388 replies to this topic

[Guy Haines]

I think SPECTRE was simply an introduction movie to Blofeld and to the sinister organisation. I think we will see that it successfully laid the groundwork for the next 2 movies.

I hope so. My biggest concern is that EON will splurge on SPECTRE the organization and Blofeld all too quickly, limiting their appearances to one more movie at most.

Heck, I'd be more than happy if this incarnation of the organization continued into the next Bond actor's tenure. Give it some real development. No need to show all your cards at once.

I have to say I am with you on this. The next movie (whether it is Craig's last or not) should focus on an excellent and tense story that really demonstrates the menace of the SPECTRE organisation. Now EON can finally use SPECTRE and Blofeld again I do hope they don't 'show all their cards at once' and build slowly on plot over maybe 2/3 films.

I've probably thought more about this movie - and changed views about parts of it - than any other recent Bond. Probably because of expectations that were set impossibly high by its immediate predecessor.

SPECTRE as it is now isn't any less sinister - in some ways it is probably more so. Instead of volcano rocket bases and atom bomb hijackings, it seeks to control the world from within, which in the real world is infinately more sinister.

But..... in the context of a Bond film you need something tangible to remind the audience how sinister SPECTRE is. And perhaps a confrontation in a room full of CCTV monitors isn't quite it. There's nothing inherently sinister about CCTV - in my role since last May I and my colleagues get the odd update about its use. And there it is, "use". It's how you use it. The CCTV scene in the film ought at least to have had a scene of Blofeld gleefully awaiting yet another atrocity, displayed on a larger screen, rather than sneak peeking MI6 and M's farewell. Not even Bond was impressed.

I'd have emphasised rather more what SPECTRE was doing on the ground - the incidents around the world it was orchestrating to get Nine Eyes going. As it is, all we got was a few seconds of mock TV coverage. I would also - and this is an idea floated by another Cbn member - have had Blofeld say that Silva's project wasn't just about killing the former M, but discrediting British Intelligence, paving the way for his ally Denbigh, the merger of the intelligence forces, the privatised Nine Eyes programme and the abolition of the Double Os.

[Surrie]

But..... in the context of a Bond film you need something tangible to remind the audience how sinister SPECTRE is. And perhaps a confrontation in a room full of CCTV monitors isn't quite it. There's nothing inherently sinister about CCTV - in my role since last May I and my colleagues get the odd update about its use. And there it is, "use". It's how you use it. The CCTV scene in the film ought at least to have had a scene of Blofeld gleefully awaiting yet another atrocity, displayed on a larger screen, rather than sneak peeking MI6 and M's farewell. Not even Bond was impressed.

I'd have emphasised rather more what SPECTRE was doing on the ground - the incidents around the world it was orchestrating to get Nine Eyes going. As it is, all we got was a few seconds of mock TV coverage. I would also - and this is an idea floated by another Cbn member - have had Blofeld say that Silva's project wasn't just about killing the former M, but discrediting British Intelligence, paving the way for his ally Denbigh, the merger of the intelligence forces, the privatised Nine Eyes programme and the abolition of the Double Os.

 

 

This is actually very accurate. If we had more emphasis on the type of atrocities SPECTRE were creating then it would have enabled us to believe more in their cause. 

[SecretAgentFan]

Come to think of it - the boardroom meeting... while I was impressed by the brooding menace of it... in hindsight I think there IS something very wrong with it.

 

If you want to establish a "realistic" conspiracy of big business, a worldwide operating organization that manipulates everything - that would be fine, timely and interesting.

 

But does it really make sense to have such a huge organization headed by only one man who acts like a maniac and allows one of the members to be killed gruesomely in front of the others?

 

Wouldn´t those people already conspire to remove that mad man because - let´s face it - that guy is bad for longterm business.  

 

It would have been much more interesting to have SPECTRE be absolutely "legal", which is why the business people here are impossible to prosecute - like... in the real world.

 

And Blofeld would have been the CEO, charming and snakelike, Christoph Waltz-ian indeed, but his henchmen would only work in the shadows.

