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Comments
It's a shame that underwater scenes can't be done because of MI.
Amazon, hurry up or they'll steal everything from you.
Bond influenced MI. So we don't need to worry.
I think the Spangs could definitely be modernised and expanded. As Russian mob perhaps? But DAF as a novel is very much hardboiled crime fiction of the 1950s, it's not a proper spy thriller. But they could definitely use it as a basis for something new. Same goes with TMWTGG, at least some of LALD (whatever is left of it, which is pretty much Mr Big's real name: Buonaparte Ignace Gallia). Otherwise there's Gala Brand, maybe Vivienne Michel...
That's the issue, they're taking things away from Bond.
There's not a lot left that wasn't showcased in the Eon films. The DAF film adapted the best parts of that weak novel (the Spangs were particularly weak and absent). Gala Brand has basically been done in QoS. Vivienne Michel--hard to see why they would give us a lengthy backstory without Bond. It lacks the intrigue of FRWL. Plus QoS also did the hotel and fire.
TMWTGG has the setting (DN, LALD, DAD, NTTD), the unfinished hotel (CR, QoS), the train full of dead gangsters (GF?), and Goodnight tied to the tracks but who wants to see all of that? Shooting a bird off a head? SF. Eating a snake? OP.
What's left? Fidele Barbey, maybe Liz Krest (although arguably that was Lupe Lamora), the fish, the Governor of Bermuda. Underwater fights with barracuda and a giant squid?
Piecing together what's left of Fleming could lead to a checklist Frankenstein of a movie like DAD. It's better IMHO to use a bit of Fleming as a creative launching pad, a la TLD. But Maibaum is dead and Wilson is retired.
I am pessimistic that, love or hate the last 25 films individually, the absence of je ne sais quoi, the quality control that Eon exerted, will lead Amazon to do exactly what has been suggested: remake the easy-choice, pre-Craig hits (GF, DAF, TSWLM, GE) and bin the rest.
Bond never needed a regular writer(s) to simply use Fleming. Contrary to his belief, Maibaum didn't always use Fleming right. And Bond didn't need him to survive, even in his lifetime. MGW was hit or miss with his writing. Also, it seems like EON was using some stuff out of the continuation novels for a longer time than we realize. Colonel Sun and Licence Renewed have been used quite a bit by EON. So, there is no remaking Bond movies, just paying homage to what came before, in pieces.
Granted the film story of YOLT and to some degree OP might need to be re-worked. But think of how this might improve on the original.
I do think Amazon is not emotionally tied to the original films and may consider this. Who wouldn't want a proper actor in OHMSS?
I agree, in general terms, I could add "Beverley Hills Cop 2/3" and "Another 48 Hours" to that list, however I actually quite enjoy the MIB sequels
I often think people are rather harsh when it comes to judging whether comedy movies are "great", almost as if comedy isn't worthy of being called great
IMO GB was great in it's time, and yes it is dated, but then so are Charlie Chaplin's films
As for MIB, I was not a fan of II but III really surprised me, probably because it just played better after seeing II.
DAF, TMWTGG and MR are hardly "classics"
I agree reamakes are often unworthy and embarrassing attempts to cash in on the reputation of the original. But on the other hand there are also examples of remakes of movies that weren't that good the first time around, or of books that were previously made into disappointing movies, where the original director failed to achieve the same level quality as the book.
I give you CR for example, where it was a case of third time lucky.
Or "The Maltese Falcon" which was first made into a movie in 1931, ten years before the Bogart version.
No lesser figures than Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Mann have done remakes of their own creations, when their financial circumstances became more favourable. Hitchcock remade "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and Mann remade his own "LA Takedown" as "Heat".
I don't see them remaking those films, they're not fool enough to do it, especially given that many people (particularly fans) are skeptical about them managing the Bond series, why make a move that would further push them to down the cliff? It's a major no-no, maybe we would be seeing unadapted Fleming scenes or some from the continuation books, but a full modern remake, sorry, from a marketing and business perspective of things, I don't see it happening.
Remaking the old EON Bonds is like a suicide mission for Amazon.
If they want to attract the fans and reassure them, they should make a James Bond that's different from the rest that it's not comparable to any EON Bonds, and hoping it would be in a good way.
In simple words: PROVE THEMSELVES OF BEING A WORTHY SUCCESSOR TO EON! And I think 99% Amazon would do it.
I doubt Amazon would do this, and OHMSS will be the most unlikely film to consider for a remake, the whole world knows that it's been remade many times already in SP and NTTD, and even TWINE, the same for YOLT (when we have TSWLM and MR), people have seen Strawberry Fields' death ala Jill Masterson style (from Goldfinger) in QoS.
And for sure too, Amazon knows that.
Obviously I would use Fleming as a starting point, developing the plot, character and story from it. The Spangs were not developed, but that leaves the scriptwriters lots of room for creativity. Spectreville could be used as well, in some capacity. And I always loved the fact that TMWTGG has a henchman of sorts as the main villain, something that hasn't really been done since (arguably) FRWL.
Personally, I think EON was at its most interesting when it didn't directly lift stuff from Fleming but used those broad ideas to do their own stuff. As much as I know some fans want to see Spectreville in a Bond film, I'd argue we've actually seen traces of it in differing ways - Silva's Japanese island where the villain co-opts an abandoned space, Scaramanga's fun house which has the Western saloon theme in there and this sense of what should be an innocent, fun setting being made disturbing etc. Perhaps this is controversial, but I'd actually argue both those locations are more interesting than Spectreville.
It's what made the Garden in NTTD a bit disappointing for me. It felt referential and I suppose lifted from YOLT, but it didn't have that same disturbing atmosphere.
Of course there's echoes of the source material in many "original" ideas from Eon. You listed a few of them. That's why a more faithful adaptation of MR would be very tricky IMO: while the movie has little if anything to do with the original book, said book was plundered as inspiration for a lot of other movies: AVTAK, GE, DAD, heck, even OP has a line directly taken from the novel. And that's at the top of my head. But there's more we can find. The stairwell fight in CR? Inspired by something similar in LALD. The background of Elektra King? Lifted from a previously unused element in the novel TB. Trevelyan's train in GE? Not unlike the one in DAF and TMWTGG.
I think a section with Spectreville would have been preferable to the whole dune buggy/faked moon landing (what WAS that?) part of DAF.
Yes, I agree with this, could be an ideal PTS for Amazon Bond
I agree they are not the same, but they are both failures as films IMO, BC1 was a classic comedy/action movie, but in BC2 the comedy is missing (or doesn't work), in much the same way as Crocodile Dundee 2 fails. BC3 is just rubbish. A48H also fails to recreate the vibe of the first film.
I find MIB1 and MIB2 much of a muchness, 2 doesn't add anything, but delivers a satisfactory second dose of the same formula for those that want one (a bit like GB2). I applaud the effort in MIB3 to actually try and develop a character based story, with some emotional depth, rather than just recycle.
I find II funny, the only ding for me is the egregious amount of sexist/misogynistic remarks peppered throughout the film. That’s not me being PC, because movies of that era don’t feel as egregious and mean spirited as BHCII. TANGO & CASH is the most coked out 80s buddy cop movie with everything that genre is known for and it never feels mean.