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A View to a Death- The Strangest Last Seconds of a Bond Character's Life

0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
in Bond Movies Posts: 28,694
I've been editing an old review of Thunderball lately and had been writing partly about the scene where Francois Derval walks to go out the door to meet his appointment with the military, only to see a vision of his doppelgänger before meeting his death seconds later. Because of this, I began to really think how bizarre it would be to be put in his shoes. Walking to a door as you do every day, but unexpectedly, you find a man standing there that matches you exactly, as if you're stepping in front of a mirror. Then, before anyone can explain what is going on and how this is occurring or why, you're killed and die with the surreal and mysterious image being your last.

That moment in Thunderball got me thinking about other character deaths in the series, and which ones the community thought would be particularly frightening to experience if we were in the character's shoes to witness their last moments. Thoughts?

Comments

  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    edited May 2017 Posts: 8,078
    What about the guy in the bathroom stall at the beginning of GE. Talk about surreal. :D
  • MooseWithFleasMooseWithFleas Philadelphia
    Posts: 3,343
    Most frightening would be either Krest or Dario for me.

    A strange one would be the AVTAK guy who didn't go for Zorin's deal. Did he even know he was on a blimp? I would have been very suspicious going down a flight of stairs if I knew I was on a blimp and he didn't seem concerned at all.

  • StirredNotShakenStirredNotShaken Toronto
    Posts: 2,400
    Uh well how about Zorin's death?

    I mean really, a cackling laugh?
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    edited May 2017 Posts: 7,314
    Klotkoff from AVTAK getting thrown down into the propellers at the oil pumping station. Yikes.

    Perhaps more surreal is when 009 (dressed as a clown) is being chased by knife throwing twins before he gets one in the back.
  • MilovyMilovy
    Posts: 676
    pachazo wrote: »
    Perhaps more surreal is when 009 (dressed as a clown) is being chased by knife throwing twins before he gets one in the back.
    I love that scene.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,961
    Helga Brandt.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Mr Big and Milton Krest. They must have felt real smart before they popped out.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,078
    Mr Wint.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Guerra's demise in SP was particularly unpleasant. One minute he's bragging about his credentials thinking he will be Blofeld's new assassin and the next minute he's lying on the floor with gouged out eyes and a snapped neck.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    bondjames wrote: »
    Guerra's demise in SP was particularly unpleasant. One minute he's bragging about his credentials thinking he will be Blofeld's new assassin and the next minute he's lying on the floor with gouged out eyes and a snapped neck.

    @bondjames, that was one of the ones I thought of immediately when I devised the thread. The worst part of being in Guerra's shoes is not just the unexpected nature of it all, but before your death you'd have your eyes gouged out and would be blind to whatever was coming next. Hinx was quick to snap his neck, but he could've just left him alive, and that would be insanely brutal. As Blofeld says to Bond later on, the man's eyes were gone, but for a moment he was still "there," present but not present all at the same time. Creepy.

    One I always get sad about is Kerim's. We never see what happens with him, but I can only imagine what it would be like to be in his shoes. He thought the mission was going perfectly and that he and Bond were riding off to London in peace and quiet, until Grant showed up and did him in while he was fooling around with Benz.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited May 2017 Posts: 23,883
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, Guerra's death is always uncomfortable for me to watch. Eyes are one of the most valuable organs, and reputedly the windows into the soul, so having them taken is a particularly frightening thing to contemplate. As you said, Hinx could have left him alive, sightless & in excruciating pain. It's very disturbing.

    I agree on Kerim. Similarly Mathis (a man who had left it all behind and came back just to help a friend who betrayed him, even though he had a good thing going with Gemma) and Saunders (who was a cautious 'by the book man' worried about his pension who thought he had done his part) didn't expect their demises.

    Jill & Strawberry Fields must have been horrific as well. Death by asphyxiation (explained with appropriate disgust by Bond in GF in the case of the former).
  • TokolosheTokoloshe Under your bed
    Posts: 2,667
    MooseWithFleas wrote: »
    Most frightening would be either Krest or Dario for me.

    A strange one would be the AVTAK guy who didn't go for Zorin's deal. Did he even know he was on a blimp? I would have been very suspicious going down a flight of stairs if I knew I was on a blimp and he didn't seem concerned at all.

    He couldn't fail to know he was on a blimp - the surprise is for the audience only.

    Funny how nobody in the San Francisco bay area noticed a man plummeting out of a massive airship with Zorin Industries written on the side ;)
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    bondjames wrote: »
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, Guerra's death is always uncomfortable for me to watch. Eyes are one of the most valuable organs, and reputedly the windows into the soul, so having them taken is a particularly frightening thing to contemplate. As you said, Hinx could have left him alive, sightless & in excruciating pain. It's very disturbing.

    I agree on Kerim. Similarly Mathis (a man who had left it all behind and came back just to help a friend who betrayed him, even though he had a good thing going with Gemma) and Saunders (who was a cautious 'by the book man' worried about his pension who thought he had done his part) didn't expect their demises.

    Jill & Strawberry Fields must have been horrific as well. Death by asphyxiation (explained with appropriate disgust by Bond in GF in the case of the former).

    Jill's death is especially bizarre for how her end comes. It's not from a bullet, knife or garrote, but paint. The film makes a harmless coating feel like the creepiest murder tool of all.
  • pachazopachazo Make Your Choice
    Posts: 7,314
    Another one that came to mind was Drax being sucked out into space.
  • CrzChris4CrzChris4
    Posts: 462
    I still think the admiral in GE got it pretty rough, although there could be worse ways to go than between Famke Janssen's legs...
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 5,802
    Well, he went away with a smile.
  • CrzChris4CrzChris4
    Posts: 462
    I guess if you call this a smile...

    https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/a/a1/Vlcsnap-2014-01-14-22h57m09s55.png/revision/latest?cb=20140428010141
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,787
    A grimace might be more accurate.
  • RoadphillRoadphill United Kingdom
    Posts: 984
    Carver being hit in the face with the Sea Drill would have to be a pretty rough one.

    It terms of strangeness the Derval one is certainly up there. What about Kalbar in TSWLM? Just minding his own business in a phone box and a 7+ foot monster with metal teeth steps in...
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited August 2017 Posts: 1,984
    There's also Kaufman thinking he had the jump on Bond before suddenly being electrocuted and finding a gun to the head. Likewise, LeChiffre about to castrate Bond but suddenly finding White shoot a bullet to his temple. I recall Whitaker being amused by Bond's whistling a split-second before the Duke of Wellington bust crushed him. And 006 had a particularly nasty and strange death with the massive fall not even being enough to kill him; he had enough time and energy left to scream as he watched the cradle come down on him.

    Stamper might be the only henchman who had a decently long amount of time to contemplate his failure before he died, lol. I guess Renard's death counts as somewhat strange from his perspective, given his inability to feel pain and all.

    Though if we're talking about from the character's perspectives, Moore's early villains probably had the strangest. Kananga would've felt himself ballooning up from gas before floating up and exploding (lol x2), Scaramanga would've been shocked to see the familiar statue of Bond suddenly turn around and shoot him (he would've had enough time to concede his loss in his head, I think), and Stromberg was probably surprised to see not only his firepower completely miss Bond but a pair of bullets to his crown jewels in return, before Bond unceremoniously executes him with a shot to the chest and a shot to the head. I always wonder why Stromberg was leaning in towards the desk when he saw Bond position his gun there. I would've tried to move out of the way myself. Perhaps he reckoned he could've had another shot with through the absurdly long gun chamber?
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