that Eon is responsible for school shootings, but I think it takes a bit of strength to go against the modern trend of more stimulation and more saturation.
But I don't think James Bond should be in the business of assault weapons. He's a spy. He uses his wits - not big weapons.
This started, I believe, in Tomorrow Never Dies, which was a bullet-fest. The end of Casino Royale 06 had Bond shoot White with a big gun - not his Walther PPK - because it was cool. Quantum of Solace advertised a Bond in sunglasses toting the same gun in the desert, in a cool way.
I'm not in anyway advocating censorship or saying that Eon is responsible for school shootings, but I think it takes a bit of strength to go against the modern trend of more stimulation and more saturation.
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Poor taste IMO. Trying hard to be cool and failed.
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It has allways felt quite strange to me that when Bond partakes these final assaults on villains lair, everybody else carries what is appropriate and Bond carries just his handgun.
On the other hand, ww2 public school educated officers in the big army (British) did just that, at least in the first years. Only in the SMU:s it was considered proper for the leaders carry same guns as the men.
Flemings Bond never did these assaults, well once, so we don't really know how IF felt about it. Literary Bond did have heavy artillery, but it was of the handgun variety, or a sniper rifle.
IMHO Bond is all about practicality, it is like with his suits: in the novels he wore what was appropriate for a lowlevel diplomat of foreign service or a business man. Moore made Bonds clothes look outlandish having Bond trapes through a jungle in a tux like a mental patient on a loose. Graigs Bond, no matter whar you think about Tom Ford or fit of the suits, is much more practical and closer to the IF original.
Guns should be the same, Bond is a clandestine operator and assault weapons aren't very clandestine. But in the same time he should have the right tools for the job... and I do not mean thermonuclearlaser tooth brushes or invisible cars...
-Mr Arlington Beech
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Didn't Lazenby use one too in the raid of Pizz Gloria in OHMSS? But yes, with the Brosnan films it began to become more regular, already in Goldeneye actually. I agree it takes away from the Bond image, but I never was THAT disturbed by it. At the end of TND Bond and Wai Lin raid the stealth boat, were normally in the older movies a large army would drop in to help Bond, here he's on it's own. While it's still highly unlikely a man would survive that, atleast with machine guns it becomes a LITTLE bit more believe in a scenario like that. But there are several other instances in the Brosnan movies where a machine gun is a bit to much and becomes his signature. I never really thought about Bond shooting Mr. White with the assault rifle being a bad think, I'm probably as guilty as other audience members of finding that a badass scene...
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At the climax. Unlike Brosnan era, big guns were a last resort and good old fashioned spying is the first priority. And Lazenby also doesn't glorify big guns in the same way that Craig does.
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Good observations there, but I think the heavy use (by Bond) of assault weapons in the Bond films actually started with GoldenEye (1995).
Honestly, I think in 10 years from now, we're going to view THIS^ as some silly little phase. My primal instincts and cultural conditioning do tell me that this is cool, but in time, common sense will tell us that turning James Bond into some Columbine-shooter-fantasy was a lame idea. It'll probably be subject to ridicule much like the Tarzan scene in Octopussy and the parasailing in Die Another Day. Except, with the embarrassment that Eon was actually serious about making Bond like this.
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Assault rifle, looks very cool. -{
That picture would've looked out of place in 1970. And it'll probably look out of place in 10+ years from now.
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Not really, suits and big guns have been cool since the James Cagney days.
-Mr Arlington Beech
I doubt it. It's a well shot iconic picture. It wouldn't have worked as well with a pistol would it. That UMP is an integral part of the image as it was well utilised at the end of Casino Royale. That scene was a statement that BOND IS BACK, right from the unexpected shot that drops White, the music buuilding up to the slow walk, the shot of the boots, the serious suit, the serious armoury 'the name's Bond, James Bond'. It will always be well received. It was a great scene and the UMP was utilised perfectly.
If he simply shoots his way out if every situation we'll just end up with Rambo.
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But seriously, Bond has to use Automatics if the Need arises.
Also, Bond doesn't do many things which are classic spy traits haha He tells everybody his name etc. So though using a handgun only might be a "spy thing" to do, it doesn't mean much in the franchise.
Agreed -{
Bond also uses Automatics in a couple of the Gardner Novels.
Yes, Lazenby used a Sterling Submachine gun during the Piz Gloria battle, as did Draco's men. This same weapon was also by Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me during the Liparus battle as well as many other classic James Bond movies, prior to weapons like the Uzi 9mm and the H&K MP5 series taking over in the world of automatic weapons.
As for the topic itself, I am okay with 007 picking up a sub-machine gun or an assault rifle on occasion. A gun is a tool, and covert operators like James Bond need the right tool for the job. The Walther PPK/P99 are both fine handguns but for bigger jobs an automatic weapon makes sense. In the novel of The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond mentions he used a Thompson sub-machine during his Canadian assignment because he needed something bigger than the Walther PPK for the raid.
Good catch on TSWLM novel there. Very well said too on the right tools for the job at hand and of course James Bond also used a Thompson sub-machine gun in Kingsley Amis' Colonel Sun (1968) which Amis was very familiar with given his military role in WWII.
Yes, those too.