4 replies to this topic

[TheTennesseeFireman]

Hi, I'm new around here. Short-term lurker, first time poster. I loved Skyfall from start to finish; it's probably going to go down as one of my favorite Bond films.

Now, if you're a Bond fan, surely you know the type of ending referred to in the title. 007 and the Bond Girl are alone at the end of a mission, he puts the moves on her (often with a clever and/or silly one-liner), and the classic quotation punctuates the fade to credits. Everyone in the audience knows exactly what's about to happen, even the 12 year old boy in the throes of puberty. Of course, said Bond Girl never shows up in the next film, and never gets a mention out of any of the characters. Everyone who's ever watched a Bond marathon on TV knows that this is the way every Bond film except for OHMSS ends. Until now, that is.

Skyfall marks the 3rd consecutive film that has ended with Bond a single man. In Casino Royale, we have Vesper dead after betraying Bond. In Quantum of Solace, Camille and Bond separate with the mission complete, never having gotten it on once. And in Skyfall,

Spoiler

we get Eve and Bond establishing a professional relationship, never getting beyond a close shave.

It's interesting to think about, especially given that the flip side of this ending has remained firmly intact: the secondary Bond Girl, the doomed and disposable pleasure. Clearly, he hasn't ceased to be the ladykiller that he's always been.

So why do you think we've gotten this change with the reboot? Is it just a nod to continuity in this timeline? Or is it an active response from the producers to changing times? Do you think it's still appropriate for future Bond films to have an "Oh, James" ending, or should that be a a thing of the past?

[jamie00007]

I imagine theres nothing more to it than the filmmakers simply putting on an appropriate ending rather than sticking rigidly to formula as in days past. I havnt seen SF but CR's ending would have been wildly inappropriate for him to have ended up in the arms of another woman for obvious reasons, and in QoS the ending again revisited the Vesper storyline.

[TheTennesseeFireman]

True, but after multiple films like this, would it feel jarring to go back to that formula? Even OHMSS didn't stray from the formula for more than one film. Three is a lot, especially when it's every movie in the reboot.

Also, mods, if you feel this is too spoiler-focused, please put it in the spoilers thread. Looking at the threads, this felt like the most appropriate place for this discussion, but I could be mistaken.

[starschwar]

"All my movies end this way, baby." We had ninteen "Bond saves the day and gets the girl" endings. I think it'd be for the best if the series moved on from this part of the formula. Don't get me wrong - I don't dislike them, and wouldn't mind seeing them return in the future. But the four non-traditional endings were so much more powerful and meaningful to me. I don't think I ever applauded harder at the end of a movie than my first viewing of Casino Royale. As Jamie said, the Craig era seems to be focusing more on creating natural conclusions, rather than conforming to the mold for the sake of tradition. I'm sure that we'll get an "Oh, James" that feels like a natural and logical end to the story in the near future. I suspect Bond 25 may mark the return of it, if the "two-part storyline" rumor is to be believed.

[S K Y F A L L]

I imagine theres nothing more to it than the filmmakers simply putting on an appropriate ending rather than sticking rigidly to formula as in days past. I havnt seen SF but CR's ending would have been wildly inappropriate for him to have ended up in the arms of another woman for obvious reasons, and in QoS the ending again revisited the Vesper storyline.

Agreed. Its not like every film has to end like that too, it will return for sure just not at the moment, that's not what SF was about either, Bond woman are just the icing on the cake.

"All my movies end this way, baby." We had ninteen "Bond saves the day and gets the girl" endings. I think it'd be for the best if the series moved on from this part of the formula. Don't get me wrong - I don't dislike them, and wouldn't mind seeing them return in the future. But the four non-traditional endings were so much more powerful and meaningful to me. I don't think I ever applauded harder at the end of a movie than my first viewing of Casino Royale. As Jamie said, the Craig era seems to be focusing more on creating natural conclusions, rather than conforming to the mold for the sake of tradition. I'm sure that we'll get an "Oh, James" that feels like a natural and logical end to the story in the near future. I suspect Bond 25 may mark the return of it, if the "two-part storyline" rumor is to be believed.

That rumor about Bond24 and Bond25 being connected has since been debunked by Daniel Craig.