 

The way SPECTRE does it is actually rather silly and childish.  Like the ensuing car chase and the Aston Martin with ejector seat.  Would Mi6 really develop something like that now?

 

Mendes lacked the courage of his previous ambition here.  In SKYFALL he made fun of those gimmicks.  And Silva showed that just a little computer manipulation is necessary to bring down economies.  Blofeld´s organization is not even needed.

 

So, I agree now: tieing in SIlva with Spectre was unnecessary and even negating Silva´s menace.

 

It should have been enough to connect Blofeld with LeChiffre - which would have explained the Mr.White connection - and having it evolved out of Quantum.

 

Yep, Mendes did not think it through.  I, of course, did.  Now.  

[tdalton]

I think the problem with the meeting is that it is, tonally, all over the place, much like the rest of Spectre.  It tries to be menacing, with Hinx killing the other member, but then they go for the comedy with Bond's nonsensical Mickey Mouse quip and then Blofeld's awkwardness with the microphone when he first takes hi seat at the head of the table.  

 

This is also the one area of the film where embracing the past could have been a good thing.  Blofeld being hidden somewhere, such as in a control room as he was in Thunderball, rather than simply hidden by strategic lighting would have been better.  Also having Blofeld himself executing a member of the organization could have helped give the character some menace.  Before he shows up with the scar in London at the end of the film, he really isn't menacing at all (and even then, that menace is on some level superficial), and is more of a comedic character along the lines of Charles Gray's incarnation.  

 

The lighting and yellow haze hanging over the whole thing doesn't help either.  

[Guy Haines]

Come to think of it - the boardroom meeting... while I was impressed by the brooding menace of it... in hindsight I think there IS something very wrong with it.
 
If you want to establish a "realistic" conspiracy of big business, a worldwide operating organization that manipulates everything - that would be fine, timely and interesting.
 
But does it really make sense to have such a huge organization headed by only one man who acts like a maniac and allows one of the members to be killed gruesomely in front of the others?
 
Wouldn´t those people already conspire to remove that mad man because - let´s face it - that guy is bad for longterm business.  
 
It would have been much more interesting to have SPECTRE be absolutely "legal", which is why the business people here are impossible to prosecute - like... in the real world.
 
And Blofeld would have been the CEO, charming and snakelike, Christoph Waltz-ian indeed, but his henchmen would only work in the shadows.
 
The way SPECTRE does it is actually rather silly and childish.  Like the ensuing car chase and the Aston Martin with ejector seat.  Would Mi6 really develop something like that now?
 
Mendes lacked the courage of his previous ambition here.  In SKYFALL he made fun of those gimmicks.  And Silva showed that just a little computer manipulation is necessary to bring down economies.  Blofeld´s organization is not even needed.
 
So, I agree now: tieing in SIlva with Spectre was unnecessary and even negating Silva´s menace.
 
It should have been enough to connect Blofeld with LeChiffre - which would have explained the Mr.White connection - and having it evolved out of Quantum.
 
Yep, Mendes did not think it through.  I, of course, did.  Now.  

One problem with the board meeting was the use of Hinx. Had he killed the man because he had either had his hand in the till (as per Number 9 in Thunderball) or had failed (Number 11 in YOLT) it would have made sense, have fitted Blofeld's own rule of "justice" being meted out in view of the board members (as per the novel of Thunderball) and still used Hinx as a human weapon. The gruesome method of execution could still have been used and tied in to the torture scene later in the film.

But instead it is used, really, to say to the audience "This is Hinx, he's big and bad." The "who challenges?" scene has no other point to it. Pity really, when you think of all the other nods in the direction of Bond movies past.

[Odd Jobbies]

One problem with the board meeting was the use of Hinx. Had he killed the man because he had either had his hand in the till (as per Number 9 in Thunderball) or had failed (Number 11 in YOLT) it would have made sense, have fitted Blofeld's own rule of "justice" being meted out in view of the board members (as per the novel of Thunderball) and still used Hinx as a human weapon. The gruesome method of execution could still have been used and tied in to the torture scene later in the film.

