Time for a Commando Raid
Barry Nelson
ChicagoPosts: 1,508MI6 Agent
It has been a long time since a Bond film ended with a nice commando raid, and I think it is time for the writers to put one in the script. IMO the best endings to Bond films, have been the ones with Bond joining forces with some elite group and attacking the villain's stronghold, or disrupting the villain’s master plan just as it is underway. GF, had the attack at Fort Knox’s, TB had the underwater battle, YOLT, had the fight in Blofeld’s volcano complete with rappelling ninjas, OHMSS had the attack on Piz Gloria, DAF attack on the oil platform, TSWLM, the battle at the end in the submarine base, MR, the outer space fight (OK, so that wasn’t so great). Although it wasn’t the ending of the film, FRWL gave us the cool fight in the gypsy camp. All of these scenes had action that filled the screen, lots of extras, big explosions, good guys and bad guys dying, and great stunts. Bond films should be BIG, the action scenes should bigger and bolder then what you see in a run-of-the-mill action film. The vast majority of action films end with the hero and villain in a struggle to the death, with the hero overcoming some obstacle to win. That is what the Bond films have given us recently, a one on one battle, with Bond saving the day and winning the fight.
I realize that big action scenes entail big spending. Getting the extras, getting everyone in costume, rehearsing the scene, planning and rehearsing the stunts, arranging the pyrotechnics, many cameras for the shoot, is all expensive I know, but this is Bond and Bond should give us spectacle. I for one, am hoping we see a commando raid in the next Bond film.
I realize that big action scenes entail big spending. Getting the extras, getting everyone in costume, rehearsing the scene, planning and rehearsing the stunts, arranging the pyrotechnics, many cameras for the shoot, is all expensive I know, but this is Bond and Bond should give us spectacle. I for one, am hoping we see a commando raid in the next Bond film.
Comments
I'd like to see a high-end setpiece as well though quite honestly I doubt we'll see something like that again. Since Moore's exit it seems the producers have preferred to have Bond singlehandedly taking on a small army of foes (especially during some of Brosnan's movies) or go for smaller confrontations with at most a handful of men (as has been the case with Craig).
Trying to create a latter day TSWLM or TB is probably just too expensive a proposition in today's economy. If QoS, which to me looks like a more modest production compared to prior entries, had a budget of $200 million (according to boxofficemojo.com) then adding in a suitably epic climax, and the expansive set(s) that would be required, would probably raise the cost to be more than the gross national product of some smaller nations.
Bond isn't alone here; even a box office juggernaut like Indiana Jones had to settle for more modest action setpieces and CGI-extended sets in his last outing. Just a sign of the times I guess.
They went in, killed all the bad guys, and blew the place up.
Works for me.
He's part of the machine, MI6, MI5, Special Forces etc. He can't take credit alone, so it would be good to see a bit more "teamwork".
BUT what I think the DC Bond gives us now is way better than "spectacle". It is discreet, it is covert (MI6 - after all) and it is beginning to border on realistic. EXCELLENT.
So a discreet, covert Commando raid - BRING IT ON.
Oscar Wilde
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I agree with you Alec, if done properly, a covert action with military assistance would be good. But as ex-military, my entusiasm wanes on a Bond film, at exactly the point where actors in ill fitting berets, no tactical appreciation and bad weapon-handling start swarming all over the set!
OOPS!
they should do something a bit unusual (perhaps a amphibious raid or a winter raid) just commandos in black running about in a building shooting their MP5s is a bit tired today.
Fiona: But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, who only has to make love to a woman and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
It could show Bond training at Hereford SAS school or something I know most people have been interested in seeing Bond workout i.e. 5km run or press ups etc ready for the mission.
Maybe you could have some 00' operative before they become 00 agents e.g. Alec Trevelyan?
100 ninjas sliding down the volcano is the kind of glorious Bond image that seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird.
Ken Adam built sets that DEMANDED that kind of mayhem! You can't have enough ninjas, as far as I'm concerned. ("Impregnable?")
(A die-hard YOLT fan...and proud of it)
QOS cost who-knows-what and ends with two fights and a fire. Is it too much to ask for a little jaw-dropping spectacle now and then?
As much as I like a gritty Bond, I long for the days of where being over-the-top was expected. A little spectacle is what Bond is all about.
Cubby understood that and, in a way, maybe Saltzman understood it even more.
Its called showmanship.
"Welcome to Japan, Mr.Bond."
What about the Mujahideen gun battle in TLD? That one is the most recent that I remember.
Sounds like it would make a good pre-title sequence for the next movie. I can picture Bond in BDUs, carrying an issue SA80 rifle, with the Royal Marines behind him.
Well not to give to much away. Bond, a six man SBS team, CRRC into Qatar to capture a high level terrorist with ties to Iraq.
Fiona: But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, who only has to make love to a woman and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing.
I'd like to see what sort of training is involved in Hertfordshire SAS school. Shopping And Socialising maybe. I think Bond better get his SAS training in Hereford though...
http://apbateman.com
http://apbateman.com
That's a very good idea... B-) Right out of the headlines :007)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Make it an urban version of the commando raids often in Iraq and Afghanistan, only it is against Quantum agents wearing grey business suits and tactical BDUs instead of goat herders in brown tunics.