The Most Contrived Action Sequences in the James Bond Film Series?
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,870MI6 Agent
What are the most contrived action sequences in the James Bond film series and why?
My personal choices would be:
-the Little Nellie Aerial Battle in YOLT
-the Helga Brandt "defection" sub-plot leading to Bond trapped in a plane without a pilot in YOLT
-the padding of the extended boat chase in bayou country in LALD
-the padding of the car chase in TMWTGG
-the Lotus Road and Underwater Battle in TSWLM
-the ski chase in TWINE
Which would you suggest?
I'd love to hear your suggestions.
If you wish you can read my article on this subject here:
http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/kingsley-amis-draxs-gambit-and-reform.html
My personal choices would be:
-the Little Nellie Aerial Battle in YOLT
-the Helga Brandt "defection" sub-plot leading to Bond trapped in a plane without a pilot in YOLT
-the padding of the extended boat chase in bayou country in LALD
-the padding of the car chase in TMWTGG
-the Lotus Road and Underwater Battle in TSWLM
-the ski chase in TWINE
Which would you suggest?
I'd love to hear your suggestions.
If you wish you can read my article on this subject here:
http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/kingsley-amis-draxs-gambit-and-reform.html
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
Basically yes - where the writers decided to shoehorn in an action sequence because they thought that the audience were due another one.
Close second the plane fight in QoS, due to similar problems with the parachute jump.
Little Nellie, The Boatus, The Q Boat, (sighs) action vehicle orchestrated heaven!
The training exercise in The Living Daylights
The tank chase in Goldeneye
Any number of chases and the sword fight in Die Another Day
The PTS ski chases in A View to a Kill and The Spy Who Loved Me
The Silva escape/subway chase/attempted assassination of M in Skyfall
This is not to say some of these weren't great action sequences, but they generally seem either superfluous to the main plot or require a suspension of disbelief that is extreme in order to accept both their execution and implausibility.
Some of the examples you cite in your first post, though, I'm not sure I agree with. Little Nellie, for instance, felt less like padding and more like formula -- the helicopter is essentially that film's version of the Aston Martin, which one could argue audiences of the day now expected to see in one form or another in a Bond film. The sequence also serves to remind viewers that Bond is getting too close to Blofeld's lair and to one-up the Japanese, who till that point seemed to be the more technologically innovative.
1+
It's one of the Problems that the Film has.
Thunderbird Too! Completely agree.
Re AOS,
Cheers Captain Scarlet!
But theres one I cant..
Its just so awful
The whole action scenes for Twine.
You can actually see the bits which contain the explosives as they run through. You can actually see the Aston where it splits down the middle. The ski chase has explosives near so the stuntmen can be caught as they travel over them. The action scenes, to use an American expression, suck
It seems to happen in all the Brosnan films
DN - None.
FRWL - None.
GF - None.
TB - You could say the underwater stuff is navel-gazing but it serves the story.
YOLT - Little Nelli, the gun copter
OHMSS - None
DAF - Bambi & Thumper, the Moon Buggy chase and probably half the movie otherwise.
LALD - Extending the boat chase ; The shark play at the end (to borrow from TB/YOLT)
MWGG - Extending the car chase. All the Kung Fu stuff.
TSWLM - None I can think of.
MR - Most of the movie, to be honest. For example, the swordfight.
FYEO - The car chase near the beginning.
CR - Most of the action involved in foiling the terrorist attack.
QOS - The boat chase. The airplane chase. Scaffolding fight.
SF - Most of the action in the beginning.
I'll get to the other movies later.
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
X-(
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
* GE Dam jump.
* bike chase TND
* sky chase TWINE
* caviar factory helicopter chase TWINE
* CGI tsunami surf in DAD
I said it was contrived - not imperfect.
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
I wouldn't really say that the GE Dam Jump is contrived. It fits well into the whole Pacing of the PTS.
To be honest - it is contrived. He's got a whopping great rope around his waist and everyone knows this facility just doesn't fit with the rest of the mountain. It was another attempt to get a TSWLM moment...
Ooops - sounded like Gassyman there
I do agree with you that the Geography of the Dam and the Mountain don't fit.
contrived, so I wouldn't single out Bond. 8-) So long as they are beautifully
filmed, with a great soundtrack, then I'm happy. -{ simply another "kick"
The Bond films thread, I'm sorry but that's how I feel.
I'm a fan of the films. Even the likes of Vertigo or Citizen Kane will fall apart
When scrutinised too much.
-{
Well said.
Changing the subject
Wheres Blackleiter?
I would call that the ultimate in contrived, wouldn't you? jumping a dam to enter a mountain lair? An example of a not contrived sequence would be OHMSS. Helicopter ride up the mountain, then ski down.
" I don't listen to hip hop!"
There is suspension of disbelief in Bond movies in general, true, but this thread is spot on. Some sequences feel more contrived than others. The train fight in FRWL feels less contrived than the tsunami surfing in DAD, does it not?
But it fits with Sanchez's character, established during the movie. Remember he feeds Leiter to a shark, then explodes the head of Crest in a tank...The guy is a psycho, and looks for "imaginative" ways to kill. Actually, when he kills Truman Lodge with a machine gun, it feels rushed, and that's because Sanchez is in a hurry.
Didn't Lieutenant Hip get the memo from his superiors..... "Look Hip there may come a time when you have to rescue Bond (with your nieces of course) from a ninja school... Whatever you do - make sure Bond is actually in the car before you drive away, this is important. If you leave Bond stranded we will end up having a boat chase action sequence and there is a strong possibility he will bump into Sheriff J.W Pepper."
Now I could picture Mary Goodnight forgetting Bond, it would fit in with her character. But Hip leaving Bond stranded feels forced and therefore the boat chase that follows contrived.
To be fair when the action sequences and stunts are done as well as they are in the Bond films I can't blame them for trying to fit an extra one in here and there. -{
Yes, well noticed. Strangely I'd never thought about Heller's death in that way before.
Are contrived. To put their money where there mouth is and give us a short out line
Of what sequence they would have used and how their idea would have improved
On what the film makers gave us ?
I'm a believer in if you point out problems, you really should also contrive a solution
To solve it. Otherwise you're just a bit of an old curmudgeon