But instead it is used, really, to say to the audience "This is Hinx, he's big and bad." The "who challenges?" scene has no other point to it. Pity really, when you think of all the other nods in the direction of Bond movies past.

 

It serves as an insight into the ruthless nature of SPECTRE's recruitment policy - survival of the fittest.

 

The soon to be murdered boardmember made a show of how big his balls were; how suitable he was to replace Sciarra. So for me the line 'Who challenges' is simply telling us that there's someone else who thinks he can do that job better. Hinx showed them his qualifications.

[The Shark]

I think the problem with the meeting is that it is, tonally, all over the place, much like the rest of Spectre.  It tries to be menacing, with Hinx killing the other member, but then they go for the comedy with Bond's nonsensical Mickey Mouse quip and then Blofeld's awkwardness with the microphone when he first takes hi seat at the head of the table.

 
While I'm still a big fan of Skyfall and consider it the best Bond film since The Living Daylights, there's one scene (or rather moment) that doesn't work, and that's Bond dispatching Silva's guards on the Hashima island lair and bringing in Silva. After the death of Severine, played with quiet dread, the tonal shift to the triumphalism of the Bond theme and Bond's lead balloon of a punchline ("it's called a radio...") never sits right with me.

 

Spectre almost takes that scene from Skyfall and multiplies it. The film is full of these weird gear changes that seem to compromise or ignore what had occurred just minutes before.
 

This is also the one area of the film where embracing the past could have been a good thing.  Blofeld being hidden somewhere, such as in a control room as he was in Thunderball, rather than simply hidden by strategic lighting would have been better.  Also having Blofeld himself executing a member of the organization could have helped give the character some menace.  Before he shows up with the scar in London at the end of the film, he really isn't menacing at all (and even then, that menace is on some level superficial), and is more of a comedic character along the lines of Charles Gray's incarnation.

 

Even then, Charles Gray was 6' 4 and had some of the one liners in Bond canon.

[Guy Haines]

One problem with the board meeting was the use of Hinx. Had he killed the man because he had either had his hand in the till (as per Number 9 in Thunderball) or had failed (Number 11 in YOLT) it would have made sense, have fitted Blofeld's own rule of "justice" being meted out in view of the board members (as per the novel of Thunderball) and still used Hinx as a human weapon. The gruesome method of execution could still have been used and tied in to the torture scene later in the film.

But instead it is used, really, to say to the audience "This is Hinx, he's big and bad." The "who challenges?" scene has no other point to it. Pity really, when you think of all the other nods in the direction of Bond movies past.

 
It serves as an insight into the ruthless nature of SPECTRE's recruitment policy - survival of the fittest.
 
The soon to be murdered boardmember made a show of how big his balls were; how suitable he was to replace Sciarra. So for me the line 'Who challenges' is simply telling us that there's someone else who thinks he can do that job better. Hinx showed them his qualifications.

Certainly one way of looking at it. Perhaps the SPECTRE of our day and age is even more Darwinian than in the 1960s - bump someone off before they've had a chance to lose to James Bond.;-)

[Dustin]

I still think it doesn't work too well. Your explanation is certainly in line with the intention of the writers there, Odd Jobbies. But it feels like this scene should not need an explanation, we should be aware of the motives of this Hinx guy and his victim. But if memory serves nobody really had an idea what was going to happen there, not even Blofeld. The result is a piece of violent exposition that serves as its own raison d'être, just as Guy said. Later Blofeld speaks about witnessing this moment as if it was some kind of revelation for him. This is probably most in line with the gone-round-the-bend crazy lunatic of You Only Live Twice. But it underlines even more that strangely unmotivated brutality to me. Look at it like this: when Bond kills one of Spectre's goons the others do their possibly best to kill him. When Hinx does the same - in a particularly unpleasant manner - the rest of the firm sits and watches and apparently hand him the keys to Blofeld's private lavatory. It is a somewhat strange approach to corporate administration and employee motivation.

[SecretAgentFan]

This.

