The best James Bond that never was?

[jamesharris]

Originally Posted by batman I am afraid I have to disagree with you re Craig. I thought his performance was stunning. He perfectly captured the vulnerability of the charcter (mixed in with ruthlessness) that has been missing since Lazenby. Craig's Bond is capablle of killing you, but also of making a real pig's ear of it in the process. Much as I love Bond films .... some of them portray him as a kind of superman. I think Craig will get better and better.

well he can't get any worse

[batman]

Originally Posted by jamesharris well he can't get any worse

Why didn't you like him in it?

[davidb]

forgot to mention at the start of this thread , theyre short of a Q and a miss moneypenny at the mo arent they ?,heck why dont we have some fun and recast all the bond parts , baddies as well ! as for Q david mitchell out of peep show would be so right ,hes a bit upper class oxbridge ,a bit comedy ,a bit sneery ,i can just imagine him saying " and try and bring it back in one piece bond ! "

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by davidb as for Q david mitchell out of peep show would be so right ,hes a bit upper class oxbridge ,a bit comedy ,a bit sneery ,i can just imagine him saying " and try and bring it back in one piece bond ! "

Good call that

[jamesharris]

Originally Posted by batman Yep.

Lazenby was only dubbed in his role as Sir Hilary Bray so George Baker wouldn't have been used again anyway

I think either James Purefoy or Jason Isaacs would have been ideal..Mike Jayston had some of the right qualities but I can't see him as a sex symbol for the young girlies<Michael Praed had a lot of support when they were doing to do Bond begins back in 86

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by batman Each actor has brought something of his own personality and physicality to the role and this is what I think has kept the series fresh.

That says more about the subject matter of the film than the actor.

Originally Posted by batman Re dialogue ... it's like the old cliche of 'the way I tell 'em'. Connery made the dark wisecracks his own but Sir Rog couldn't do that (as evidenced in LALD and MWTGG) so Bond morphed into Rog's version, that witty debonair chappie. It took 4 films for Rog to be able to present a darker Bond in FYEO. Dalton wasn't too hot on the wisecracks so Bond changed again.

After sending my post I was reflecting that Timothy Dalton had struck me as having to act. Maybe he had to try hardest to re-vision the character after Sir Roger had masterfully led us down his path.

Originally Posted by batman Lazenby (whether by accident or design) hit on something a bit different, a ruthless yet vulnerable killer.

You don't mention Bros, but the only time I felt Bros was 'acting' was when he was vulnerable, but that wasn't allowed very often..............

Originally Posted by batman Craig's Bond IMHO is very close to what Lazenby was doing in OHMSS.

Somebody else told me that, elsewhere. I can't see Mr. Craig sticking at it very long, he seems to like doing more oddball stuff, from what I've seen of him. I suppose he's got a contract though.


The bad guys generally get the opportunity to do more of an an acting tour-de-force than poor old Bondie.........

[jamesharris]

Originally Posted by batman Why didn't you like him in it?

he just felt like a random action hero with nothing of Fleming's Bond about him..they might as well cast Jason Statham.It felt like one of his films anyway.

[Moor Larkin]

Originally Posted by jamesharris nothing of Fleming's Bond about him..

Fleming's Bond was a crashing snob wasn't he?

[batman]

Originally Posted by Moor Larkin You don't mention Bros, but the only time I felt Bros was 'acting' was when he was vulnerable, but that wasn't allowed very often.............. Somebody else told me that, elsewhere. I can't see Mr. Craig sticking at it very long, he seems to like doing more oddball stuff, from what I've seen of him. I suppose he's got a contract though.

I think of Brosnan as the 'composite' Bond .... he didn't really bring anything different to the role .... the 'darker' bits he nicked from Connery, the suavity from Rog and the vulnerability from George. The best thing he brought to the role was that wonderful voice.

I reckon Craig will do 2 or 3 and move on. I hope he does a few more but I agree that he's more into the oddball stuff .... and very good he is in it too.

[davidb]

Originally Posted by Moor Larkin Fleming's Bond was a crashing snob wasn't he?

dalton was the only one who tried to portray him as fleming wrote him ,yet ,unfairly ,hes always the unpopular one ,

[batman]

Originally Posted by jamesharris he just felt like a random action hero with nothing of Fleming's Bond about him..they might as well cast Jason Statham.It felt like one of his films anyway.

I re-read CR after seeing the film and their are bits and pieces in there that I think were on screen but not a great deal.

So is it more the whole package rather than simply Craig you didn't like?

We do agree about Jason Isaacs, I think he would have been good.

[davidb]

Originally Posted by batman I think of Brosnan as the 'composite' Bond .... he didn't really bring anything different to the role .... the 'darker' bits he nicked from Connery, the suavity from Rog and the vulnerability from George. The best thing he brought to the role was that wonderful voice. I reckon Craig will do 2 or 3 and move on. I hope he does a few more but I agree that he's more into the oddball stuff .... and very good he is in it too.

ive always thought brosnan lucky in the fact he could pinch a little from the previous 4 bonds ,if hed got the job when he was originally offered it [ daltons time ] and had to play the part more serious ,would he have faired as well ?,

[batman]

Originally Posted by davidb dalton was the only one who tried to portray him as fleming wrote him ,yet ,unfairly ,hes always the unpopular one ,

Not with me .... I thought he was great! I agree with Moor in that TD had a lot more work to do following the long tenure of Sir Rog. I think he suffered a similar backlash to GL which was equally unfair.

[jamesharris]

Originally Posted by batman I re-read CR after seeing the film and their are bits and pieces in there that I think were on screen but not a great deal. So is it more the whole package rather than simply Craig you didn't like? We do agree about Jason Isaacs, I think he would have been good.

we agree about a lot of things

I'm certainly not keen on Craig as Bond ( or indeed in the Invasion) but there are several elements of CR that don't work..its far too long, the "love story" with Vesper is totally unconvincing and Le Chiffre is a dull colourless villain.
They use elements of the story but they are not enough to convince that I'm watching Bond..he's just a guy with the same name.
I wasn't keen on the Brosnan films either

[batman]

Originally Posted by davidb ive always thought brosnan lucky in the fact he could pinch a little from the 4 bonds ,if hed got the job when he was originally offered it [ daltons time ] and had to play the part more serious ,would he have faired as well ?,

I don't think so. As Moor and I said TD had a as equally a difficult job in taking over the role as GL did in the 60s. TD was, by the 80s, a very experienced film actor and was able to draw on that experience. PB was, by his own admission, still a bit of a novice and may have struggled. I think PB was lucky that he didn't do it at the time because he was able to mature as a film actor before eventually tackling the role.