134 replies to this topic

[Aisforauric]

One of my pet hates is Bond tossing away his gun when he's emptied the magazine on the PTS train scene. Seems completely petulant and unprofessional. Think how how useful it would have been to pistol-whip Patrice with later or to point at him even if it was empty as a threat. A stupid throwback (forgive the pun) to Brosnan's habit of bunging away guns once they weren't any immediate use.

[stamper]

There was no intelligence in this movie. In CR, when Bond faces the parkour guy, he tosses his gun to his face. That what made the movie really great. Not one scene approach this in SF.

[Vauxhall]

There was no intelligence in this movie. In CR, when Bond faces the parkour guy, he tosses his gun to his face. That what made the movie really great. Not one scene approach this in SF.

I do like that bit from CASINO ROYALE, but Bond pretending to bend over at the casino to put down the briefcase filled with money, and then using it to smash Severine's bodyguard in the face is fairly similar improvisation.

[byline]

Just thought of another bizarre thing: when Bond tells Q he's going to the ground with M and asks him to leave breadcrumbs to Skyfall for Silva, he does so through the MI6 communication system, the very thing that he's trying to avoid because it's probably monitored by Silva's men. Duh!

That made sense to me because they're actually trying to control the speed with which Silva and his crew catch up with them. If Silva could monitor their flight through the usual means, he could have caught up with them right away. But Q was setting up the "breadcrumbs" so that it took longer, by which which time Bond was ready for him (or, as ready as he was ever going to be). That's my take on it, anyway.

3. M enters her residence, 007 is in the shadows. In Casino Royale, when he broke into her flat, didn't she say if he ever did that again, she'd have him shot?

Actually, it's when Bond starts to say that he thought M stood for ... and she interrupts him before he can say her name to declare that if he utters one more syllable, she'll have him killed. Then her parting shot to him, as he's stepping into the elevator, is: "And Bond. Don't ever break into my house again." I had the same question as you and commented on it in another thread. Another poster had a response that made sense to me. In "Casino Royale" M and Bond barely know one another, but by now they are much closer and have developed a strong level of trust. But I was surprised that she didn't at least remind him of her comment from last time. Like, "Were you shot in the head? You seem to have forgotten what I told you last time you broke into my home."

[Pedro92]

At the end, when Bond comes to the chapel, is he wet? I don't remember if he looks dry or not.

[JimmyBond]

Yeah, he's wet.

[Dustin]

Isn't it odd that M in a public hearing - I suppose it's public because of the audience - talks freely about the 00-section? Do all these listeners really hold security clearance for such information? Or are they all supposed to be in on the act, all just watchers from the various departments involved, FCO, Scotland Yard, MI5, MoD?

[Trevelyan 006]

Or are they all supposed to be in on the act, all just watchers from the various departments involved, FCO, Scotland Yard, MI5, MoD?

I took it as this. After all, the room wasn't very big.

[MkB]

Isn't it odd that M in a public hearing - I suppose it's public because of the audience - talks freely about the 00-section? Do all these listeners really hold security clearance for such information? Or are they all supposed to be in on the act, all just watchers from the various departments involved, FCO, Scotland Yard, MI5, MoD?

Good question! I even think I have noticed a video camera at the audience.
But does the existence of the 00 section have to be top-secret? It might be known to the general public as an elite department of MI6, without more details (since real-life MI6 denies the existence of a "licence to kill")

[Dustin]

Isn't it odd that M in a public hearing - I suppose it's public because of the audience - talks freely about the 00-section? Do all these listeners really hold security clearance for such information? Or are they all supposed to be in on the act, all just watchers from the various departments involved, FCO, Scotland Yard, MI5, MoD?

Good question! I even think I have noticed a video camera at the audience.
But does the existence of the 00 section have to be top-secret? It might be known to the general public as an elite department of MI6, without more details (since real-life MI6 denies the existence of a "licence to kill")

Well, it would lead to all kind of strange and conspicuous folks at the doors of SIS, applying for the elite department. Most of them with a toy Walther in a shoulder rig...

Another thing is, how will having his face and obit with full name in The Times affect Bond's further assignments? Will not future villains mock him about Eton and how he's supposed to be dead?

[MkB]

Well, it would lead to all kind of strange and conspicuous folks at the doors of SIS, applying for the elite department. Most of them with a toy Walther in a shoulder rig...

Isn't it already how a fair number of candidates applying for MI6 positions come at the interviews?
More seriously, dunno... I mean, in the parallel universe MI6, the doucle 00 section could be known to the general public as an elite subsection of the SIS, like SAS is known as an elite subsection of the British armed forces, without any other communication about its features and traditions (licence to kill, introducing oneself as NAME - FULL STOP - FIRST NAME - NAME, Walther, etc.)

Another thing is, how will having his face and obit with full name in The Times affect Bond's further assignments? Will not future villains mock him about Eton and how he's supposed to be dead?