[sharpshooter]

Bond is an intruder, Hinx is not. When Hinx enters the room there aren't any whispers of "who is this guy and how did he get in?" So he must have been a familiar enough face to the people present. His brutality was unexpected but it nonetheless followed on from a verbal cue, asking if anyone wanted to challenge for the role. No one dared challenge Hinx after this, so they let it be. The job was his. Bond was identified as an intruder straight away, even before he went up the stairs.

[DaveBond21]

Bond is an intruder, Hinx is not. When Hinx enters the room there aren't any whispers of "who is this guy and how did he get in?" So he must have been a familiar enough face to the people present. His brutality was unexpected but it nonetheless followed on from a verbal cue, asking if anyone wanted to challenge for the role. No one dared challenge Hinx after this, so they let it be. The job was his. Bond was identified as an intruder straight away, even before he went up the stairs.

 

Yes and also there's always the chance that it was all arranged by Blofeld and Hinx beforehand. Blofeld liked drama and maybe Hinx was handing out some punishment to a failed SPECTRE agent.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

[RMc2]

Yeah, I got the impression Blofeld already planned it. Hence the overly theatrical beckoning of his aides just to ask 'does anyone wish to challenge it?'.

 

Still, there didn't seem to be any reason to kill the Italian fella. He was grandstanding, but we have no idea if he'd done anything to merit death.

 

Just part of the film's problem as a whole: we never feel the villains' motivation. They just do stuff.

[Guy Haines]

Bond is an intruder, Hinx is not. When Hinx enters the room there aren't any whispers of "who is this guy and how did he get in?" So he must have been a familiar enough face to the people present. His brutality was unexpected but it nonetheless followed on from a verbal cue, asking if anyone wanted to challenge for the role. No one dared challenge Hinx after this, so they let it be. The job was his. Bond was identified as an intruder straight away, even before he went up the stairs.

 
Yes and also there's always the chance that it was all arranged by Blofeld and Hinx beforehand. Blofeld liked drama and maybe Hinx was handing out some punishment to a failed SPECTRE agent.
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The trouble is, failed at what? The Italian was all for going ahead and killing The Pale King, whatever it took. If he had been in charge of SPECTRE's execution department and was viacriously responsible for the failure to kill Mr White I could understand it. But we aren't told that, or anything about this bloke. His gruesome demise appears to be nothing more than a device to (1) introduce Hinx and (2) give Oberhauser something to prattle on about before he starts to torture Bond later in the film.

Of course, it could have been a warning to the entire membership that no one is indispensible - a case of "pour encourager les autres" (to encourage the others) to redouble their efforts - or else!

[SecretAgentFan]

It actually does not even appear very sensible for Blofeld to favour a brute like Hinx who does not even speak over someone who might be grandstanding but obviously is at least more intelligent.

 

For me, the scene would have worked so much better if the guy had been brought to task for something, maybe even challenging Blofeld for the no.1 position - and then Hinx could have been brought in to show the other members what happens when someone fails or criticizes the big cheese.

[Guy Haines]

It actually does not even appear very sensible for Blofeld to favour a brute like Hinx who does not even speak over someone who might be grandstanding but obviously is at least more intelligent.

For me, the scene would have worked so much better if the guy had been brought to task for something, maybe even challenging Blofeld for the no.1 position - and then Hinx could have been brought in to show the other members what happens when someone fails or criticizes the big cheese.

It actually does not even appear very sensible for Blofeld to favour a brute like Hinx who does not even speak over someone who might be grandstanding but obviously is at least more intelligent.

For me, the scene would have worked so much better if the guy had been brought to task for something, maybe even challenging Blofeld for the no.1 position - and then Hinx could have been brought in to show the other members what happens when someone fails or criticizes the big cheese.

It was a film replete with nods and winks to the classic era and yet the old "blame one number but execute the other" routine that the pre-reboot Blofeld used to do was missed out. Then again, maybe it was missed because the screenwriters, at that stage of the film, didn't want the audience to be sure - as if we couldn't guess! - that the man in the shadows was ESB. Fans would have spotted that "Blofeld-ism" straightaway and just sat back for the rest of the film, convinced it was the man himself and just waiting for the inevitable Bond meets bad guy scene later on in which ESB reveals to 007 that, yes, he is indeed ESB.

