James Bond franchise. What needs fixing?

[Silvermoth]

Apparently the next James Bond film is stalled because the company behind it has gone bankrupt. It seems like not that long ago that Sam Mendes was attached to direct it!

So if you were in charge of the next James Bond film what would you do? What would be the story? What would be different?

 

[dude stannis]

Less grimdarkiness, more fun.

 

[terry78]

Probably take a cue from one of Fleming's books again. Maintain the serious tone, but turn Bond into more of a deadpan snarker. Not to a ridiculous amount, but more than he has been for the last couple films.

 

[Frodo]

1) Take care of the legal issues
2) Give Bond a sense of humor and a little charm and charisma again. He can still be a badass. Connery had the the perfect blend in his first 4 films.
3) Moneypenny and Q
4) Delve into some of the non Fleming novels for material. Take certain plot points and ideas and incorporate them into new films. Some of the premises of the non Fleming novels are pretty good.
5) Bring back Quantum but don't have them be the villans all the time
6)Give Bond a strong villan who isn't a rich creame puff or buisness man. Somelike Red Grant who is a physical and mental equal to him.
7) Get some first rate songwriters, singer's and musicans for the title tracks . It's become a flavor of the month kind of thing with the Bond films now and as a result the title songs mediocre to bad. Imo You My Name was the best Bond theme in about 20 years or so up to that point.

 

[Boom]

I think the most pressing issue that needs fixing is, well, the ******** with MGM.

 

[Golgo-13]

This isn't good news:

Craig's contract will surely expire by the time this is resolved.

Change:

1) Cast Andy Whitfield aka Spartacus, as Bond
2)Keep the darkish tone, but give Bond back his wit and make him less stoic
3) Updated versions of Money penny and Q
4)Some believeable cool gadgets. In the age of technology, i can't believe that alot of ppl were crying about not wanting to see gadgets in a Bond movie.
5)Bring back Martin Campbell
6)Don't let this franchise be bought by FOX.

 

[terry78]

I think Downey Jr. has captured in his Sherlock and Stark roles what Bond somewhat used to be back in the day, but I don't want it done to that extent. There's a fine line in regards to the 007 role.

 

[8Diagrams(WU)]

A bit of wit and gadgets. Keep the serious tone.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Ditch the shaky-cam they used for the action scenes in Quantum of Solace.

 

[TruerToTheCore]

Bring back humour and wit and hire John McTiernan.

oh and fire Craig.

 

[DarkKnight88]

hire John McTiernan.

oh and fire Craig.

Thank God you're not in charge.

 

[Majik1387]

A) Make him charming again, instead of boring and impersonal.
B) Bring back his supporting cast like Q, Moneypenny, etc.
C) No crappy Bourne-like filming
D) Bring back Martin Campbell
E) Have Michael Buble sing the title song at some point
F) Don't have all Bond Girls trying to be tough chicks; Make them believable. And bring back the hench wenches.

 

[Specter313]

I agree that supporting characters like Q and Moneypenny need to return. The writing should be a little tighter and engaging. QoS just didn't draw me in like some others of the past. Plus they need more threatening villains. That weaselly little guy they had in QoS just did not work IMO.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Wow, with all this criticism about the films lacking wit or humor, I feel like we're talking about Timothy Dalton instead of Daniel Craig. I think Craig's Bond has shown some wit and charisma, and found the right balance between that and the harder edge. Quantum of Solace, or at least the tone of it, was necessary after Casino Royale, IMO, but my first order of business would also be to make the next film more entertaining. You've proven you can do grim and serious, and that's good, now let's try for a little more escapism. I would bring in Matthew Vaughn to direct (Kick-Ass kind of had the tone I want in a Bond movie - hard/violent at points, but above all fun), although he's directing X-Men: First Class. And this is probably a cliche choice by now, but Christoph Waltz for the villain. Or Liam Neeson; I could see him working as basically his Taken character played as a villain.

 

[Cagefighterkip]

bring back Daniel craig, make QUANTUM a huge threat, bring back some old school though: humor/charm, moneypenny, q making gadgets -- though nothing terribly out-there, more fun prologues.

 

[Kurosawa]

Fix ALL the legal issues, including those concerning Blofeld. Make Bond very anti-pc again. Have him sexist and arrogant, maybe even return his smug attitude towards other races. Return him to being a smoker. Kids shouldn't emulate Bond for a lot more reasons than his smoking habit-such as his penchant for casual sex. And the fact that duty or not he is a killer (although it does wear on him.) Explore moving the character into to a Batman: TAS "anywhen" type environment with movies not set directly in any particular time but allowing retro elements if they are a natural fit. Bring back Q and Moneypenny and a male M. Unfortunately MGM's issues have probably brought Craig's Bond to a premature end.

