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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2018 3:46:55 GMT
How with at least three of them they were cashing in on popular contemporary trends in cinema:
Live and Let Die - blaxploitation
The Man With the Golden Gun - martial arts movies
Moonraker - Star Wars
I don't get that feeling with any other Bond in the series?
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 25, 2018 3:49:38 GMT
I think the modern Bonds do try to capitalize on the Bourne flicks—they’re notably less “Bondian,” more mired in so-called “realism” (i.e., brooding). (Casino Royale always excepted, of course.) Bond in a post-Le Carré world.
I’m sure one can think of some more, though none are coming to mind…
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ravi02
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Post by ravi02 on Feb 26, 2018 19:47:03 GMT
Maybe the films weren't following trends directly, but I noticed some other aspects:
You Only Live Twice - Japanese setting with Ninjas and colorful sets.
Octopussy - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released the year after, but the two films share some superficial similarities (Indian setting, gross out dinner feast, the hero fighting a big Sikh henchman, Indian palaces).
License to Kill - I see some influences of Scarface, Lethal Weapon and Die Hard through the Latin drug lord villains, more personal revenge story and more gruesome kills (at least for a Bond film).
Tomorrow Never Dies - It was released in Dec. 1997 as the Internet was beginning to arrive in people's lives and some Hong Kong influence since martial arts films were becoming popular again.
Die Another Day - reliant on CGI sequences like many action movies of the early 00's (see: the invisible car and Bond surfing the wave).
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 26, 2018 20:09:06 GMT
I think you’re right about many of these, ravi02—I was thinking of Die Another Day and the [atrocious] CGI sequences myself—but I should point out that the drug smuggling in Licence to Kill comes right from Fleming’s “Risico” and the personal revenge story from Live and Let Die (Fleming’s book, not the very different movie). Now, that doesn’t disprove what you observe about it—the producers and writers did choose those particular elements for this particular film, after all. Though it came out in ’83, Octopussy (the movie), by the way, also has a lot in common with the jungle-adventure/swashbuckler movies that were coming out in the ‘70s and early ‘80s: The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, Royal Flash, Raiders of the Lost Ark. (The first four were all scripted by Octopussy co-writer George MacDonald Fraser.) Wikipedia informs me that Lucas and the screenwriters had a first draft for Temple of Doom as early as ’82, so it’s entirely possible they could have borrowed material from Octopussy. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2018 18:55:34 GMT
I think the modern Bonds do try to capitalize on the Bourne flicks—they’re notably less “Bondian,” more mired in so-called “realism” ( viz., brooding). ( Casino Royale always excepted, of course.) Bond in a post-Le Carré world. I’m sure one can think of some more, though none are coming to mind… I think the Bourne influence is on style - particularly editing - rather than a popular theme throughout cinema at the time? Bond had to move with the times to stay relevant, but those films I mentioned are the only ones where they seem to have molded the stories to what was popular at the time in order to cash in, rather than just let the films (and character) stand for themselves. |
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Post by Nalkarj on Feb 28, 2018 16:47:54 GMT
I think the modern Bonds do try to capitalize on the Bourne flicks—they’re notably less “Bondian,” more mired in so-called “realism” ( i.e., brooding). ( Casino Royale always excepted, of course.) Bond in a post-Le Carré world. I’m sure one can think of some more, though none are coming to mind… I think the Bourne influence is on style - particularly editing - rather than a popular theme throughout cinema at the time? Bond had to move with the times to stay relevant, but those films I mentioned are the only ones where they seem to have molded the stories to what was popular at the time in order to cash in, rather than just let the films (and character) stand for themselves. On editing, yes, but also on character: we’re going into self-focused Bond ( Skyfall and Spectre), which is a place the series has never gone before. As I recently put it elsewhere about Indy, the series used to be about where Bond went, with whom he interacted, what he did—not about himself, and certainly not about the series itself. (I don’t like self-focused series; it smacks of decadence, a lack of purpose or meaning.) Thus the incessant brooding. Plot-wise, with all the moles and traitors (again—inward-, not outward-, focused), it really does seem “Bond in a post-Le Carré world,” I think. Equal parts Le Carré and Bourne, at least. |
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Post by hardball on Mar 25, 2018 12:39:54 GMT
How with at least three of them they were cashing in on popular contemporary trends in cinema: Live and Let Die - blaxploitation The Man With the Golden Gun - martial arts movies Moonraker - Star Wars I don't get that feeling with any other Bond in the series? Moonraker was definitely a reaction to Star Wars. For Your Eyes Only was supposed to follow The Spy Who Loved Me, but after SW the producers decided to put Bond into space. It was a good move as Moonraker did very well at the box office. |
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Post by politicidal on Mar 25, 2018 12:53:37 GMT
I think the modern Bonds do try to capitalize on the Bourne flicks—they’re notably less “Bondian,” more mired in so-called “realism” ( i.e., brooding). ( Casino Royale always excepted, of course.) Bond in a post-Le Carré world. I’m sure one can think of some more, though none are coming to mind… Also Marvel to some extent as an otherwise negative review described Spectre. With the forced world building and tie-ins. |
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Post by audiosane on Aug 27, 2018 5:36:07 GMT
How with at least three of them they were cashing in on popular contemporary trends in cinema: Live and Let Die - blaxploitation The Man With the Golden Gun - martial arts movies Moonraker - Star Wars I don't get that feeling with any other Bond in the series? Whether intentional or not, Skyfall reminds me of The Dark Knight and a bit of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. - cloudy day visuals - the villain intentionally wanting to get captured in order to further his plan - the "delayed" explosion chasing Bond in the tunnel reminded me of the Joker having some trouble with his remote at the hospital - the train crashing down on Bond reminded me of the end of Batman Begins when the train crashed, and the prior explosion reminded me of the underground explosion from The Dark Knight Rises - Like Batman, Bond lost both his parents as a child, which had a profound affect on his life My theory is Quantum of Solace (2008) was poorly received while The Dark Knight (also 2008) was highly praised. I believe that film helped inspired them when they made Skyfall 4 years later. |
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