[sharpshooter]

I don't think the Italian SPECTRE member failed at anything. He wants to kill Mr White, but Hinx simply wanted to kill him more. Dog eat dog.

[Dustin]

Probably. That was like I understood that scene, it's just not very satisfying for me.

[ggl]

By the way, mr. Guerra is not Italian. He's Spanish! http://www.archivo00...redo-en-spectre

 

[TheREAL008]

To me, these points are the main reasons why SPECTRE should have been more FRWL and/or Thunderball'esque. 

 

Yes, there's a sinister organization lurking in the shadows pulling strings but we shouldn't have had the big reveal until MAYBE Bond 27. Have SPECTRE mentioned here and there and have Waltz be Blofeld but have the classic elements as well, like only showing either his torso or even the cat, or his hands. Not the face just yet.

Another thing, there should have been alittle more backstory as to why Mr. White splintered off and formed Quantum with Le Chiffre. 

[Harmsway]

Okay, here's (loosely) what I'd do with the SPECTRE follow-up.


It opens with Bond living in Jamaica with Madeleine (perhaps, in a nod to Fleming, they could use the actual Goldeneye house as Bond's home). He's working as a security consultant for the Governor-General of Jamaica. We get to see something we haven't seen before: what Bond looks like detached from his work. He's clearly bored--gambling too riskily, driving his car too fast when alone--but is certainly in love with Madeleine. So what we get is a bit of Don Draper circa season five of Mad Men, who was torn between his own personal desires and giving his wife what she wants.

Blofeld, who is being held in a secure facility in the Falklands, escapes. His first act is to get revenge on Bond: Madeleine is killed. With that, CraigBond doesn't go into depression, but, resigned to being 007, rampages through the remnants of the SPECTRE organization like Connery tears through SPECTRE in the pre-title sequence of Diamonds Are Forever: kicking ass, taking names, all the while taking the time to savor every drink and girl he comes across because, deep down, he believes he's going to his grave and that this is his last opportunity to enjoy it all. It's not really a quest for revenge as much as it is a fatalistic acceptance that his true love will always be the mission, not the girl; Madeleine's death is less a deep wound than an event that finally jars Bond out of a dream that he, deep down, always knew was nothing more than a dream.

Meanwhile, Blofeld's gone batty after SPECTRE and is launching an outlandish plan: he wants to his own nation-state. He intends to use a biological virus (which is capable of targeting specific DNA strains and populations) as the tool to get his wish. So he's holed up in a research facility in some fictional country where he's supplanted the existing power structure, preparing to blackmail major world leaders. This research facility, naturally, contains a "Garden of Death": a menagerie of poisonous plants and animals, all ostensibly for research purposes, but also convenient for dispatching inadequate henchmen and to subject Bond to a grueling, nightmarish final test of skill.

You end with the picture with Bond killing Blofeld during a dramatic final assault (for the first time in decades, we get a full-on commando assault on the villain's lair), but presumed dead. While composing his second obituary, Fiennes' M can comment that it takes a hell of a man to meet two deaths in the service of his country. Meanwhile, an unconscious Bond is found by a local (perhaps an improbably beautiful girl, in a nod to classic Bond tradition). The last shot: Bond opens his eyes. Cue Bond fanfare and big JAMES BOND WILL RETURN banner.

[sharpshooter]

Magnificent concept. I'd see it. 

[DCI_director]

I don't want to see another "Bond going rogue" storyline again. I just want to see the series finally getting on with it. Having Bond go on a mission that actually is a threat to England or it's interest. I can see Bond not really leaving MI6 at the end of Spectre, but on vacation. I want the Madeline storyline to have ended with Spectre. Whether Spectre returns, Im indifferent about. But im ready for Bond 25 and the future movies to be independent of themselves and not making them sequels to each other so that you can watch them in any order. I will say a commando unit fighting along side Bond in the finale battle would be nice to see again. As well as a few gadgets!

[coco1997]

I'd love to see you flesh that story concept out into a full treatment, Harmsway.

[mattjoes]

I love that premise, Harmsway, and your idea for the character of Bond is the right one, I think. The love scene with Monica Bellucci? We should see more of that 007.

