How to "fix" NTTD
Number24
NorwayPosts: 22,424MI6 Agent
Many feel NTTD should've been changed to some degree. Some want to ditch the whole movie. Many won't accept Bond's death at all. My starting point is that the producers ordered the writers to kill off Bond, so that happens in my version too. What you do is up to you.
- Bring back impressive stunts!
- The Heracles project is a development of Smartblood.
- When Bond and Madeline visits prison, but Blofeld doesn't die. Instead the perfume kills all the guards except one. He has been blackmailed by SPECTRE to help Blofeld escape.
- Let Bond stop in a village to fill petrol and perhaps ask for directions to Madeleine's cabin. f.ex. in Hellesylt. (https://i0.wp.com/www.hellesylt.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Hellesylt-A-1024x683.jpg?ssl=1) or the town of Ålesund (https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/c_fill,g_xy_center,h_640,w_640,x_813,y_486/f_jpg/q_65/v1/clients/norway/alesund_norway_2000_6cc21a63-7fda-42df-bf60-c9a575d5723e.jpg?_a=BATCtdAA0) Both are at least in the right county. That way we get a tiny "feel" for Norway and perhaps even see a native.
- Blofeld kills or makes Safin his second in command and head of science , both can be done. But anyway Blofeld become the head of SPECTRE again.
- We keep the party in Cuba and much of the SPECTRE leadership gets wiped out, but it happens because Bond is smart and tricks everyone. Maybe he snatches Valdo early and gets the info to change the nanobots like Valdo does in the movie?
- Blofeld's plan and intentions with the nanobots gets explained better.
- Nomi gets killed on the island. There's no point in having two 00-agents in a fight and using one to ferry Madeleine away.
- Bond uses the "Die, Blofeld! Die!" line while strangling Blofeld on the island after 007 has been infected with Herakles.
- We don't see Matilde and "Dad Bond". But to give Bond the promise of a family and a normal life, Madeleine is revealed to be pregnant at the end.
Comments
What's your take?
I’d rather it be left as is…
That's a fair point of view.
Although I think it does have some good stunts in it, I agree that a couple of the set pieces could do with some more. The 4x4 chase in particular feels like they didn't have a concept for it, it's just Bond bumping into the other cars which I'm not sure is quite exciting enough. The shots of the baddie cars and bikes hurtling down the slope at full speed are fantastic- it's a shame it couldn't have continued more in that vein with some really impressive and high speed off-roading. With Bond in his old Toyota it was kind of being set up to be a modern version of the 2CV chase.
Other than that, my main issue with the film is just one of feel: it doesn't feel like a Bond film in the same way something like Spectre does. It's hard to put my finger on it but it's lacking that unique tone a bit.
Doing stuff like making Heracles a development of Smartblood is just lore and wouldn't really change anything storywise.
One thing I think it does need is that Nomi's storyline is pretty much entirely extraneous to the film: she doesn't really affect anything. Lots of fanboys (including on here!) were gnashing their teeth saying it's all gone woke and she'll be getting the upper hand over him all the time and making the white male look bad, but in actual fact she loses every one of their engagements and he always leaves scoring the point, leaving her frustrated. To the extent that she's slightly pointless in the film: antagonistic allies like Anya or Wai Lin always scored a few points over Bond, that makes it interesting. Even if she'd rescued him from the sinking trawler or something it could have been a bit of red-facedness for him. Equally they had an opportunity to give her a parallel story to Bond in CR, showing us the next 007 starting out as we'd seen him, but instead there's nothing really- the only thing she learns is that James Bond is cool. I like her, I just think she needed a story.
On the whole though, I watched it again a couple of weeks ago and it's really grown on me; it's a good film.
TwoFour said: Let Bond stop in a village to fill petrol and perhaps ask for directions to Madeleine's cabin. ... Both are at least in the right county. That way we get a tiny "feel" for Norway and perhaps even see a native.
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more authentic local Norway content would be good. these films used to be travelogues. The CraigBond films have been really skimpy on that angle of the fantasy, and other than the shot of the bridge near your house theres really nothing to indicate theyre in Norway in particular. coulda been anywhere with a bit of snow.
