James Bond: 007 - Spectre - - Part 11

[Vaibow]

There's no need to recast the supporting member whether there's a soft reboot or not. The actors that played the original Q and MoneyPenny remained throughout multiple incarnations of Bond.

And on a side note; i though 'M' stood for 'Mother' as hinted in CR, but according to 007 Wiki its the initial of her last name Barbara Mawdsley in the Bronson Era and Olivia Mansfield in the Craig movies.

Hate to bring Marvel or super heroes into the equation, but, it'll be interesting to see how people react if they continue the Marvel films with new actors - let's say, Iron Man is recast, will they recast the whole universe, or will they wait for a definitive 'ending' then reboot whole universe.

As i personally feel that once Craig goes, it will all change. Craig's oo7 changed it, turned into into a mega blockbuster, so maybe the little things people looked over, like returning actors - that will change.

Honestly though, going to spin offs - imagine when the next Bond to be cast, his introductory movie is more of a team effort, an ensemble of sorts, so that then allows to have spin offs. "Double oo's" could be a great netflix series, with cameo's by bond now and then.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Connery's Thunderball and Goldfinger were also mega blockbusters. In terms of ticket sales, I don't think Skyfall touches Thunderball.

 

[The Batman]

Yeah, James Bond was a mega blockbuster long before Craig. In fact, they were mega blockbusters before the term "blockbuster" even came into vogue.

 

[darkangel]

Watched the movie, really good, i enjoyed the parts of Christoph Waltz, and we can actually see -spoiler- Damn Judi Dench figure-art-like in the opening credits when writings on the wall is playing. Also she has a scene where you can see she is at her house and telling through a video Bond's next mission and Bond and moneypenny talk a bit about her after than scene. Also Waltz's character says something to Bond about "his beloved M" and also we can see a photo of her at the bombed MI6 where Waltz's character set a trap with many previous bond characters' photos from the Craig's movies.

So you can say Judi Dench had some small moments in Spectre.

 

[Schlosser85]

Watched the movie, really good, i enjoyed the parts of Christoph Waltz, and we can actually see -spoiler- Damn Judi Dench figure-art-like in the opening credits when writings on the wall is playing. Also she has a scene where you can see she is at her house and telling through a video Bond's next mission and Bond and moneypenny talk a bit about her after than scene. Also Waltz's character says something to Bond about "his beloved M" and also we can see a photo of her at the bombed MI6 where Waltz's character set a trap with many previous bond characters' photos from the Craig's movies.

So you can say Judi Dench had some small moments in Spectre.

Dench's M, Vesper Lynd, Le Chiffre, and Silva all appear in glimpses during the opening credits.

 

[KillerMcQueen]

Dench's M, Vesper Lynd, Le Chiffre, and Silva all appear in glimpses during the opening credits.

Kinda reminded me of the OHMSS opening credits when they did that.

 

[The Joker]

Kinda reminded me of the OHMSS opening credits when they did that.

Me too. Although OHMSS didn't ignore any of the previous Bonds in it's opening clips, like Spectre did with QOS.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Connery's Thunderball and Goldfinger were also mega blockbusters. In terms of ticket sales, I don't think Skyfall touches Thunderball.

Worldwide numbers are not available for the older films, but in terms of domestic box office adjusted for inflation Skyfall did just over half of Thunderball.

Thunderball is first with $623,832,000, followed by Goldfinger at $552,942,000. Skyfall's adjusted domestic gross is $315,602,300.

Adjusted for inflation Thunderball is the 29th highest grossing film domestically of all-time, just below The Avengers and just above The Dark Knight.

 

[Lord]

Sean Connery's era of James Bond films was comparable to what Harry Potter was like in the 2000s and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is right now, in that they were usualy some of the highest grossing films of their time, even if they didn't always get first place in the box office by the end of their respective years.

 

[samsnee]

So is this movie considered a disappointment? It made a lot of money but considering the last one cost less and made over a billion, and this one went the opposite direction, I can't imagine the studio isn't a little disappointed.

 

[Octoberist]

I would say yes, at least in the states. Sure it's making bank all together, but it speaks volumes when the movie is barely making 187 right now. Again, a lot of money but this movie is close to 250-300 million to make and then another 100 million to advertise.

Meanwhile, Skyfall's US box office was 304 million, with over 800 million international.

At most, Spectre is probably going to end up making 200-220 million in the US. Maybe more but then you got Star Wars taking up the screens. And its' Star Wars.

 

[samsnee]

Exactly. It's nowhere close to making a billion.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I think that's kind of ridiculous. Skyfall was lightning in a bottle, given the 50th anniversary, the whole media exposure with the Olympics Bond short and the amount of time that had past since the last film. It was the perfect storm of ingredients that produced a mega hit, and I think EON were aware of that. Considering how mixed the reception was, the fact that it's made 800 million is pretty damn startling, and you have to take into account that the U.S. Market is a lot less relevant there's days. If they can make the next one for less, I'd imagine studios are going to be clawing their eyes out to get a chance to distribute the next one.

 

[Thundercrack85]

This movie was a mess. So much wasted potential. Craig really is a great Bond, but this script... yikes. Pacing was terrible, chase scenes went on way too long, lot of stuff just made no sense or no explanation was ever given. That third act was just terrible.

I have no problem with the new M, or Q. But the way they handled Waltz's character... Just terrible writing.

Craig really should have gone out with Skyfall.