Ah, indeed, good one!
But I don't feel it would matter too much to Bond. After all, he has a (long) history of using his own identity to introduce himself to the Villains.

[Dustin]

Well, it would lead to all kind of strange and conspicuous folks at the doors of SIS, applying for the elite department. Most of them with a toy Walther in a shoulder rig...

Isn't it already how a fair number of candidates applying for MI6 positions come at the interviews?
More seriously, dunno... I mean, in the parallel universe MI6, the doucle 00 section could be known to the general public as an elite subsection of the SIS, like SAS is known as an elite subsection of the British armed forces, without any other communication about its features and traditions (licence to kill, introducing oneself as NAME - FULL STOP - FIRST NAME - NAME, Walther, etc.)

Yes, could work that way. I just preferred that parallel universe where the public lives in blissful ignorance of such matters and doesn't have the foggiest what happens around the world in their name and with their tax money. But that's probably too romantic, outdated and naive. The public in Bond's world is most likely every bit as informed and interested - or misinformed and disinterested - as in our world. Of course they suspect minders, sandbaggers, 00s and scalphunters to do the dirty work - or have the number of someone doing it for them for the right kind of money.

[radio_wmn]

Just thought of another bizarre thing: when Bond tells Q he's going to the ground with M and asks him to leave breadcrumbs to Skyfall for Silva, he does so through the MI6 communication system, the very thing that he's trying to avoid because it's probably monitored by Silva's men. Duh!

That made sense to me because they're actually trying to control the speed with which Silva and his crew catch up with them. If Silva could monitor their flight through the usual means, he could have caught up with them right away. But Q was setting up the "breadcrumbs" so that it took longer, by which which time Bond was ready for him (or, as ready as he was ever going to be). That's my take on it, anyway.

3. M enters her residence, 007 is in the shadows. In Casino Royale, when he broke into her flat, didn't she say if he ever did that again, she'd have him shot?

Actually, it's when Bond starts to say that he thought M stood for ... and she interrupts him before he can say her name to declare that if he utters one more syllable, she'll have him killed. Then her parting shot to him, as he's stepping into the elevator, is: "And Bond. Don't ever break into my house again." I had the same question as you and commented on it in another thread.

I had the same thought about Bond in M's flat -- with the other question, ("What about her husband?") which was not resolved until the line at the hearing ("My late husband was a fan of poetry...")

The other thing was having determined in CR that "M" was not the position name, but (presumably) based on her surname, I found it odd that at the end of the film, Bond should refer to his new boss (Mallory) as "M" as well. (After some reflection, I decided it was his way of saying he believed Mallory to be a capable successor...)

I kind of thought, initially, he removed it because he couldn't heal properly, or was in a lot of pain, because the shards were still in his shoulder. He was having a hard time hitting the target during training. I thought the film seemed to suggest this was because of the pain from the injury. After removing it he noticed the ammunition was rare. That's just what I initially thought anyway.

That's an explanation, though I'm not sure if these shards would really have looked so exceptional without special equipment to examine them with. Also it's a bit odd he hasn't the remains removed much earlier. There are much more strenuous activities than shooting where they'd disturb Bond's performance...

Is it conceivable that Bond was actually experiencing radiation sickness due to the depleted Uranium being in his body hence the Rambo-esque surgery? We see him taking what we can only presume are painkillers in the beach scene in Turkey, so if they were, he was suffering something. I did a bit of back-reading regarding depleted Uranium and other than it's armour-piercing qualities in artillery rounds, it seems to be pretty nasty stuff to have hanging-around (especially in the bloodstream). Just my take....

That was my initial take on the matter -- though considering the size of the shards he removed, and the the reactivity of spent fuel uranium, the effects of the uranium should be negligible (the effects of non-uranium fission products, both radioactively and chemically, perhaps less so). That said, I've read that small bits of shrapnel are often missed in cleaning a bullet wound... and so we come back to what mrevans previously concluded...

Edited by radio_wmn, 13 November 2012 - 02:40 PM.

[marktmurphy]

Isn't it odd that M in a public hearing - I suppose it's public because of the audience - talks freely about the 00-section? Do all these listeners really hold security clearance for such information? Or are they all supposed to be in on the act, all just watchers from the various departments involved, FCO, Scotland Yard, MI5, MoD?

I didn't take it as being a public inquiry, no.

[Vauxhall]

Yes, I'd have assumed it wasn't a public inquiry, but the presence of at least two video cameras was a bit odd. Perhaps the footage was simply intended for internal use.

[bill007]

3. M enters her residence, 007 is in the shadows. In Casino Royale, when he broke into her flat, didn't she say if he ever did that again, she'd have him shot?

