43 replies to this topic

[Dustin]

I could be entirely wrong there - I'm more often than not, I admit - but I somehow think when they offered Waltz this particular character they may have been clever enough to include an option for a follow up. After all, if he were not on board for the next film they would not just have to replace him, they would have to replace him with a guy of similar calibre. They don't often get villains this good; in the last twenty years only Bardem came across this good. I would actually still say his Silva was the better villain. If they recast Bloferhauser they will have to better make it a bloody good job.

[byline]

 

 

 

The scar is rather pointless if this is the only film he appears in.

I would say, for all that has been made of this film; the 'return' of the 'archenemy'; the casting decisions - purposely using an actor whose recent work includes reinventing the archenemy of another iconic character - the Oberhauser setup; the brilliant Waltz; the reinvention of Spectre; for all of this boo hay Blofeld has been barely scratched on the surface. If this really should have been 'it' then they wasted the opportunity.

No, Blofeld must return.

 

 

Quite. To me this film feels like a setup for the next ones (which is also why I don't think Bond retired).

 

 

Unless of course Tracy, I mean Madeleine, is shot through the window of a car as they go off to start a life together. I was really expecting it at the very end of the movie and won't be shocked if we see it at the start of the next one. My only hope being that both Waltz and Seydoux return if they go that route. 

And wouldn't it make things interesting if it were Hinx, who somehow survived (in the improbable way that certain Bond henchmen do) and was the hitman?

[deth]

 

 

 

 

The scar is rather pointless if this is the only film he appears in.

I would say, for all that has been made of this film; the 'return' of the 'archenemy'; the casting decisions - purposely using an actor whose recent work includes reinventing the archenemy of another iconic character - the Oberhauser setup; the brilliant Waltz; the reinvention of Spectre; for all of this boo hay Blofeld has been barely scratched on the surface. If this really should have been 'it' then they wasted the opportunity.

No, Blofeld must return.

 

 

Quite. To me this film feels like a setup for the next ones (which is also why I don't think Bond retired).

 

 

Unless of course Tracy, I mean Madeleine, is shot through the window of a car as they go off to start a life together. I was really expecting it at the very end of the movie and won't be shocked if we see it at the start of the next one. My only hope being that both Waltz and Seydoux return if they go that route. 

And wouldn't it make things interesting if it were Hinx, who somehow survived (in the improbable way that certain Bond henchmen do) and was the hitman?

 

 

That would actually be a little hilarious. Finally gets his target.

[Pushkin]

 

 

 

 

 

The scar is rather pointless if this is the only film he appears in.

I would say, for all that has been made of this film; the 'return' of the 'archenemy'; the casting decisions - purposely using an actor whose recent work includes reinventing the archenemy of another iconic character - the Oberhauser setup; the brilliant Waltz; the reinvention of Spectre; for all of this boo hay Blofeld has been barely scratched on the surface. If this really should have been 'it' then they wasted the opportunity.

No, Blofeld must return.

 

 

Quite. To me this film feels like a setup for the next ones (which is also why I don't think Bond retired).

 

 

Unless of course Tracy, I mean Madeleine, is shot through the window of a car as they go off to start a life together. I was really expecting it at the very end of the movie and won't be shocked if we see it at the start of the next one. My only hope being that both Waltz and Seydoux return if they go that route. 

And wouldn't it make things interesting if it were Hinx, who somehow survived (in the improbable way that certain Bond henchmen do) and was the hitman?

 

 

That would actually be a little hilarious. Finally gets his target.

 

 

And perhaps in another nod, we can give him metal teeth that he needed after being thrown off the train!

[Trevelyan 006]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scar is rather pointless if this is the only film he appears in.

I would say, for all that has been made of this film; the 'return' of the 'archenemy'; the casting decisions - purposely using an actor whose recent work includes reinventing the archenemy of another iconic character - the Oberhauser setup; the brilliant Waltz; the reinvention of Spectre; for all of this boo hay Blofeld has been barely scratched on the surface. If this really should have been 'it' then they wasted the opportunity.

No, Blofeld must return.

 

 

Quite. To me this film feels like a setup for the next ones (which is also why I don't think Bond retired).

 

 

Unless of course Tracy, I mean Madeleine, is shot through the window of a car as they go off to start a life together. I was really expecting it at the very end of the movie and won't be shocked if we see it at the start of the next one. My only hope being that both Waltz and Seydoux return if they go that route. 

And wouldn't it make things interesting if it were Hinx, who somehow survived (in the improbable way that certain Bond henchmen do) and was the hitman?

 

 

That would actually be a little hilarious. Finally gets his target.

 

 

And perhaps in another nod, we can give him metal teeth that he needed after being thrown off the train!