 

[dude stannis]

$800 million for a movie that was mostly paid off by it's product placement deals that EON gets. People pay through the nose to have their clothing, cars, watches, brand names shown on screen, etc and it's a dissappointment? Get outta here with that nonsense.

 

[Octoberist]

Yup, looks like you didn't see what I wrote about the domestic BO. Also I pointed out it has made money but when it comes to big franchise there's a fine line.

It doesn't mean that it'll bankrupt EON or anything.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Yeah. Spectre didn't have the staying power of "Skyfall"

After the first two weeks it almost disappeared. Katniss Everden and then Dinosaurs chewed into it's profit.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Domestic BO has become less and less relevant, and Bond's always been an international franchise. In terms of the 4 Craig films, this is still the second highest grossing in the U.S. Market. Anyone expecting Bond films to constantly do Skyfall numbers is out of their mind.

 

[Loki882]

Bond is investigating Spectre, and then, oh, just by coincidence it happens his old foster brother is its leader . . . which leads to exactly nothing. Bond barely seems to care. Blofeld only cares insofar as he monologues at Bond about his childhood resentment, but the whole idea that he's targeting Bond is incoherent. He didn't lure Bond into a trap -- Bond started the investigation on his own. He claims to be responsible for Bond's misfortune, but also that it only happened after Bond just happened to stumble across his network back in Casino Royale. He ends up putting on a little show for Bond at the end, but his larger plan was in motion well before he was aware Bond was looking into him. It's just this muddle of happenstance slapped on top of a mediocre plot about Spectre's super stupid intelligence program, and neither Craig nor Waltz (nor for that matter the script) bring any particular passion or conviction to their supposed rivalry. Craig couldn't care less, and Waltz seems merely petulant, taking the opportunity to vent at Bond as long as he's there but not exactly seething with years of mastermind rage.

Furthermore, it's just a really bad idea to muddle the plot with the brother thing. After Quantum of Solace set up Bond as relentlessly pursuing Quantum, that was clearly the angle to go to set up a worthy conflict between Bond and his greatest enemy. Bond should be actively seeking out this organization that did him harm and is a massive danger to world security, discovering Spectre and Blofeld and coming after them because they're targets worthy of his dogged investigation, his personal passion project to unravel this conspiracy. That's what makes Blofeld a worthy target, and that's what builds on the entire Craig run's history so far. Instead, they got it completely ass-backwards by deciding that Blofeld was important because he's Bond's evil brother, then working back from there to half-ass a plot in which Bond stumbles across him because M sent him a magic videotape and also Blofeld claims after the fact to have had something to do with all the other movies. It deflates everything rather than building up Spectre on the backs of the actual films.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Bond is investigating Spectre, and then, oh, just by coincidence it happens his old foster brother is its leader . . . which leads to exactly nothing. Bond barely seems to care. Blofeld only cares insofar as he monologues at Bond about his childhood resentment, but the whole idea that he's targeting Bond is incoherent. He didn't lure Bond into a trap -- Bond started the investigation on his own. He claims to be responsible for Bond's misfortune, but also that it only happened after Bond just happened to stumble across his network back in Casino Royale. He ends up putting on a little show for Bond at the end, but his larger plan was in motion well before he was aware Bond was looking into him. It's just this muddle of happenstance slapped on top of a mediocre plot about Spectre's super stupid intelligence program, and neither Craig nor Waltz (nor for that matter the script) bring any particular passion or conviction to their supposed rivalry. Craig couldn't care less, and Waltz seems merely petulant, taking the opportunity to vent at Bond as long as he's there but not exactly seething with years of mastermind rage.

The way Blofeld actually phrases it, "A nice pattern emerged. You interfered with my world, and I destroyed yours," doesn't indicate to me that he was out to destroy Bond from the start, just that Bond happened get involved and Blofeld retaliated repeatedly. When you look at his motivation, they really didn't utilise the "brother" angle at all, which makes it mostly a strange vestige of John Logan trying to go all Sherlock on the plot from earlier drafts.

 

[Loki882]

This movie was a mess. So much wasted potential. Craig really is a great Bond, but this script... yikes. Pacing was terrible, chase scenes went on way too long, lot of stuff just made no sense or no explanation was ever given. That third act was just terrible.

I have no problem with the new M, or Q. But the way they handled Waltz's character... Just terrible writing.

Craig really should have gone out with Skyfall.

And that's not even covering the whole Nine Eyes thing, which is also a gigantic mess of a subplot.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

. When you look at his motivation, they really didn't utilise the "brother" angle at all

Which begs the question why they decided to use the brother angle in the first place. It added nothing. Only bogged the movie down.

 

[Roose Bolton]

John Logan had quite a bit of freedom afforded to him after the success of Skyfall, and when crafting the script for Blofeld's return was pretty insistent on them doing something radical with the new iteration of the character. These went from Blofeld being a woman, to Blofeld being an African warlord who served in the French foreign legion with Mr White (and engaged in cannibalism) and then to the brother angle. When Mendes signed on board he had them bring back Wade and Purvis and basically downplay that angle as much as they could, whilst still keeping it intact.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

They should've removed it then. Because neither Bond or Blofeld seemed to care about their connection. Making the whole thing really inconsequential.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I think it came down to them assuming that Blofeld as a character wouldn't have a lot going for him outside of the typical evil mastermind thing so they kept it in to give him something. But really, Blofeld as a character doesn't need a quirk or anything like that. He's the prototypical example of a genius criminal with mad ambition, and he works because of that.