21 replies to this topic

[jaguar007]

http://www.imdb.com/poll/

Who wins in a spy-vs.-spy smackdown: Daniel Craig's James Bond or Matt Damon's Jason Bourne? (Re-running an earlier poll by Rafael M. that wa

So far Bourne is ahead.

[Jeff007]

I voted for the our man James.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

James of course... And I'll help saying what I think of Bourne to avoid a -1 score.

[Attempting Re-entry]

I enjoy them both, but Bond is just way cooler and far more entertaining.

[Dell Deaton]

http://www.imdb.com/poll/

Who wins in a spy-vs.-spy smackdown: Daniel Craig's James Bond or Matt Damon's Jason Bourne? (Re-running an earlier poll by Rafael M. that wa

So far Bourne is ahead.

Unfortunately, no surprise. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that "Bond" should give up on being Bond - in favor of trying to be Bourne. Differential advantage lost, original prevails.

[Capsule in Space]

Daniel Craig's Bond is a Bourne ripoff. I am not a fan of Bourne, but Bourne is a better Bourne than the Bourne ripoff. Did I use the name "Bourne" enough times in this post?

[DR76]

Probably Jason Bourne. I'm not saying this because I like the character more. I'm saying this because I think his training was a lot more intense and extensive than James Bond's.

Daniel Craig's Bond is a Bourne ripoff.

I don't think so. There are too many differences between Craig's Bond and Damon's Bourne.

[Jim]

Both provide light entertainment.

[jaguar007]

Probably Jason Bourne. I'm not saying this because I like the character more. I'm saying this because I think his training was a lot more intense and extensive than James Bond's.

Daniel Craig's Bond is a Bourne ripoff.

I don't think so. There are too many differences between Craig's Bond and Damon's Bourne.

I agree, the only similarity is that they are tough in hand to hand combat. The characterization of Damon's Bourne and Craig's Bond are quite different.

[Capsule in Space]

I just finished re-reading this NYTimes article from 2005, and the 17th paragraph down states that the Bourne series was an inspiration for what we now know as the Craig era.

Edited by Capsule in Space, 24 August 2011 - 07:06 PM.

[Jackanaples]

The bit of the article you're talking about, Capsule, says this:

For both Ms. Broccoli and Sony, executives said, the model was Jason Bourne, the character Matt Damon successfully incarnated in two gritty spy movies for Universal Pictures, "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremacy."

Now, I'm willing to bet that the word "model" is somewhat incorrect there. I would say a better term would be "inspiration" as in Barbara Broccoli saw the two Bourne movies and had the sharp realization of how uncool James Bond was allowed to become and was "inspired" to do something drastic about it.

I guess people see CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE and think "EON is ripping off the Jason Bourne movies." But go back and watch the fight on the Orient Express between Bond and Red Grant in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and realize that for the 1960's that was brutal onscreen violence -every bit the equivalent to the what we saw in the Bourne movies.

The detractors of Ian Fleming's novels and the James Bond movies used to say they were nothing but "sex, sadism and snobbery" --but can you imagine anyone saying that about the Roger Moore films? Or Pierce Brosnan's? Or that any of those movies were too sexy? Snobbery doesn't feature there very much either I'm afraid.

Terence Young's view of Bond was, "James Bond is a thug in a suit." For most of the character's lifespan on film, that's been lost. It's been all suit, no thug to be found. With Daniel Craig, the balance of the rough and the smooth is restored. There's an intensity to the action, a sensory richness to the locales and an adult attitude toward the women and characters in general that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Edited by Jackanaples, 31 August 2011 - 03:14 PM.

[doublenoughtspy]

Good artists borrow, great artists steal - Steve Jobs

The James Bond film series doesn't exist in a vacuum - the people that make them are influenced by a large number of elements - including contemporary films.

Terence Young borrowed Bond's introduction in Dr No from the film Juarez.

I don't think anyone would argue against the Blaxplotation influence in Live and Let Die or the Star Wars influence on Moonraker.

Casino Royale and Quantum are not shot-for-shot remakes of Bourne films. But I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that the Craig era hasn't been influenced by the Bourne films. Because it is as obvious as the broken nose on Ian Fleming's face that they have.

[Jackanaples]

The Bourne movies clearly had an extremely positive influence on the making of CASINO ROYALE. I just bristle when I see people say that EON "turned Bond into Bourne," because I don't think that's true. Bond was always meant to be an extremely dangerous man capable of brutal violence. The movies just lost that quality over the years and housetamed him.

[DR76]

Terence Young's view of Bond was, "James Bond is a thug in a suit." For most of the character's lifespan on film, that's been lost. It's been all suit, no thug to be found.

The "thug" has emerged every once in a while . . . even with Roger Moore, who seemed to be considered lightweight. Craig's Bond is nothing new - before or after Damon's Jason Bourne.

[S K Y F A L L]

I thought this Topic was literally about Bond vs Bourne. I just wanted to mention that the american tv show "The Office," makes a good point in the episode, "After Hours," suggesting;

Bourne couldn't win because he has no support staff and his own government is out to get him.

It got a good laugh out of me anyway.

Edited by S K Y F A L L, 14 May 2012 - 11:33 PM.

[SecretAgentFan]

I must say: I liked the first BOURNE. I loved the second BOURNE. I got tired watching the third BOURNE. And years later when I tried to watch them again I found them all pretty heavy handed, no fun and self-important. Also, for a supposedly REALISTIC take on the spy genre the main character is a total superman, indestructible to the point of ridiculousness.

For me, it will always be BOND. Never Bourne.

[Dustin]

Film Bond and film Bourne are two worlds that don't really meet. It may seem different from afar, but the closer you look at it the more apparent it becomes they are practically each other's atithesis. Bourne is an agent working for a corrupt and inhumane system until he he loses his memory and finds his conscience instead. Bond is an agent fighting against corruption and inhumanity and doesn't question his own calling. He has only very little memory he could lose and is always sure about his conscience. Both may seem to end up having the same type of creature in their sights at times, but both exist in different parallel words that only resemble each other (and our world) on the surface. I can and do enjoy both and have no doubt neither is a 'realistic' depiction of our times.

We live in a far more surreal, crazy and outlandish reality.

[Arbogast777]

Bourne would kill the bad guy.

Bond would kill the bad guy after sleeping with his wife.

[00 Brosnan]

I don't know how anyone can say with a straight face that the Craig era hasn't been influenced by the Bourne films. Because it is as obvious as the broken nose on Ian Fleming's face that they have.

I agree completely. The characters themselves are quite different, but the style and design of Craig's Bond films have clearly been influenced by the Bourne films.

[DaveBond21]

While Bourne would be worried about making sure the cameras blurred out his butt, Bond would smack him in the head with his coc*


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[S K Y F A L L]

All these years later and this still makes me laugh.

[S K Y F A L L]

Here is the clip I mentioned