27 replies to this topic

[JimmyBond]

I love Skyfall, watching it on Bluray tonight was as great as when I first saw it in theaters. But a realization came over me during the film: I miss the high tech Bond films. Now I know you're probably thinking Skyfall is just the same as the others; it's true technology is present, and used to great effect (especially by Q). 

 

However, I mean it more in the general vibe of the films. Not just Skyfall though, but all of Craig's films have felt decidedly old fashioned. I will cut Skyfall some slack because that was the whole point of Bond leading Silva to the Lodge...

 

There's a lot of trappings from the Brosnan films that I'm really starting to miss. I love seeing Bond meet with superiors in rooms filled with computers as they track suspects (Goldeneye). Or having Bond be supplied with some of the latest high tech gadgetry (sure the invisible car was over the top, but the majority of Bond's gadgets in TND were really cool, and functional). And you know what? I actually miss the baddie stealing some kind of weapon and threatening the world with it.

 

Now before anyone jumps in, I'm not suggesting we turn the Craig films into the Brosnan films, I still firmly believe Craig can (and should) do his own thing. However I'd love it if his Bond started to inhabit a more high tech world of espionage.

[tdalton]

I've actually found myself liking the contrast between technology and the lack thereof in the Craig films.  There has been quite a bit of technology used in the Craig films, most of it used by people other than Bond.  We see the MI6 staff (M, Tanner, the staff functioning as 'Q' in CR and QOS, etc.) use technology quite a bit, and in fairly believable ways, from tracking Bond as well as tracking money and other things linked to the suspected villains.  I like how they've kept Bond away from that kind of stuff, though.  He doesn't need it, and not having it there gives him a chance to show off his own espionage skills as opposed to having to rely on a gadget to get out of a situation (that was most likely written around a gadget that the production team thought up along the way in the first place).

[AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän]

I've actually found myself liking the contrast between technology and the lack thereof in the Craig films. 

My thoughts exactly. Gadgets are fine but the Brosnan era really overemphasised them. In my opinion Bond should have practical multi-task gadgets like lock picking set, miniature microphones, etc.

Edited by AgenttiNollaNollaSeitsemän, 16 February 2013 - 06:49 AM.

[thecasinoroyale]

I actually felt 'Quantum Of Solace' over-did the modern technology/gadget idea with those touch screen tables, flipping and zooming around, and the frosted wall that turned into a map/video. It was too white also, like a real futuristic location which didn't have the right balance for MI6.

 

'Skyfall' touched on what they could do in the bunker cracking the Granborough Road code, but I feel they could do more with a rooted base of operations, not a bunker, like the control room in 'GoldenEye' watching the satellite go off. That felt modern, for the time, but very real.

[Pussfeller]

I have no affection for the Minority Report-style computer lab in QOS. I prefer the technology in Bond films to be heaviest on the villain's side, with Bond in the possession of just a few clever (but not extravagantly high-tech) gadgets. The moments when Bond lapses into outright sci-fi are among my least favorite in the series. 

[The Shark]

I have no affection for the Minority Report-style computer lab in QOS. I prefer the technology in Bond films to be heaviest on the villain's side, with Bond in the possession of just a few clever (but not extravagantly high-tech) gadgets. The moments when Bond lapses into outright sci-fi are among my least favorite in the series. 

 

Exactly. Bond should have the odds stacked against him, not the villains.

 

Plus there's SKYFALL's arc words: "sometimes the old ways are best" - spoken by both Eve and Kinkade, and the Fighting Temeraire metaphor.

[plankattack]

Technology and to a greater extent the gadgets, have always been a thorny issue. LALD was the first Bond I ever saw and when the Rolex starts spinning, I nearly wet myself with excitement! That being said, I think the series has always got into trouble when it goes too far, and in general the less the better. I do want the gadgets to be more than just an easy out which has happened far too often. Take GE - he's trapped on the train and then hey presto, the Omega is a laser beam. But in the same film, the exploding pen comes into play is suspenseful in a way rarely bettered by the series.

I'd rather much have the gadget add to Bond's ingenuity (desperately using the briefcase in FRWL), then just being a lazy plot device. MR is the worst offender of this, with any suspense completely undone by the appearance of the gadget. They may help our hero escape, but they really undermine him as the resourceful hero that appeals to us in the first place.

As to the OP, there is something to be said to the overall "sheen" of a Bond film. I think that was clearly Ken Adam's signature touch, but I've got great sympathy for the production designers that have followed him. Gassner's use of location in QoS and SF has helped give Bond a modernist feel without resorting to a cheap Adam knock-off. Shanghai, the opera, the Bolivian hotel, all feel very Bondian to me - far more so than the climactic GE satellite base which came across as both out-of-place and cheaper than a Thunderbirds set.