Actually, it's when Bond starts to say that he thought M stood for ... and she interrupts him before he can say her name to declare that if he utters one more syllable, she'll have him killed. Then her parting shot to him, as he's stepping into the elevator, is: "And Bond. Don't ever break into my house again." I had the same question as you and commented on it in another thread. Another poster had a response that made sense to me. In "Casino Royale" M and Bond barely know one another, but by now they are much closer and have developed a strong level of trust. But I was surprised that she didn't at least remind him of her comment from last time. Like, "Were you shot in the head? You seem to have forgotten what I told you last time you broke into my home."

Thanks, byline, for correcting me on that. Touche'

[JazzyBond]

A couple of points, one new and one old. First the new one. Did they ever call Raoul Silva by his full name? You hear Mr Silva but no Raoul. Also, why didn't they have an introduction scene during the interrogation? Something like "Hello Mr Bond my name is Raoul Silva. Do you like the island?" then go from there about the rats. Now on to the old one. I have been guilty of it as well for criticizing the "how did Bond survive the fall?" well in retrospect I see what Mendes was going for. You do indeed see a hand "saving " him. Now is this real or part of the title sequence is up to the viewer. What I like though is that during the time period you don't see Bond you are thinking "I wonder what happened to him?" Then Mendes does the opposite of what alot of directors do (spoon feed their audience) he next again shows Bond partaking in one of his favorite pastimes, having rough sex with a native girl lol! It shows the audience that our man is back on the job and that he never left. No sense in showing EVERYTHING.

[Vauxhall]

In answer to part of the above, the name "Raoul" is never mentioned in the film itself.

[MkB]

Blooper/gaffe or just Bond being the regular über-human he is?
Anyway, he should be shivering quite a bit after taking a long dip in an iced-over loch, then walking away in the same driping clothes... It's barely something one could survive, this shock of temperature, so uncontrollable shivering (if not downright cardiac arrest) would be the minimal physiological reaction one would expect.
But granted, that would not work very well with the following scene.

[Dustin]

Blooper/gaffe or just Bond being the regular über-human he is?
Anyway, he should be shivering quite a bit after taking a long dip in an iced-over loch, then walking away in the same driping clothes... It's barely something one could survive, this shock of temperature, so uncontrollable shivering (if not downright cardiac arrest) would be the minimal physiological reaction one would expect.
But granted, that would not work very well with the following scene.

True, that was what I found missing in the scene, some sign Bond has been in near-freezing water. On the other hand he was fighting for his life, which might explain a heightened cardioid-vascular frequency and thus no immediate shiver.

Would have not gone well with the knife catching the wrong person later...

[MkB]

Would have not gone well with the knife catching the wrong person later...

Now that would have been the ultimate gaffe!

[Vauxhall]

When Bond flees the Whitehall office building with M in her Jaguar, he turns right into a road where they've changed the sign to "Great Scotland Yard" to reflect the streets in Westminster. However, on the other side of the sign, it reads "Pepys Street", the actual location used in an entirely different part of London.

[MkB]

When Bond flees the Whitehall office building with M in her Jaguar, he turns right into a road where they've changed the sign to "Great Scotland Yard" to reflect the streets in Westminster. However, on the other side of the sign, it reads "Pepys Street", the actual location used in an entirely different part of London.

Wow, you have the eyes of an eagle!

[Aisforauric]

Why didn't Bond stab Silva's henchman underwater with the hunting knife (and please don't say he was saving it for a rainy day) ;-)

[MkB]

Why didn't Bond stab Silva's henchman underwater with the hunting knife (and please don't say he was saving it for a rainy day) ;-)

Erm... because he was afraid the henchman's blood in the loch would attract the local version of Nessie? I can't see other reasons!

[Dustin]

Try getting blood stains out of a Barbour jacket - sheer murder...

[MkB]

Try getting blood stains out of a Barbour jacket - sheer murder...

Ah! The mere idea is killing me...

[conneryboy]

Why take M to Scotland? Bond goes to the trouble of getting Q to leave a fake trail for Silva to follow to force the showdown at Skyfall now he could easily make it look as though M was with him and keep M holed up in some safe house while he takes care of Silva. Sure it would ruin a perfectly good film but still cant really get this out of my head.

[Animal Clans]

Blooper/gaffe or just Bond being the regular über-human he is?
Anyway, he should be shivering quite a bit after taking a long dip in an iced-over loch, then walking away in the same driping clothes... It's barely something one could survive, this shock of temperature, so uncontrollable shivering (if not downright cardiac arrest) would be the minimal physiological reaction one would expect.
But granted, that would not work very well with the following scene.

True, that was what I found missing in the scene, some sign Bond has been in near-freezing water. On the other hand he was fighting for his life, which might explain a heightened cardioid-vascular frequency and thus no immediate shiver.

It is also possible that the incredible amount of heat from the burning cottage radiated just enough to keep him warm enough to stay mobile.

Or...

The fact that he was almost roasted alive just a minute earlier from the gas explosion made him more than willing to submerge him and the henchman in the frozen lake to get the upper hand.

[Hockey Mask]

Or...

James Bond is kickass.