 

And a matching razor-brimmed bowler hat, perhaps?

[sharpshooter]

Not cutting edge, but I liked it.

My thoughts too.

[dtuba]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The scar is rather pointless if this is the only film he appears in.

I would say, for all that has been made of this film; the 'return' of the 'archenemy'; the casting decisions - purposely using an actor whose recent work includes reinventing the archenemy of another iconic character - the Oberhauser setup; the brilliant Waltz; the reinvention of Spectre; for all of this boo hay Blofeld has been barely scratched on the surface. If this really should have been 'it' then they wasted the opportunity.

No, Blofeld must return.

 

 

Quite. To me this film feels like a setup for the next ones (which is also why I don't think Bond retired).

 

 

Unless of course Tracy, I mean Madeleine, is shot through the window of a car as they go off to start a life together. I was really expecting it at the very end of the movie and won't be shocked if we see it at the start of the next one. My only hope being that both Waltz and Seydoux return if they go that route. 

And wouldn't it make things interesting if it were Hinx, who somehow survived (in the improbable way that certain Bond henchmen do) and was the hitman?

 

 

That would actually be a little hilarious. Finally gets his target.

 

 

And perhaps in another nod, we can give him metal teeth that he needed after being thrown off the train!

 

And a matching razor-brimmed bowler hat, perhaps?

 

Better that than him "trans"forming into Irma Bunt...

[Guy Haines]

I've had a think about ESB.

The re-introduction of Bond showed him as this tough, commando type - more Special Boat Squadron than RNVR. Similarly, M is now a former SAS Colonel well used to action, rather than a desk bound retired Admiral. Moneypenny a former field agent from a minority ethnic background, Q a young IT genius, Even Tanner is more efficient civil servant than ex-military and Bond's old golfing pal.

Yet..... when it came to Bond's arch nemesis there wasn't really an attempt to re-imagine him, beyond giving him a background which for some fans stretched credulity. (It didn't bother me that much as in the end it was treated in an almost offhand manner.) Everything else was in place - the jacket, the cat, even the scar down the right hand side of the face.

At the time of first viewing I thought "great", but on reflection I wonder now if an opportunity wasn't missed - especially when a great actor like Christoph Waltz was in the role - to reimagine Blofeld.

Now, I'm aware there was a draft of SPECTRE which showed ESB as an African warlord. I think that might have been a step too far away from the character's origins. But a lot of what we come to associate with Blofeld didn't actually originate with Ian Fleming's novels - his taste in pets, his dress sense for example. SPECTRE could have offered a Blofeld closer to Fleming's idea - admittedly slimmed down somewhat, but without the props.

Moreover, I wonder if a Mao suited cat stroking Blofeld quite fits with what SPECTRE the organisation is now about. The head man doesn't sit there any more in a hollwed out volcano stroking a cat and watching his space rockets launch so much as control people and governments from within. In some ways, Andrew Scott's character is closer to that kind of villain than Christoph Waltz's.

None of which prevented me from enjoying the movie - but when the various characters of the Bond films were steadily re-invented for the Craig era, I expected that sooner or later ESB would emerge, the same but different.Instead, was it a case of "the more things change.......?"

[dtuba]

Frankly I could have done without the scar. Waltz is creepy enough, his Blofeld does not need the visual deformity to be a sinister villain. Of all the early Blofelds, Pleasance's is my least favorite (OK, maybe DAF Blofeld is worse).

[Professor Pi]

My favorite Blofeld is the one from the For Your Eyes Only PTS, strangely enough.  Then Savales, Waltz, Gray and Pleasance.

[Surrie]

I genuinely believe EON thinks the audience want to see these characteristics. I have to admit when I saw the cat and his scar towards the end of the film a smile did creep across my face - but I think EON are worried if they don't include these 'old traditions' they will be in more trouble with fans than if they did have them!

[FlemingBond]

i thought the new backstory was bad enough, but when he was shown with the scar and cloudy eye he only became even sillier.

[tdalton]

I didn't mind the scar.  I guess that's partly because, it was only at that part in the film that Waltz showed any real menace as Blofeld.  Before that, and to a certain degree after as well, he wasn't a memorable villain.  

 

You'd think that, if Blofeld was behind everything that happened in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, that we wouldn't have to spend the entirety of SPECTRE trying to reveal who he is and find him.  Retrospectively, that's what the previous three films are now supposed to be about.   

[sharpshooter]

My favorite Blofeld is the one from the For Your Eyes Only PTS, strangely enough.  Then Savales, Waltz, Gray and Pleasance.

Gray and Savalas remain my favourite Blofeld incarnations. The others aren't awful, though.