[QOS4EVER]

I actually felt 'Quantum Of Solace' over-did the modern technology/gadget idea with those touch screen tables, flipping and zooming around, and the frosted wall that turned into a map/video. It was too white also, like a real futuristic location which didn't have the right balance for MI6.

 

'Skyfall' touched on what they could do in the bunker cracking the Granborough Road code, but I feel they could do more with a rooted base of operations, not a bunker, like the control room in 'GoldenEye' watching the satellite go off. That felt modern, for the time, but very real.

Over Did ?

It was nothing like minority report and  James Bond has always been high Tech , Even since the 60's they would show technology which was a few years ahead of its time.

It gives Bond a more Grand feel.

[JimmyBond]

I actually felt 'Quantum Of Solace' over-did the modern technology/gadget idea with those touch screen tables, flipping and zooming around, and the frosted wall that turned into a map/video. It was too white also, like a real futuristic location which didn't have the right balance for MI6.

 

'Skyfall' touched on what they could do in the bunker cracking the Granborough Road code, but I feel they could do more with a rooted base of operations, not a bunker, like the control room in 'GoldenEye' watching the satellite go off. That felt modern, for the time, but very real.

Over Did ?

It was nothing like minority report and  James Bond has always been high Tech , Even since the 60's they would show technology which was a few years ahead of its time.

It gives Bond a more Grand feel.

 

That's what I'm getting at. It's more than just gadgets, it's the overall feel of the film. And I felt QoS had a nice feel of the modern. I completely understand the plot of Skyfall called for a more old fashioned feel. I just want the next film to feel more "glossy" I guess is what I'm saying.

[QOS4EVER]

 

I actually felt 'Quantum Of Solace' over-did the modern technology/gadget idea with those touch screen tables, flipping and zooming around, and the frosted wall that turned into a map/video. It was too white also, like a real futuristic location which didn't have the right balance for MI6.

 

'Skyfall' touched on what they could do in the bunker cracking the Granborough Road code, but I feel they could do more with a rooted base of operations, not a bunker, like the control room in 'GoldenEye' watching the satellite go off. That felt modern, for the time, but very real.

Over Did ?

It was nothing like minority report and  James Bond has always been high Tech , Even since the 60's they would show technology which was a few years ahead of its time.

It gives Bond a more Grand feel.

 

 I just want the next film to feel more "glossy" I guess is what I'm saying.

My sentiments Exactly!!

 

I hope they don't tread the old fashioned road which they took for Skyfall ever again. There is something about the modern feel which all the Brosnan films and QOS had which is very soothing and glamorous. I for one don't like to see Bond old fashioned ,out of touch with technology and to top it off with a ridiculous haircut.

 

like someone said earlier on this board "If you are making a film in the present, celeberate it with all its glory"

Edited by QOS4EVER, 16 February 2013 - 07:22 PM.

[thecasinoroyale]

I felt 'Skyfall' was more in touch with present technology than 'Quantum Of Solace', only because I think 'QOS' over-did the modern technology and I didn't believe anything they used, bar the video wall. It seemed to easy to track/trace/identify suspects or places - and as much as I wanted to love it, the camera phone at Tosca worked TOO well to identify all the Quantum members from such a way away at a bad angle.

 

'Skyfall' could have done more, but being as they were working in a bunker, I accepted the limited resource and technology they had to use.

[QOS4EVER]

 only because I think 'QOS' over-did the modern technology and I didn't believe anything they used

 

The Tablet which you mentioned earlier was actually in production and was sold by Sony under the 'Vaio' line

and  again the video frames in Tanner's office was also sold by Sony.

 

Now the modern interactive touch screen before the Haiti scene . That is also in existence .

 

 

 

and even this will give you a fairly good idea of what is possible .  

 

 

 'Skyfall' was more in touch with present technology

 

 

It never ceases to amaze me how people are ilussioned by this movie and refuse to accept its shortcomings . The Q hacking scene among others were completely bogus. I attached a link with detailed proof.

 

http://io9.com/59603...enes-in-skyfall

 

I think I have proven my point.

Edited by QOS4EVER, 19 February 2013 - 08:05 AM.

[SecretAgentFan]

Damn, and I thought a Bond film would give me an accurate and precise idea about working with computers.

