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Most definitely a missed opportunity, Jesper was a great presence from the moment we saw him, even more so in QOS, every scene he's in he ozzes quality.
One of the best parts of SPECTRE but wasted with a daft storyline about him growing a concience, totally not tracking with the character we were introduced to in CR.
The modern day equivilant of ESB he most definitely could have been.
I found Mr White growing a conscience really strange. Just one of many issues I have with SP. Jesper Christensen was brilliant as always of course.
This would have been so much better than step-brother gate. It would still create a personal connection that is apparently the staple of this era (the man behind the death of the woman Bond loved) but it would play out much less like a soap opera than “I’m your long lost step-brother! Duh duh duuuuhh!”
Agreed-- I didn't like that scene one bit. I found it was two very strong actors screaming at each other. I'm not convinced that either of DC or Jesper C bought the predicament Mr. White had found himself in as a conclusion.
I certainly didn't buy it.
I have to believe that Mr. White was definitely the modern ESB they were leading with in QoS. They should have continued on this track. It is far more an organic progression than what we got. And, if they went this route, with Mr White as the true ESB, I guarantee SP would have been a very different film/story altogether.
SP certainly had a soap opera like story (it wasn't any better than a TV drama story, that's for sure!). Having Mr White as a ESB equivalent would have been an easy route to go, as he was a returning character/secret organization villain already – and a damn good one.
It still surprises me they went through making SP with the script they had. Hopefully Cary will make up for the mistakes made in SP, and deliver us a good Craig Bond film.
Of this I have no doubt.
Although I have no doubt in Fukunaga qualities as a filmmaker, I still keep expectations low towards Bond 25. I was very excited about Sam Mendes directing, but didn't really enjoy his two films.
Well said
However, SP is something I have consistently called a beautiful mess. It is. Beautiful to look at, but it's messy. The script and 9Eyes was such a good idea, terribly executed. This was, like other films, both in the Bond world, and outside, an incomplete mess.
As we saw from the Sony leaks, and not surprising from some who work in the industry, this was a film production with a gun to its head. They needed to meet a release date. And they all had problems with the original drafts of the script (until the hated pair of P&W were re-hired (after being "released")).
And once P&W were on and did their best with the mess, the powers that be were still concerned with the third act.
SP did its best and fell short.
My feeling is that by the time they were shooting, everyone knew this was a paper-tiger type of story and used their talent to best gloss over what was disintegrating under their feet.
But make no mistake and think EoN and all producers are dummies. They knew what they had; they had a deadline to deliver a finished product and tried to make the best of it. In the end, their messy film made almost $900 million. Which means that audiences were returning and re-returning to watch it.
However.... From what some of us have heard, Mendes shot his load on SF, but wasn't confident about SP (and at one time threatened to walk away).
This time CF is The Guy, and, if anything, he seems respectfully and quietly confident. 25 will be a different beast than 24.
I was able to temper my expectations during the Brosnan years, and walked into CR quietly excited (and I left the cinema flat-out rocked into my nervous system).
I didn't either. A certain level of disbelief is required for these things, of course - but I didn't buy the White-Oberhauser connection, either. And unfortunate that lingered strongly in my mind as the film went on, and made other stretches of logic harder to swallow as I was already questioning the film's foundations for a good 45 minutes.
A Quantum resurgence (a rebranding, so to speak), would have been an ideal basis for Spectre as opposed to what we got. Christensen would have been great in that part. Ah, what could have been...
Agreed. But, IMO, one mis-step in four films. One. And, IMO, three quality films that grow with time.
Perhaps I'm less skeptical because I have lived in, and I accept, lesser films like TMWTGG (that has grown in my favour over the years, while one of my best, TSWLM has plummeted), and MR, and DAD (these two, especially the latter, are the bottom-rung).
Bond usually comes back, after a down-turn, with a swift punch to the face. Hiring Cary was the start and propelling force of this punch.
Also, I think having Guy Haines as the head of Nine Eyes instead of C would've been cool.
I'm not sure Blofeld has ever been particularly successful. I suppose he's amusing in YOLT and while I love OHMSS the character is not my favourite villain.
He was best kept in the shadows while other characters interacted with Bond . The mystery of the unknown and unseen enhanced his effectiveness as a foe.
Ironic no blofeld Character has been played by 4 different actors but none of them were striking enough to left an impact.
Agreed. Quantum left a bad taste when it came out but I've reversed on it quite a bit. SP has done the opposite. I found myself making excuses for it three years ago, but I've given up now. The other two films? Well, they're just pretty damn good.
I am skeptical of those who consider Cary to be A-list. In my opinion, while he's done some great work, he's not quite there yet. He wouldn't even be as A-list as Danny Boyle, really. He's got True Detective as the backbone to his CV, and that's pretty great, but I've never gone to a Cary Fukanaga film on opening night in a packed theatre. Things have obviously changed and you don't necessarily have to have sold out a theatre anymore, but it's still something that's lingering at the back of my mind.
At the same time? I'm very excited. I think he might be exactly what's needed. A bit of fresh blood to hopefully deliver something unique to the other four Craig films AND who has the smarts to be able to bring his era to a strong close.
Here's hoping.
Here's a little nugget I heard at dinner. I was talking with a friend (who has some screen creds) about potential composers for Bond 25. I said Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross could be really interesting; it was just wishful thinking on my part. His reply was surprising: "That's not as far off as you think." His explanation...
When CJF was working on Maniac with Jonah Hill, Hill was also in the process of getting Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on board for his directorial debut. Who helped him with that? CJF.
Interesting.
SP: "A beautiful mess." I agree 100%.
https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/christopher-mcquarrie-reveals-bond-movie-hed-want-make-exclusive-135754188.html
Mission: Impossible – Fallout director Christopher McQuarrie has responded to calls for him to helm a James Bond film, revealing the type of 007 adventure he’d want to make.
“I think that, as with anybody, I would be most excited to be there [making a Bond film] for a transition,” McQuarrie told Yahoo Movies UK.
“There are key moments within the series where you see either a change in era, a change in Bond, or a change in tone, I would like to be there for something like that.”
[...]McQuarrie says that if he did make Bond 26, he’d want to add a bit of levity hinting that he’d welcome a return to the lighter tone of the Brosnan Bond era.
“I think Daniel Craig is a fantastic Bond,” explains McQuarrie, “but I’d love to see a Bond who enjoys being Bond, I miss that.”
“My first Bond was Connery, he was the gold standard. I’m actually a fan of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond. He had these little moments, these little grace notes where he was really having fun with the character, that were quite surprising, I really enjoyed that. But I like them all.”
[...]Bond, like Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, has endured on screen, with both spies enjoying multiple sequels, and McQuarrie thinks the appeal of Bond lies in his timelessness.
“It’s that Bond lives out of time. Each one of those movies self-contain,” he mused. “There’s very little reference from one movie to another. It doesn’t matter who the enemy is, if it’s a Cold War… He’s so adaptable, he changes with the times.
“And when it’s time for a new Bond, you just get a new one. You don’t acknowledge the history, I think that’s great. Bond is an attitude, and it’s been great to see that attitude live on.”
I like that he wants to lighten the tone more.
A stand alone mission for DC I don't think would feel right given the course that his tenure has taken, which I have enjoyed immensely.
Then Bond will be given a fresh look again no doubt with the arrival of a new actor.
It's probably just from his side of writing it.