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Or With A Mind To Kill, for that matter?
I don't mind an ambiguous ending, but the last Bond movie was far from that.
It was very important to him, so I've heard.
Can someone who loves NTTD please explain what was Safin's plan after offing Blofeld? Take over the world? Become rich selling his tech? Wiping out the earth population? To me it was never clear. Except some tankers were coming to an island, to get tech that previously had fit into a small tube and carried in a pocket, what were they going to do with it?
Then Craig would sack them, just like he tossed Boyle out. He was determined to get his grand death no matter how it served the story or the series. Too bad when a star thinks he is bigger than the character and can get his vanity ending.
Yeah, I think more like Campbell and Mendes walking out of the film before being fired. I can also imagine the other Bond directors from the older era doing the same. I don't think Fukunaga is really a Bond fan. It shows in the way he directed Craig and even in his choice of weapons and outfits for Bond.
The first act is good though I don't feel compelled to continue with the film as I know where it is heading.
Despite me loathing how the film ends and many aspects of the script, in isolation there are good scenes in the second and third acts.
You're wrong about Craig sacking Boyle about his "screen death"; absolutely wrong.
Boyle was released when he refused script doctors punching up his writer's script. He absolutely didn't want any script doctors on board (which for big, tent-pole entertainment is just par for the course). According to those close to the process, the script was a bore and really needed writers that could elevate the plot points and action.
And once again, if the distributors (who market and sell the film to different markets), had an issue with the death, they could've asked for a better ending.
They didn't.
Because it worked narratively.
Loved the ending of that book. The whole thing was very LeCarré.
I don't think any amount of booze would get me to enjoy it. :))
To save his family. To make sure they never asked him back. To never say never again.
When I want to stop something I stop. I don't go. "Boy I'd like to be annihilated by dodgy cgi missile rain." ;)
Quite.
The critics and public certainly mostly liked it, and as an action/adventure/romance it's very stylish and well made, and has imagination, (I actually liked the nanobots idea). But for a lot of us it included stuff we didn't want in a Bond film unfortunately.
I love the first half. It works for me right up till Bond arrives at Maddy's and professes his love, and the kid turns up. Things get to un-Bondian for me, and you can see it's all a set up to get the things ticked off the list for Bond to die.
It was a seven point plan. Things they needed to do before offing James Bond.
001, Re-unite with Maddy, the love of his life.
002, Find his kid, make him DadBond.
003, Get him infected.
004, Get him shot to shit.
005, Save the love of his life. .
006, Save his kid
007, Save the world
And that's it. With the seven-point plan in place, they could work backwards to make sure all that was workable. And just to make sure we knew Bond was brown-bread, we've even got the vital signs clicking off on Q's telly. Perfect!
A job well done, so to speak.
Yeah, that's exactly it. It works as a film on its own. But it doesn't work as a Bond film. Also, I refuse to believe that those who really like the film, weren't shocked at first viewing of the ending. Even if they liked it, Bond's death must have been shocking at first. Maybe after they were shocked, they re-examined it and liked it. But it's really difficult to imagine Bond fans loving the end instantly.
Like I said, this is clearly the hero’s journey: we watched his birth, his Calling, the obstacles, his ultimate sacrifice and death. It’s full circle.
Oh, it's nice to know you loved it instantly @peter because it's not easy to imagine someone loving that ending instantly.
But I loved it and it’s become my favourite Bond film.
For the reasons others have pointed out, thematically and emotionally it really works for me, and I'm sure a big part of that is because Craig was my Bond. CR asks what happens to the soul of a man who kills and NTTD answers it. This era is sometimes stellar, undoubtedly messy at times but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Skyfall, he's back in M's proper office ready to get back to work. Full circle.
SPECTRE. He throws away his gun and becomes a civilian. Full circle.
This is one of the problems with the Craig era. Every film after the first two had to have a bespoke ending, and it ended up with them having nothing else to do than kill him off. They'd done 'back to work' twice, and they'd done retirement too.
I think most people would have liked Skyfall to be the end of Craig's era.
CR was very cool, QOS was too. SF was ludicrous. SP was too, but at least it was a bit of fun as well. NTTD was not even a real movie. It was a 'look what we're doing now' series of 'bold' changes to the formula, loosely strung together. IMO, of course.
And in the grand scheme of things it makes no difference as long as the next film makes a profit.
Lots of opinions in this thread. Few that will change because of what one of us wrote. For me the end of NTTD was the easy way out. I get the analogy of the heroes journey and the guy who died to save his family and the world. All very lofty, but ultimately a typical movie cliche. The bolder and more poignant ending would have been the one in which Bond trades his life as a secret agent for a life of love and retirement. That's more gutsy than death because it is a commitment for the rest of his life.
This film improves with subsequent showings, but the end does not. It continues to feel arbitrary and misguided.
My hope for the next series is a fresh start unencumbered by a storyline that will ultimately box in the direction of the series.
“Most people”??... Other than half a dozen ppl on this site, I’ve never, ever, ever, heard this claim.
It’d be nice that people have their opinions, be satisfied with their opinion, without trying to make it a fact. It’s your opinion. Some may agree with it. Others won’t. It’s just an opinion.
Box office would suggest worldwide success, whether it’s your cup of tea or not.
Had we had a few more solitary moments of Bond reflecting upon his fate, maybe the ending would felt more earned. As it is, it just feels like someone pulled the rug from under you to get a reaction. On first viewing I just felt disappointed they went there, not that Bond had died, if that makes sense.
I'm glad quite a few members on here appreciate it for what it is though, I'm jealous if anything, because the Craig is my favourite era.
You're in fine company @peter and not a rarity.