73 replies to this topic

[Harmsway]

We are trying to see some signification on this impact on glass, but I bet that its relation with the film will be minimal.

It's an impact on ice, I think, not glass.

So if Oberhauser's death is a significant part of the story, then it could refer to that.

[Professor Pi]

For years I collected nearly every Bond movie poster made.  I have yet to buy one for Skyfall. 

[lonestar]

The bullet hole in the teaser poster immediately  reminded me of the last image of OHMSS . Now for a plot idea out of left field: Since Craig and Mendes both have spoken about " destroying the myth" or turning the old conventions of the Bond films inside out, what if Blofeld(Waltz) IS back and when Bond attempts to kill him at the end of the movie, he misses and kills his wife/lover/right hand man(Belucci) instead. An interesting twist on the OHMSS story and sets up and different version of YOLT as well. They can use elements from both novels and films with out doing remakes

[Emrayfo]

With a film called SPECTRE and the events that lead up to the end of OHMSS, the similarities between these images cannot possibly be coincidental. 

 

 

 

I think the bullet hole in the poster is clearly meant to be through a sheet of glass and it is the windscreen of a car that would most usually look like that after a gunshot. 

Once you have put that many things together with a SPECTRE octopus, it has to represent the death of Tracy in Bond lore.  

 

^^ I am not completely convinced by this reasoning. Mendes and Craig want to do something original that will be memorable in its own right, and also complete the story arc commenced in CR. They do not want to re-imagine or re-cast the most iconic character history story of the franchise. I agree the bullet hole does evoke Tracy's death, but only in an indirect way and only for the cognoscenti. It may not even be purposeful. It is just too abstruse an image to be a direct reference to the story of the film to come. I must admit that I share the same guilty pleasure with the above posters - heading down the semiotic rabbit hole is a beguiling temptation when it comes to new Bond films, especially since CR. But maybe sometimes we are being too clever (or is it just wishful thinking?).

 

Rather, I think there is a much better (and simpler) candidate available. The SPECTRE bullet hole, apart from being a striking and clever bit of design in it's own right, is also an artful and straightforward homage to another piece of Bondian imagery which happens to be related to one of Mendes' favourite Bond film - LALD.

 

 

It's certainly evocative of Tracy's death, but I suspect (purely based on my own speculation) that the bullet hole is meant to connect to the death of Hannes Oberhauser, the moment at which Blofeld's sinister activities really took root and SPECTRE was effectively born. Note that the bullet hole on the SPECTRE poster appears to run through ice, rather than glass.

 

^^ This makes a lot more intuitive sense to me and links in nicely with the teaser trailer and full trailer #1. While I cannot tell whether the medium of the bullet hole is glass or ice, what I can see is a direct stylistic reference not to OHMSS but to LALD, which is in keeping with the turtleneck and shoulder holster reference in the teaser poster. I'm surprised this similarity (between the LALD and SPECTRE bullet holes) hasn't been commented on more, especially after the Craig teaser poster came out.

 

 

 

 

[SecretAgentFan]

I agree - it´s not a direct reference to Tracy, more a general reference to iconic images from Bond history.

 

Personally, I´m torn between my wish for CraigBond to continue without any more plans for revenge - or to follow a route with a "Tracy"-like death caused by Blofeld that he then can revenge in a more faithful "You only live twice"-kind of conclusion.

[Emrayfo]

Yes, I think like a lot of us here, I too quite like the idea of a faithful literary YOLT-type conclusion. But maybe that can wait till the film after SPECTRE.

[sharpshooter]

Yes, I think like a lot of us here, I too quite like the idea of a faithful literary YOLT-type conclusion.

I could see elements of YOLT used, but not all obviously. The beginning of Skyfall had the whole obituary/believed dead concept. 

[tdalton]

 

Yes, I think like a lot of us here, I too quite like the idea of a faithful literary YOLT-type conclusion.

I could see elements of YOLT used, but not all obviously. The beginning of Skyfall had the whole obituary/believed dead concept. 

 

 

I think you'd could almost say that the inclusion of those elements in Skyfall makes it more likely we'll see them again in Bond 25, given how fond of repeating themselves EON seems to be.

[Trevelyan 006]

Okay, okay. So bear with me here...

 

I've been thinking and it seems less and less likely that either of the women in this movie will be surpassing the love that Bond shared for Vesper. Not nearly enough to marry one of them. So, what if the bullet hole signifies the death of somebody else. If it is not to be a love interest, who else could be killed that is significant enough to be the teaser poster of the film. Villains are always killed. Not nearly poster worthy (in my opinion). That only leaves one:

 

What if it is Bond himself that is killed by SPECTRE at the end of the movie? "Well, I understand Double-Ohs have a very short life expectancy." 

