The 6 types of Bond film chart / The Evolution of the Bond eras
BondJasonBond006
SwitzerlandPosts: 870MI6 Agent
I give you a chart I have created today.
My goal is to categorise the films into types of Bond films so we can see the development in each era.
Sean Connery's tenure works as starting point. That is a given.
The yellow/orange section shows the high points in each era. Whereas the orange is always the second high point, but nonetheless marking a highlight in an era.
The YELLOW section shows the most successful film of each era, regarding general consensus.
PURPLE are the Over-The-Top films, fun but often regarded as a low point in an era
RED are the more simpler, down-to-earth, harder action films, interestingly mostly the second in an era.
GREEN are the more outlandish epic films that are a typical progression later in an era, mostly regarded as good but not as good as what came before.
That leaves BLUE, there goes "the rest" which really means the first films in an era, that are not fitting the other types well.
For the fifth Craigbond there are various possibilities, history may point in the OTT direction and put Bond25 in the purple cube though.
YELLOW/ORANGE seems very unlikely, GREEN not very likely as well, as Bond 25 certainly will not be the same as SP in style.
That really only leaves RED and PURPLE in my opinion. It's entirely possible EON wants to do a down-to-earth, simpler, hard-action film next.
Interestingly, the chronology of an era mostly fits the types in order as in the chart. Many similarities can be found like with Dalton and Craig each having their second film in the red section.
My goal is to categorise the films into types of Bond films so we can see the development in each era.
Sean Connery's tenure works as starting point. That is a given.
The yellow/orange section shows the high points in each era. Whereas the orange is always the second high point, but nonetheless marking a highlight in an era.
The YELLOW section shows the most successful film of each era, regarding general consensus.
PURPLE are the Over-The-Top films, fun but often regarded as a low point in an era
RED are the more simpler, down-to-earth, harder action films, interestingly mostly the second in an era.
GREEN are the more outlandish epic films that are a typical progression later in an era, mostly regarded as good but not as good as what came before.
That leaves BLUE, there goes "the rest" which really means the first films in an era, that are not fitting the other types well.
For the fifth Craigbond there are various possibilities, history may point in the OTT direction and put Bond25 in the purple cube though.
YELLOW/ORANGE seems very unlikely, GREEN not very likely as well, as Bond 25 certainly will not be the same as SP in style.
That really only leaves RED and PURPLE in my opinion. It's entirely possible EON wants to do a down-to-earth, simpler, hard-action film next.
Interestingly, the chronology of an era mostly fits the types in order as in the chart. Many similarities can be found like with Dalton and Craig each having their second film in the red section.
Dalton Rulez™
Comments
What I hope is that Bond25's direction will be, I hope it will be a blue. We don't know.
AVTAK, I think you mean N24!
If you remove the opinion elements like low points, or not as good as once was and just concentrate on the categories AVTAK IMO fits within the RED Type 2 category. Yes it isn't as good as its counterparts in there, but it fits the standard briefing, standard mission and is not really an OTT film like MR or DAD.
Again remembering not to think about high points or low points, TND fits within the MR/DAD big-spectacle category. It's basically an action comedy.
"Better make that two."
I agree on AVTAK, it could very well go into the REDsection, the Golden Gate sequence really is the only OTT stuff.
I'll probably change my chart.
About TND I'm conflicted. I find it also very harder action oriented, also a quite realistic plot, could very well go into the RED section as well. But then the orange section has its purpose, SF and TB definitely belong there, but they may be the only ones in there.
TND in OTT purple seems too far off the likes of MR, DAD and DAF...
Nothing is set in stone with that chart, it gives a general idea of how things unfolded in the eras always with Connery's tenure as the point of reference.
TND's plot becomes more realistic as time goes on. In your mind you may need to swap the Carver Media Group with a Google or Facebook and you've got the same idea!!
"Better make that two."
