A break with tradition?
Percy Sugden
Posts: 15MI6 Agent
Traditionally all the Main villians in the Bond films are the baddie who dies at the end of the film (the exceptions being YOLT, OHMSS, DAF), yet with the exception of Rosa Klebb in FRWL the villians have been male. Now before everyone starts writing that Red Grant was the main villian in FRWL, i want to make it clear, that i do not consider him to be the main villian, since he is killed off sometime before the film ends. Of course Blofelds presence is seen and heard in FRWL, but his appearances are too brief to qualify him, in my opion, as the main villian in the film. Anyway i'm digressing from my point now, which is basically i consider it time for the main villian to be a female. I reckon Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close or Michell Pfeiffer would make a great villian. Does anyone else agree with me that it is time to break with tradition, and have an actress play the main baddie?.
Comments
It is one thing to have Bond go hand to hand against Dr. No, Goldfinger, Largo, Mr.Big/Kananga, Franz Sanchez, Alec, Dominic Greene etc..
It is quite another to see him beat up a woman. I realize the fights have happened(Xenia, Rosa, the silly swimming pool fight with Bambi and
Thumper in DAF). I'm not saying it couldn't be done again. But if there is to be a main female villain in the series AND if Bond is going to have to destroy her in order to destroy her evil organization then the writers are going to have to come up with something really unique.
I honestly can't see Daniel Craig punching out Rachel Weisz and then shooting her in the head. And the old Exploding Headquarters bit is getting a little old. I'm all for a female head of Quantum. It would be great with a title like Property of a Lady. But they better do it right.
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However although Electra is a baddie, i do think of her as the leading Bond girl in TWINE, like wise i consider Aki in YOLT and Fatima Blush (another villian) in NSNA as the main Bond girls in their respective films, since Sophie Marceau, Akiko Wakabayshi and Barbara Carrera's names appear first in the opening titles. However although Lotte Lenya's name appears before Daniela Bianchi in FRWL, i do not consider Lotte Lenya the main Bond Girl, since Rosa Klebb has no intimate contact with 007, unlike Tatiana Romanova; as i've written before, i consider Rosa Klebb the main villian in FRWL.
I couldn't agree with Thunderpussy more, just because the main villian is female she does not have to be glamourous, both Rosa Klebb and Irma Bunt were great baddies, yet neither can be described as glamourous.
You're right. I forgot about Naomi and Fatima. Fatima's death however was somewhat... comical for lack of a better word. The exploding fountain pen bit just made me roll my eyes. There was no real tension in that scene. As for chopper pilot Naomi Bond didn't have to look her in the eye when he killed her, he just pushed a button.
If the head of the Quantum Organization is to be a woman(I have no problem with that) and if Daniel Craig as Bond is going to have to destroy her to put an end to Quantum and if there is to be a tension filled, climactic fight at the end (a lot of ifs, I know) then the writers are going to have to come up with something really unique. Perhaps a shootout in a server room or library with Bond and his quarry stalking each other around the stacks, never sure what's around the next corner. Whatever they coose will have to be dangerous for Bond and his physicality cannot be an advantage. It will be interesting to see how/if they work it out.