 

Before I get crucified, I'd like to elaborate. SPECTRE is Bond's greatest opposition and Craig's Bond has already faced so much tragedy and loss. Who's to say his Bond is one hundred percent there mentally. His love died to spare him, Fields died protecting him, Mathis is killed, M (who was vastly important to him) was just killed in the last movie, he has to operate without the help of the office in this one... And so forth. It is possible that all these events have been formulated to chip away at Bond's mental strength. Perhaps, he ends up in a position just vulnerable enough for SPECTRE to catch him slipping? If this is to be Craig's last, perhaps his Bond becomes the most tragic case (Thanks, Mr. Greene) of them all...

Edited by Trevelyan 006, 31 July 2015 - 05:01 PM.

[Shrublands]

Okay, okay. So bear with me here...

 

I've been thinking and it seems less and less likely that either of the women in this movie will be surpassing the love that Bond shared for Vesper. Not nearly enough to marry one of them. 

 

Why do you get that impression. We haven't seen or been told that much yet.

We have been told that Swann is the daughter of Mr White and that because of this she understands Bond in a way that most others cannot.

 

This daughter of a dangerous criminal kingpin and the pact to protect her in order to get to Spectre has serious shades of Tracy.

[Guy Haines]

Bond "killed" at the end, eh? Now that would be a risk for the franchise, to put it mildly. They could do it in YOLT and SF because Bond's "death" meant nothing coming as it did before the theme tune. The audience knew that he'd crop up soon in the film.

 

But bumping him off at the end, or appearing to, as Fleming did to his character in the novel "From Russia With Love"? ("You Only Live Twice" is a different case - here the reader knew Bond wasn't dead, although certainly not himself, whereas "the office" back home didn't.) Depends how you did it, and then would follow the triumphant articles from the Bond-loathers in the media- a small but occasionally vocal group - welcoming what they think is the end of the series. Plus disappointment from the fans and most audiences I dare say, followed by the inevitable conspiracy theories ("He's not really dead you know!") and reminders from those old enough to remember the 1950s that..... Mr Fleming himself tried this with "From Russia With Love", only to revive 007 in "Dr No".

 

It could be made to work - with the end credits re-arranged to read "Will James Bond Return?" - but I think it may be a risk too far for these producers.

 

As for the echoes of Tracy in Madeleine - not lost on me either, although to judge from the Spectre trailer Ms. Swann seems far better informed about her father's associations and activities than Tracy ever appeared to be about Draco's. She knows the name of a certain global but secret organisation for one.

 

(It conjures up a picture of domestic conversations between Mr White and his daughter; "So Madeleine, how was your day?" - "Oh, just another routine day of treatments at that alpine clinic. And you?" - "Oh, I've been busy laundering billions in dollars from an African wardlord, passing them on to our banker who lost them on the stock market and the poker table, assassinating him and then blackmailing a British treasury official into recovering the money with the help of an MI6 agent. We were hoping the treasury girl might turn this MI6 chap, but she went and killed herself instead. Still, at least we got them money in the end. Apart from that, nothing special."

 

You know, it does make you wonder. In QoS neither the CIA nor MI6 had ever heard of Quantum, yet the trailer for Spectre clearly shows that Madeleine Swann has heard of SPECTRE. Unless she's Mr White's insurance policy - if SPECTRE gets him she has instructions to sing like a canary about Quantum, SPECTRE or anything else?)

[MajorB]

My hunch is that Bond's "death" at the beginning of Skyfall makes it unlikely that a similar notion would be used again so soon.  

[tdalton]

Bond "killed" at the end, eh? Now that would be a risk for the franchise, to put it mildly. They could do it in YOLT and SF because Bond's "death" meant nothing coming as it did before the theme tune. The audience knew that he'd crop up soon in the film.

 

 

It would be disastrous for the franchise, I would think.  

 

Leaving things on a cliffhanger would be one thing, and could very well work, but outright killing Bond at the end of a film would be a disaster that would quite probably lead to the franchise's returns beginning to erode in the next few installments, unless they were able to absolutely nail the casting of the new rebooted Bond for the next film.

[Trevelyan 006]

 

Bond "killed" at the end, eh? Now that would be a risk for the franchise, to put it mildly. They could do it in YOLT and SF because Bond's "death" meant nothing coming as it did before the theme tune. The audience knew that he'd crop up soon in the film.

 

 

It would be disastrous for the franchise, I would think.  

 

Leaving things on a cliffhanger would be one thing, and could very well work, but outright killing Bond at the end of a film would be a disaster that would quite probably lead to the franchise's returns beginning to erode in the next few installments, unless they were able to absolutely nail the casting of the new rebooted Bond for the next film.

 

If such a thing were to happen, I could only assume that the Bond films would cease for a decent amount of time. All of this should be taken assuming after Craig, we get a "soft reboot" similar to when he took up the job... As well, assuming again, that Craig's timeline is one all on its own.

 

My hunch is that Bond's "death" at the beginning of Skyfall makes it unlikely that a similar notion would be used again so soon.  

That's a very fair point!

Edited by Trevelyan 006, 03 August 2015 - 08:20 PM.