Yes I did! Here is a corrected version of the post:
AVTAK is very brutal for a RM Bond, the big set is a mine, the main location is San Francisco (nice city, but hardly Rio de Janeiro or Venice) and given the plot it has little technology. It's ranked low by many, but mostly because RM and his Scooby Gang are old enough to be grandparents.
Thank you, Barbel. As usual International Shrink Weekly will publish an article on what happened in my brain when I posted this. They think I'm very interesting ;%
I would prefer a movie directed by Nolan in the belief and hope it be a type 4/orange. But if that doesn't work out I would want a red movie directed by a thriller director like Ben Wheatly, Yann Demange, Denis Villeneuve or another director of that type.
Will be posted shortly.
I agree on TND and AVTAK probably be better in the RED section of the above chart.
This time I underlined what I believe is the high point of each era, so that would not make a Type of film. The original chart is still fine this is just another way to look at things.
I think it explains itself but here a few thoughts:
- The first films often are already the high point in an era, the high point never happened in a second half of an era.
- The longer an era progresses the more likely it will go into the green and purple type of films, it's actually a given so far.
For Bond 25 that suggests it will end up in the LIGHT GREEN or PURPLE section, it's practically already decided.
My guess is it will be light green marking another more Bond on a grand scale, epic and outlandish even.
I enlarged the letters for SP because it's the "new" film of the lot
Great chart. It's a great way to look at the Bond movies and should start a fine conversation.
1. Moonraker: It was not only (in retrospect) regarded as over-the top. Back in the days, it was regarded as amazing and spectacular state of the art!
I haven't heard anyone moaning that it was over-the-top back then and I've not heard this about Star Wars either!
Noone in their right mind would have called MR being "The low point" of the series and people with a minimal understanding for the cinematic Bond would not do that, too.
Additionally, MR was by far more successfully than TSWLM, so it would be the most successful movie of the Moore era.
You young crickets always fall into the trap of measuring 30-40 old movies by today's standards - something Cubby would have given a sh*t for as long as the 007 franchise was accepted and made considerable money.
2. And that brings me to point 2:
I's simply ignorant rating these movies that have been done for over 5 decades only by today's standards. Let's see what people will say about Spectre or SF in 30 years!
Remember, your opinions are just that!
And mine, too!
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Los of people enjoyed it then and now, but it has elements that are very far from Fleming and the other movies. Astronauts firing laser guns and hidden space stations would not be over the top in Star Wars, but in a Bond movie I would say they are.
It's about how we look at the franchise today. I am the first who will assume that SF will not be closely as popular in 2022 as it was in 2012, or even after 20 or 30 years. But today, SF is, which is beyond my understanding quite frankly.
MR is an over the top film, I LOVE IT and many love OTT, it doesn't have to be negative. Nonetheless do many view MR as a lower point in the Moore era.
Creating the charts of course is a mix of what I think is given, objective and my own personal subjectivity and opinion. I am glad for any argument against something in the charts. That's what this thread is here for
- The first films often are already the high point in an era, the high point never happened in a second half of an era.
- The longer an era progresses the more likely it will go into the green and purple type of films, it's actually a given so far.
Number 24: The second chart has the same colours but different meaning to the first chart.
The YELLOW type is the pivotal third film, that changed the tone of the era. Nothing to do with iconic, TWINE certainly is nowhere near iconic, but it was a change of direction. It may have the same kind of action, but the plot twist and M in the center of things, the drama and grittiness it does have in parts are very different to TND.
But I don't see how TWINE changed the formula in any way either.
[list=*]
[*]Hard-Edged/Down-to-Earth Spy Stories[/*]
[*]Epic Sweep[/*]
[*]Straightforward Action[/*]
[*]Outlandish/Borderline Absurd[/*]
[/list]...and see how they correlate to other factors. That's kind of what you've already done, but I think your analysis would be cleaner and less "noisy".
If you keep your existing taxonomy, I would at least move FYEO. One thing it is NOT is outlandish.
This is just my two cents, and of course I may be missing your intent entirely, so feel free to ignore!
Thanks again for the thought-provoking work! {[]