 

[Silvermoth]

wow there's alot here about recasting Moneypenny and Q. Any suggestions for those roles?

I would love to see David Tennant as Q.

 

[matrix_ghost]

Ditch the shaky-cam they used for the action scenes in Quantum of Solace.

This.
I mean is it really so hard to film action scenes like what we got in Casino Royale. Holding the camera still to see the action.

 

[Bunker]

Having a big-name actor playing a villain would be grand.

 

[Frodo]

Wow, with all this criticism about the films lacking wit or humor, I feel like we're talking about Timothy Dalton instead of Daniel Craig. I think Craig's Bond has shown some wit and charisma, and found the right balance between that and the harder edge. Quantum of Solace, or at least the tone of it, was necessary after Casino Royale, IMO, but my first order of business would also be to make the next film more entertaining. You've proven you can do grim and serious, and that's good, now let's try for a little more escapism. I would bring in Matthew Vaughn to direct (Kick-Ass kind of had the tone I want in a Bond movie - hard/violent at points, but above all fun), although he's directing X-Men: First Class. And this is probably a cliche choice by now, but Christoph Waltz for the villain. Or Liam Neeson; I could see him working as basically his Taken character played as a villain.

Well Craig's Bond has slightly more wit then Dalton but not much. However I think his Bond has a much more defineable personality then Dalton's did. I like your idea of Liam Neeson .

 

[KenK]

Definitely need to get the legal issues worked out, that's the bottom line. Beyond that, I feel like the direction they've gone with the Craig films is fine, and doesn't need that much in the way of overhauling. I think they did miss a perfect opportunity to introduce Q, who could have been the one to develop that suped-up digital camera Bond used.

I definitely wouldn't mind seeing Moneypenny introduced.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Fix ALL the legal issues, including those concerning Blofeld. Make Bond very anti-pc again. Have him sexist and arrogant, maybe even return his smug attitude towards other races. Return him to being a smoker. Kids shouldn't emulate Bond for a lot more reasons than his smoking habit-such as his penchant for casual sex. And the fact that duty or not he is a killer (although it does wear on him.) Explore moving the character into to a Batman: TAS "anywhen" type environment with movies not set directly in any particular time but allowing retro elements if they are a natural fit. Bring back Q and Moneypenny and a male M. Unfortunately MGM's issues have probably brought Craig's Bond to a premature end.

Bond reflects the time he is in. So no sexism, racism, and smoking.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I think the thing we need to do is first step into the 21'st century with Bond and move forward. I love the Connery era as much as anybody else, but I don't want 60's references thrown in. That's nostalgia and detracts from the film. I don't want Connery and 60's references. Look at Superman Returns. Nostalgia never works. It won't make a film better because of them, they worked then because that was the time period.

Make everything that makes Bond great. Craig has charm but is more dry in his sense of humor. A cold blooded killer. That's perfect. I don't want him spitting out one liners left in right and using jokes like Moore and puns like Brosnan. Bond's charm comes form his presence and the performance and the actor. Craig is fine in this era for Bond. Don't change that. Dr. No and From Russia With love are great and there are no gadgets. Save the suitcase, but that isn't very high tech. I'd rather rely on Bond's ingenuity and wits, not technology. This man is trained, rely on that. The car, the women keep. And yeah I agree with Majik. You don't need to make every woman badass. Make it believable and what accomodates the story. CS did everything right. This is not the 1960's anymore. Sexism, racism, etc would never fly anymore. There is more to Bond than that that defined him. Keep the beautiful women, the martinis, the nice cars. That is essential. There can be a threat, but make it on an enjoyable level to an extent. Bond is great because everyone wants to be him. Make people wish they were Bond.

In short, keep the essentials what makes Bond timeless and great. Follow Fleming's essentials, but update Bond to fit in the time period but keep the basics. Every good Bond film has a reason why the character has lasted so long, look at those and move forward, while creating a great story.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Silent fight scenes... Look at all the classic Bond movies, they didn't have any manipuulative music blaring over the top of the fight scenes.

Also: Monneypenny and Q... It's time.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Q and Moneypenny aren't necessary. CR is great on it's own and shows you don't need every Bond stable to make it good. You could fit Moneypenny in, but I just don't see Q working with the gadgets with Craig's Bond. It might work, but only if it's not very high tech. Look at him in CR. His ingenuity is what got him out of situations and the ways he did them were alot better than any of the gadgets.

I'm not saying don't use gadgets, if they do use them, don't make them too high tech. They should be tools for Bond and help him somewhat, not do the entire job for him. This man has been trained for years and you just don't give a man all these gadgets to use. It's kind of insulting.