[marktmurphy]

I do like a gadget; I know they have used them badly in the past, but like plankattack above, I find there's not much that can replicate the thrill of seeing a really nicely conceived gadget like the Rolex buzzsaw. Yeah, we didn't know he had it so it's sort of unfair, but it was cool.

[thecasinoroyale]

I doth my cap QOS4EVER. Not that you want to defend 'Quantum Of Solace' until you die of course...! I do like that film, I think it's just my taste in technology it seemed to overwhelm me for a Bond film.

 

But I do agree that the hacking scene in 'Skyfall' was quite complicated, and I couldn't believe that was so easy to be done. It was too convienient for the ease of pushing the story forward.

 

I do love the technology used though, even if I thought it wasn't quite in production yet!

[QOS4EVER]

Haha!  .Just felt I need  to prove a point .

I  understood earlier that you don't like the modern feel but I really don't get why. you must realise that even though the early Bond movies seem a bit old fashioned now , It was the best at its time.

 

I can't recall in exactly which one but in one of the connery movies there was a scene of him taking a photocopy. Most of the audience was stunned by such a technology! Some 40 years later and its a common household device

[thecasinoroyale]

True...I think I am quite behind with modern technology, or I see things in TV and film and think it's not real, or it's an elaborated idea that's not really in production but in perfect world, it would be.

[JohnnyWalker]

This being a similar topic, is anyone else really surprised by the lack of mobile phones in Skyfall?

[sharpshooter]

A thought that occurred to me:

 

I believe M's office in QoS was going to have frosted glass, but it was scrapped. 

In Skyfall Silva's holding cell featured this technology. 

[QOS4EVER]

This being a similar topic, is anyone else really surprised by the lack of mobile phones in Skyfall?

 

Yep,

Thought about it the first time I had seen it in the cinema,

 

I was expecting something like QOS or CR, I mean they made cellphones look so cool and the best part was none of them were touch since Sony din't make those that time. At least now with the sleek touch Xperia's I expected something better . They din't even show the interface of my Xperia in the movie.

[007jamesbond]

I like that there is a lack of technology as it shows how vulnerable it could be, that using the old way works best most of the time 

[DavidJones]

I want it to go back to how it was. I don't like Craig or the percieved authenticity his films have.

[Dustin]

I want it to go back to how it was. I don't like Craig or the percieved authenticity his films have.

 

'Authenticity' in art is always a contradiction. Craig's Bond films are not really more realistic than those of his predecessors, they merely look less like pop-art comic books and their plots are leaning in a general more towards what our headlines offer us each day, terrorism, corruption, scheming and machinations. But on the whole Craig's films are still what must be considered fun entertainment, not documentary.

 

That said I doubt we will see a back-to-pre-Craig Bond anytime soon. The previous style went out of business not because people didn't want to see it any more, to the contrary. It became obsolete for Bond because the real comic book characters conquered the big screen and claimed their natural property - underground lairs, secret space bases, gigantic laser death rays - from the one guy who stole it from them. Fantastic Four, Avengers, Iron Man, Batman, those are the characters audiences now associate with the XXXX-larger-than-life adventure. Bond will probably never go beyond triple-X any more, if that.   

[00Twelve]

Wouldn't Q's line, "What did you expect, an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that sort of thing anymore," seem to make a rather on-the-nose statement that the series won't necessarily pursue those types of gadgets at this point? Wasn't the EON team indicating that they wanted Bond to move forward and celebrate, but not repeat, the past? 

 

The DB5's demise was also a metaphor in this respect.

[thecasinoroyale]

That's what I felt also 00Twelve. They put their idea about the future of the series on screen in the way of visual metaphors and dialogue that this is James Bond, but will be James Bond in a "brave new world" and not hinged on the ways of the past.

[SecretAgentFan]

Wouldn't Q's line, "What did you expect, an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that sort of thing anymore," seem to make a rather on-the-nose statement that the series won't necessarily pursue those types of gadgets at this point? Wasn't the EON team indicating that they wanted Bond to move forward and celebrate, but not repeat, the past? 

 

The DB5's demise was also a metaphor in this respect.

 

Still, I would not be surprised if BOND 24 will give Bond a new car with same optional extras.

[JimmyBond]

I would love to see a new gadget-laden car actually. It's been long enough since Die Another Day to give us another one. Yes yes, I realize the Aston was in Skyfall with some gadgets, but that doesn't really feel the same.

[jmarks4life]

I agree Craig's Bond has lacked the gadgets that previous actor who've played Bond have had. I'm just glad he's had the pleasure of driving that beautiful silver Aston Martin. Something Moore never had the luxury of driving.