[ SECRET POST #5653 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5653 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 22 secrets from Secret Submission Post #809.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Daniel Craig is my favourite version of Bond and Casino Royale is my favourite Bond movie.

But it sometimes makes me wonder if I really don’t like “Bond” at all. Because many of the things I like best about them are the ways they deviate from the dominant James Bond formula.

[(Anonymous)]

Same, except I know I don't like a lot of things about the classic Bond movies. Mostly the treatment of the female characters. Quantum of Solace might be a mess, but it has a great female character in Camille.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, I wish she got to be in a better-made movie. There were some great components in Quantum of Solace that didn’t get the treatment they deserved.

[(Anonymous)]

Curious what you have in mind specifically re: the ways they deviate from the traditional Bond formula!

[(Anonymous)]

I wouldn’t claim to be a Bond expert, so it’s just based on my impression from a handful of Bond movies (mostly Connery and Moore, maybe one Brosnan).

Casino Royale has…
- a Bond who is suave without being overly slick, he felt like he had more depth and a hidden sincerity. He shows off multiple facets including a bit of a brash brawler and a genuinely emotional/romantic side.
- a female character who is every bit Bond’s equal, given emotional complexity by the story, treated more as a character than as eye candy, and actually “bests” Bond in a certain sense
- a villain who is pragmatic, who is quietly stylish without being theatrical, and has flaws beyond monologuing hubris

I know these things aren’t all necessarily unique to Casino Royale or Craig’s Bond, but having them all together felt like a really refreshing change from my understanding of the franchise’s trend as a whole.

[(Anonymous)]

I think those points are fair!

It's just kind of a weird situation because "the traditional Bond formula" actually includes several quite different versions of the character, so there are aspects that are part of the formula for certain incarnations and not for others. I think the traits you're talking about are definitely closely associated with the character in the public imagination - I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, that's Roger Moore's take on the character, and he made a million movies, and took over the popular image of Bond. And the Brosnan-era Bond movies leaned into it at times as well. At times it almost became self-parody.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, from what I’ve seen, that seems accurate. And I get why some people are fiercely protective of Connery’s version of Bond. That was a bit less slick, certainly.

(I feel like there’s something to be said here about Austin Powers and how Bond was already almost self-parodying at the time, but maybe I’ll work on that a bit more.)

[(Anonymous)]

Thirding this, except I straight up know I don't overly like the Bond franchise as a whole. The Craig era of films (especially Casino Royale) are the only Bond films I'm interested in, specifically because they subvert or otherwise ditch a lot of the stuff I find tiresome about the franchise.

Honestly, even Quantum Of Solace, which was a mess, is probably my second favorite Bond film, because at least it's still in full subversion mode. Skyfall, which in a lot of ways is a considerably better film, starts to lose me because you can already see the franchise reverting to some of its old bullshit.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT, yes, well said. I definitely feel that about Quantum of Solace and Skyfall. The former is a mess, but has the bones of interesting and compelling version clearly showing through. The latter is much better executed, but the story itself was a disappointing return to form.