 

I also like the idea of Blofeld going flat out crazy, pursuing crime not mostly for practical purposes but primarily to satisfy his demented ego.

[Harmsway]

I'd love to see you flesh that story concept out into a full treatment, Harmsway.

I do have enough ideas to do just that, but I purposefully left a lot out. I wanna keep any really good stuff in my back pocket (for original projects, naturally).

[DaveBond21]

I don't need to see Madeleine Swann in the next movie.

[SecretAgentFan]

Very interesting ideas, going back to Fleming, of course.  

 

The major problem that SPECTRE has built up: Madeleine.

 

If Bond just had gone with her at the end for another "vacation" it wouldn´t have been a problem.  But this whole "quit the service"-idea is so needlessly absurd.  We know Bond won´t quit for good.

 

It´s the same stupidity that befalls some tv shows when the main character is supposedly dying or framed for a crime he didn´t commit - of course, the hero will not die or be found guilty.  He´s the hero, damnit.  

 

Why did Mendes and Craig and EON go for that ending?  

 

a)  it was just considered to be "shocking", with no actual thought of having to explain it in BOND 25

 

b ) it was meant to close out the Craig tenure, and everybody involved already knew that this would be it

 

c) it was planted because they already know that they will start BOND 25 with the premise of OHMSS´ ending.  

 

 

I´d go for option b and c, actually.  The original last line was "We have all the time in the world" - and the teaser poster was a direct quote of OHMSS´ ending.  Something that was never mentioned again, curiously.  But why use that iconic image of the bullet hole in the windshield with no purpose?

 

I believe during the filming of SPECTRE something happened within Craig´s mindset.  He probably became disinterested in future Bond films due to the massive commitment they are, a strain on one´s time and body, with so much pressure on everybody to deliver.  I could imagine him telling EON: this is it.  Won´t do any more.  This is my swan song as Bond.  

 

Which was a major bummer for EON since they planned on doing what they thought would have been better for OHMSS: remove Tracy´s death from the end of the film (as Broccoli stated afterwards) and put it at the beginning of the next film.  With Craig not returning, this plan - once again - was scrapped.  They removed the last line.

 

Now, with Bond actors threatening to leave EON does have lots of experience.  And sometimes the actors do come back.  So it may be still possible to continue as planned.

 

If Craig stays - the Madeleine situation, however, has to be resolved.  Not acknowledging her in BOND 25 would be awkward and diminish her stature in SPECTRE completely.  She is the one Bond wants to quit the service for.  When he returns there must be a very good reason for it.  Seeking revenge for her death seems to be the only one.

[Double-Oh Agent]

Yeah, I got the impression Blofeld already planned it. Hence the overly theatrical beckoning of his aides just to ask 'does anyone wish to challenge it?'.

 

That was my impression too. I also think Blofeld sent Hinx after Bond and Madeleine on the train. But after Bond and Madeleine survived the encounter, Blofeld decided to make the most of it and have some fun at Bond's expense by needling him (pun not intended) and torturing him.

 

 

It actually does not even appear very sensible for Blofeld to favour a brute like Hinx who does not even speak over someone who might be grandstanding but obviously is at least more intelligent.

For me, the scene would have worked so much better if the guy had been brought to task for something, maybe even challenging Blofeld for the no.1 position - and then Hinx could have been brought in to show the other members what happens when someone fails or criticizes the big cheese.

It actually does not even appear very sensible for Blofeld to favour a brute like Hinx who does not even speak over someone who might be grandstanding but obviously is at least more intelligent.

For me, the scene would have worked so much better if the guy had been brought to task for something, maybe even challenging Blofeld for the no.1 position - and then Hinx could have been brought in to show the other members what happens when someone fails or criticizes the big cheese.

It was a film replete with nods and winks to the classic era and yet the old "blame one number but execute the other" routine that the pre-reboot Blofeld used to do was missed out. Then again, maybe it was missed because the screenwriters, at that stage of the film, didn't want the audience to be sure - as if we couldn't guess! - that the man in the shadows was ESB. Fans would have spotted that "Blofeld-ism" straightaway and just sat back for the rest of the film, convinced it was the man himself and just waiting for the inevitable Bond meets bad guy scene later on in which ESB reveals to 007 that, yes, he is indeed ESB.

