12 replies to this topic

[WC]

We know why in reality Bond was so devoid of humour in LTK - it was a revenge movie - something different by the producers, and Timothy Dalton was taking the role seriously to portray Bond as in the novels. However, as a character, why did Bond go so over the edge and be willing even to lose his licence to avenge Della's death and Felix Leiter's injury? After all, he didn't appear to do so to such an extent when Tracy died - he was only seen hunting Blofeld in the beginning of DAF.

My theory is that, during the Roger Moore years, Bond was in denial. That's why he suddenly became a character with so much slapstick humour and an over abundance of puns and wisecracks. He was attempting to compensate for the loss of his wife by trying to make humour out of every situation. The reason he never seemed in much danger was that he embraced it - almost welcomed it, and therefore could virtually laugh in the face of it. Only a few moments during the Roger Moore years betrayed the fact that he was still in mourning.

However, it came to the Timothy Dalton years, Felix and Della's wedding reminded him of his own wedding to Tracy. Thus it caused him to face up to reality, so now he was not only avenging Della's death but Tracy's death indirectly,

Since then, Bond has never been quite the same wisecracking character as he was before, but a more pensive and thoughtful man.

Or is there some other explanation for Bond's over the edge approach in LTK? What do you think?

[Carver]

Some good points there WelshCat:). Mainly, i think that Bond went over the adge because of his feelings. Firstly, he and Leiter had been friends for ages, and Bond felt it his duty to get Leiter's revenge. Seeing Leiter in such a bad way brought out Bond's anger, and a side of the man we had never seen before. Della's death made Bond think of Tracy, and he never did get his revenge for her death. So Sanchez was just the unlucky guy who got on the bad side of Bond. You can see the shock on Bond's face when he see's Della lying there, it just brings out his hatred for Blofeld, and his anger for Tracy's death, things just boil up inside him, and he just lets go for the first time in his career. After Sanchez's death, you can see the relief on Bond's face. He had avenged Della, Felix and for him, avenged Tracy, well, he has'nt avenged Tracy, but this is the closest he would get to it.

[Turn]

Interesting takes, Welshcat and Carver. I saw once what I thought was a great description of Dalton's Bond as "a burned out agent with just enough left for one more mission." I thought that was a pretty good take on the TLD/LTK version of Bond.

He knows he lives in a dangerous world and the pain that it can bring those he allows close to him. Like it did to Tracy, Saunders in TLD, Vijay in Octopussy and Della and Felix. And it's caught up with him. But it also is what keeps him going, kind of a masochistic kind of thing. Bond gets pleasure out of how he can destroy those who have brought pain to those close to him. How else would two people go after a guy who is protected by an army like Sanchez?

[007luvchild]

007 is a man of action. I wouldn't go as far as saying cinematic 007 is wholly masochistic, because he doesn't recieves pleasure from being in pain emotionally and physically. I wouldn't go as far as saying he's entirely sadistic either,because he doesn't recieve pleasure in slowly torturing his enemies, he just kills them. He likes vindication of himself and the acquaintances he lost. In LTK he made sure of that, from setting one up that led to a head explosion, feeding a traitor to the sharks, to burning Sanchez alive. All in All, Bond was really ticked off in LTK.

[Jim]

I've given up trying to figure out what anyone was thinking when Licence to Kill was "made", let alone Bond.

Please stop giving this tawdry nothingness the oxygen of publicity. Let it die alone and ignored an in gratifying pain, because it deserves it.

[IrishCrown]

I keep waiting for someone to fire a few bullets into Licence To Kill and put it out of its misery like Bond did to Professor Dent.

[Loomis]

Good theory, Welshcat. "Felix and Della's wedding reminded (Bond) of his own wedding to Tracy. Thus it caused him to face up to reality, so now he was not only avenging Della's death but Tracy's death indirectly."
It's interesting that the script of LTK has Leiter tell Della that Bond was once married.

[Loomis]

And there's also the fact that none of the post-LTK Bond films has mentioned Bond's marriage to Tracy. Could it be that 007 has now put the past behind him?

[IrishCrown]

In the original version of the film, Bond was pouring out his psyche to a psychologist they hoped Nicole Kidman would have played. We would have found out what dark secrers lurked in the corners of Bond's mind. The original title of this movie would have been Bond Forever.

[JimmyBond]

Loomis,

We could say that Brosnans pause after being asked if he ever lost a loved one is a reference, but then again, its kind of a stretch, but I think the writers had Tracy in mind with that pause.

As for why Bond went over the edge? His best friend (yes, I know, not made apparent in the films) was fed to the sharks, a great person lost her life for nothing, its understandable Bond got pissed.

[Bondpurist]

If your best friend was thrown to sharks and his wife killed, especially if you had Bond's loyal nature, you wouldn't stand by and let Sanchez get away with it. LTK's storyline sure makes a refreshing change from the normal formulaic stuff.

[IrishCrown]

I still liked my idea for BondForver the best.

[007.5]

All the pressures of seeing people he loved and was friends with finally caught up with Bond. Leiter's been his companion for a lot of films and seeing him thrown to the sharks and his wife killed on his wedding day(like Tracy) finally pushed 007 over the edge. It was great to see Bond conducting himself, not just as an agent but as a human being. The sigh of relief after Sanchez was burned belonged not just to avenging Della and Felix but too Tracy as well.