What's up with Kananga?
Georgiboy
Posts: 632MI6 Agent
Throughout the whole movie, Kananga is calm and collected. But then at the end, he is laughing and being kind of loony. What's up with the character change?
Comments
Koto's eccentric performance mirrored the way Marlon Brando tried to play Jor-El as a "purple balloon" in the first Chris Reeve "Superman". Prehaps Brando got the balloon idea from the climax of LALD!
Koto had his own political axe to grind, and as a result Kananga was a rather boring villian. His disguise as Mr. Big was not developed well, and in the end only made the charecter look silly.
Understandably Kananga's only real interest in the film seemed to be in de-flowering Solitare, and he waited just a bit to long - Bond got there first!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Yaphet Kotto gives one of the great, but unheralded, villian performances in the series!
I'm really surprised by the question, actually. Is it that strange that this villian has a variety of moods to his personality?
Character change? What's wrong with different masks? Its called good writing and acting. I prefer a multitude of dimensions to the bad-guys...unless, one-dimensional characters happen to be your cup of tea, georgiboy.
Check out the Watch scene. Kotto is electrifying here, from beginning to end, from his pleasure at revealing his caper to Bond to his terrifying attack on Solitaire, ending with: "YOU KNEW THAT!!!"
Yapet Kotto has said his take on the character is that of, in his own words, a "social rival" to 007.
It would be UNTHINKABLE for a villian of Kananga's stature not to welcome Bond with the friendliest of invitations.
From DN to CR, if you think about it, EVERY villian is outwardly GLAD to welcome 007 into the inner lair. IT MUST BE SO...ALWAYS.
Why? Because the essence of the Fleming super-villian is that he NEEDS to talk to Bond, if only for a moment, before he tries to kill him. Only Bond, the hero, can truly understand and appreciate the genius of a Blofeld or DN ("...and keeping it to yourself.")
It is a honour and the highest compliment a Bond villian can give.
Bond is the only person the super-villian can define himself against. (And vice-versa)
There is always a secret glee in the villian when the caper is revealed. Check out Goldfinger's happiness as Bond solves Operation Grandslam.
Why doesn't Goldfinger kill Bond at anytime after the laser table?
1- Goldfinger needs time to hear the praise of his worthiest opponent. ("Its an inspired plan, Goldfinger.")
2- You don't just kill 007. What's the point of that? You let him sweat awhile before you chain him to an atomic bomb (or, in Kananga's case, a shark trap).
Of course, the villians delight in tormenting 007, gives our favorite spy just enough time to make an escape.
A fatal bad-guy flaw? Of course...but like the scorpion with the frog , it is the absolute nature of a Bond villian to welcome Bond, the agent of his own destruction.
Scaramanga's and Kanaga's delight in seeing 007 at their lair is the essence of Fleming villiany.
Anything less than the finest wines and hospitality for James Bond would be...well...it's just not done, old boy.
Character change? georgiboy, my friend, there IS no character change to Kananga. What you see at the end...that joy of greeting 007...is exactly the feeling every one of the Bond villians has and MUST experience.
Whats the point of trying to take over the world if you can't have fun doing it? And letting the one man in the world who could stop you...witness your joy.
Fleming knew in his gut... the better the viliian...the better the story.
Any accident the Bond villians are some of the most famous in all of fiction?
"Any cost. Any. Bond must die."
I don't think that is a bad thing, it just seems like he was a completely different person. I think he is a great villain. One of my favorites. The watch scene was my favorite villain scene. When he yells... "You Knew That!", chills went down my spine. He is great. It just seems that he got a little high on his own supply.
He seemed like he was happy to finally get rid of Bond, but just a little too happy.
Ah yes, old reliable...JFF (oops, I mean Hardyboy) can always be counted on to defend (oops, I mean trash) AVTAK (oops, I mean LALD) at the slightest provocation.
Seriously, there are certainly inconsistencies between the stiff Kananga early in the film and the champagne-sipping giggler at the end.
On the other hand, I love the film and love the villain...and really love the actor. Never seen Yaphet Kotto in anything I didn't like him in.
You'd better smile when you say that, pal. :v
If I slipped in a slam against LALD every time someone wrote criticizing, say, DAD; if I responded to every single "Worst of--" list with something about LALD; if I "founded" a club bent on destroying each and every thing in favor of LALD; if I tabbed new members and said things like, "Oh, you hate LALD too--we'll have things to talk about!"; if I managed to turn a bunch of threads that AREN'T about attacking LALD into one that IS about attacking LALD. . .then, and only then, my friend, may you make such a comparison!
Not really...he freaks out at Solitaire pretty brutally somewhere toward the end of the middle third. That said, the fact that Bond deflowered this girl that he had been looking after for 20 years and destroyed his billion dollar drug operation more less within a span of a few days is, I think, sufficient cause to become a little...unhinged.
I think you may be looking for the pony in a paddock of manure!
There are lots of better Bond villians than old Kananga. I think Koto is a great actor, and has done some really good parts, but saying "Mr. Big" is one of them is "stretching the blanket" pretty far!
The emphasis in LALD was the "new" Bond, I think the villians were short changed prehaps due to the producers overcompensating for Fleming's precieved "racism" in the novel. That's why Kananga is played so goofy.
Refer to the RM commentary on the Ultimate DVD, I think he mentions that Koto was "over serious". I read in the distant past that Koto did not want to play a bad guy...please refer to my "purple ballon" theory explained in an earlier post.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
I don't think it's stretching it at all. I consider him to be a magnificent villain. He is charming, intelligent, cruel, jealous, delights in the upcoming death of Bond and IMO is a joy to watch. The way his mood changes in an instant (as in the Watch scene Big referred to earlier on in this thread) was terrifying. I also think that Kotto gave the performance of a career; so IMO Kananga was a truly wonderful villain.
I don't think that Kananga was played goofy. In the final scene he became unhinged, but I don't think he was ever goofy.
I guess in this instant I disagree with Sir Roger.