Comments on: Mendes takes on Bond?

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:00:29 +0000

Sam Raimi is a nice idea! It would be a very comic-book Bond, though. And you’re right – once a project gets to a certain size, it’s difficult for a director to have any control at all.

I’ll take you up in your kind offer – next time we meet.

By: WDW

WDW — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:49:06 +0000

Interesting. I’d not thought of that but you’re right – the character in these movies isn’t Bond, it’s Action. The talk about Spider-Man overnight shows that directors can have very little control in these massive franchises. Personally, I was rather tired of Bond until I saw that opening sequence of Casino Royale and that caught my immediate attention. Hwever, I do think these franchises need a kick up the bum on a regular basis, but I was very surprised to hear the name of Sam Mendes. How about Sam Raimi?!

You must see Away We Go – it’s a corker. I can lend it to you

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:33:50 +0000

I haven’t seen Away We Go yet, although it’s on the list. Not sure I agree with you, Kate. Putting a non-action director in charge of something like Bond leads to – well, the sub-Bourne jittervision of Quantum Of Solace. Poor Marc Lawrence was stuck with a duff script and a mass of studio interference, leading to a film that was a mess in just about every definition of the word. I worry that Sam Mendes will find himself in the same boat. I love Jarhead, but it’s not an action movie. If anything, I like it because it’s the least war-like war film out there. Let’s face it, one of the story arcs centred around a character that was unable to fire his weapon in battle!
I have to disagree with you on Casino Royale, too. Martin Campbell knows how to do Bond right, and he’s rescued the franchise twice now, with Goldeneye and Daniel Craig’s debut. The trick is to relax and let Bond be Bond, and let the world change around him. Lord knows, it’s not like we’re not in a strife-ridden world now. I’d love to see him take on a renegade Saudi prince in the next one, ending up in a rappelling gunfight around the Burj Dubai. There HAS to be action in Bond, and trying to give Bond a character was one of the reasons QoS belly-flopped so badly. Bond does not have a character. He’s a moral vacuum, the Queen’s Bastard, a hitman for the Crown. One the whole, I’d rather see what Christopher Nolan could do with it.