In our Shakespearified version, at least we got a glimpse of Madeleines next door neighbour living at number 24 Frozen Lake Lane, thats just one of the many improvements we made. also Nomi got a soliliquy, Mathilde got an action sequence, and Safin had better dialog.
Actually Matilde watches a Norwegian childrens' TV character called Fantorangen, but I agree with your point. Using a location in a movie should be about more than having a nice cinematic backdrop for your actors.
(And the bridge in question is in fact not within walking distance sr all of my house) 😂.
The film was fine enough as it was except for Bloffeld and Bond's deaths, and the almost comical villain. Make Blofeld escape and replace the other guy outright, better stakes and more believable. And Bond simply cannot die, he is escapism incarnate: has his pick of beautiful women, fine clothing, amazing cars, firearms, gadgets, alcohol. Bond simply can never die
Someone on Twitter said that it's fan law that if there is a Bond film on telly you must sit down to watch it. But I've no desire to see NTTD again and indeed never have, it's the only one I've not seen twice. The tone is just so depressing, one scene after another and for what? The above changes don't really help for me, though the cinematography and the scale of the movie was always there.
There are some Bond films you're (or I'm) just never going to like, no matter how much tinkering goes on. Die Another Day is one, as is QoS, as is TMWTGG... Oh, NSNA. Quite a few, really.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Personally I think the movie is fun in some scenes. The Cuba scene alone has more laughs than the excellent CR, but the ending is of course no fun at all. Are there any spesific thing you would do to make NTTD a better movie?
Some has complained that James Bond himself calls in the Royal Navy bombing strike that kills him. I see their point. It would be better if the Chinese or Russian navy bombed the island. If Bond and the MI6 knew the exact time this would happen would also give the movie a ticking clock to strengthen the tension.
What's the problem with Bond calling it in? The ticking clock is the arrival of the other boats.
The bombing would've been a better ticking clock than the boats in my opinion. Some also finds it very ironic that Bond calls in the missiles that kill him. China/Rusdia could know that a non-state actor was mass-producing weapons of mass destruction on the Island, but not that Madeleine was there. This means their bombing would be fairly justified.
Well the bombs are a ticking clock in the film quite evidently: he has to rush to beat them. And the reason why the bombs are on a tight schedule is the boats are on their way and they have to destroy the island before they get there.
Some also finds it very ironic that Bond calls in the missiles that kill him
I don't see the problem?
It's not a huge problem to me. but to some. But having Bond's parent branch kill him is a bit strange. my main point is that a bombing at a set time will make a far better ticking clock than some boats arriving to start negotiations about or to buy Herakles.
But they are a ticking clock: once they've launched it doesn't matter who launched them, and he has nine minutes to open the doors and get out.
I honestly don't see why it's a problem where they're coming from. If Bond had pressed a big 'self destruct' timer button and blown the island up would that still be an issue? It's still him creating the cause of his own death.
If say China bombed the island it wouldn't have been Bond who created the cause of his death. To me this is far from the first thing I would've changed if I was given the chance to influence the script, but I still think it would've made it a little better.
Bond getting killed by the missile strike he himself called makes it more interesting: it makes his death a deliberate sacrifice he has chosen, rather than the chance result of a random occurrence he could not predict
In my suggestion he and the MI6 knew about the missile strikes and the time they would hit, but he went to the island to save Madeleine. When Bond has been infected by Herakles by Blofeld he choses to go up on top of the missile silos he choses to kill himself, just likein the movie.
Yeah tend to agree. There's even the chance in there that they could abort (although I don't think that's suggested as a possibility), but Bond wouldn't want to.
As I said above, it's little different to him pressing a self-destruct button, which I doubt many would object to.
When he cslls in the strike he doesn't chose to die. He does that when he climbs up the silo. Neither do I want a random missile strike. ThecRussians/Chinese bomb the island because a rogue agent is making weapons of mass destruction there, and MI6 knows this and they know the time it will happen.