 

I agree. It would have been much better just to eliminate the Oberhauser backstory altogether and just had Bond meet Blofeld for the first time. The title SPECTRE, the bullet hole teaser poster, everything screams Blofeld and his organization is returning. Why did there need to be so much secrecy. All they/we needed was the big build up to the moment they meet. That alone would have resulted in a satisfactory payoff.

 

As far as the thread, I don't want to see Madeleine again. Bond and her just went on a vacation at the end of SPECTRE. She's just another Bond girl and gone by the next film just like the others. (I never bought into their relationship being all that extra special anyway.)

 

I would start out Bond 25 by having Irma Bunt break Ernst Stavro Blofeld out of prison and M sends 007 after them. During his manhunt, James Bond learns that Blofeld is blackmailing the world powers, threatening to coordinate high profile assassinations unless the respective countries pay his asking price. Those that don't soon see the SPECTRE leader somehow make good on his claims despite all their extra precautions. Eventually Bond tracks Blofeld down to Japan where he encounters a Garden of Death and squares off against his arch-nemesis. In their "battle to the death" 007 survives but loses his memory and is "rescued" by Bunt who doesn't kill Bond upon seeing the mental state that he is in. Instead, sensing an opportunity for revenge, she takes him with her and starts to brainwash him. Cue the end credits. Bond 26 would then start its pre-title sequence with the opening from The Man With The Golden Gun novel with a brand new James Bond actor in the role.

[Surrie]

Okay, here's (loosely) what I'd do with the SPECTRE follow-up.


It opens with Bond living in Jamaica with Madeleine (perhaps, in a nod to Fleming, they could use the actual Goldeneye house as Bond's home). He's working as a security consultant for the Governor-General of Jamaica. We get to see something we haven't seen before: what Bond looks like detached from his work. He's clearly bored--gambling too riskily, driving his car too fast when alone--but is certainly in love with Madeleine. So what we get is a bit of Don Draper circa season five of Mad Men, who was torn between his own personal desires and giving his wife what she wants.

Blofeld, who is being held in a secure facility in the Falklands, escapes. His first act is to get revenge on Bond: Madeleine is killed. With that, CraigBond doesn't go into depression, but, resigned to being 007, rampages through the remnants of the SPECTRE organization like Connery tears through SPECTRE in the pre-title sequence of Diamonds Are Forever: kicking ass, taking names, all the while taking the time to savor every drink and girl he comes across because, deep down, he believes he's going to his grave and that this is his last opportunity to enjoy it all. It's not really a quest for revenge as much as it is a fatalistic acceptance that his true love will always be the mission, not the girl; Madeleine's death is less a deep wound than an event that finally jars Bond out of a dream that he, deep down, always knew was nothing more than a dream.

Meanwhile, Blofeld's gone batty after SPECTRE and is launching an outlandish plan: he wants to his own nation-state. He intends to use a biological virus (which is capable of targeting specific DNA strains and populations) as the tool to get his wish. So he's holed up in a research facility in some fictional country where he's supplanted the existing power structure, preparing to blackmail major world leaders. This research facility, naturally, contains a "Garden of Death": a menagerie of poisonous plants and animals, all ostensibly for research purposes, but also convenient for dispatching inadequate henchmen and to subject Bond to a grueling, nightmarish final test of skill.

You end with the picture with Bond killing Blofeld during a dramatic final assault (for the first time in decades, we get a full-on commando assault on the villain's lair), but presumed dead. While composing his second obituary, Fiennes' M can comment that it takes a hell of a man to meet two deaths in the service of his country. Meanwhile, an unconscious Bond is found by a local (perhaps an improbably beautiful girl, in a nod to classic Bond tradition). The last shot: Bond opens his eyes. Cue Bond fanfare and big JAMES BOND WILL RETURN banner.

 

This actually gave me goosebumps. Bravo!