Posted on 12/07/2012 7:49:02 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Skyfall has been praised as the best James Bond film ever, with a stunning 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and more than $800 million in global ticket sales.
It is also the pinnacle example, after 50 years and 23 films, of why James Bond is the most inept hero in the history of cinema.
This is apparent from his first film, 1962s Dr. No. Captured trying to infiltrate the villains island lair, Bond is bafflingly left alive. Dr. No claims its because 007 may be the only man to appreciate his cunning scheme, though even after the classic you disappoint me moment, Bond still isnt killed and is put in a cell with a convenient man-sized ventilation shaft.
This sort of behavior has been mocked by Austin Powers and The Incredibles (You got me monologuing!). But you wonder if the villains are acting stupid just to make it interesting.
Bond is caught in every film, usually because his idea of espionage is to have a cover so ridiculous its blown in about 30 seconds. Sorry, 007, but Karl Stromberg knows youre not really a marine biologist, Elliot Carver is aware youre not a banker and while youre discussing horses with Max Zorin, hes accessing your secret MI6 files.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
James Bond (tied up): "So, you expect me to talk?"
Goldfinger: "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
Then instead of shooting 007, Goldfinger leaves him alone to face a laser cutter (and of course, Bond escapes).
How many times should Bond have died because the Villains never shot him when they could?
movie than another James Bond movie.
Rather typical in movies. The bad guy takes his sweet time getting around to killing the hero.
Check out the end of Lord of the Rings. The wraith dude starts monologuing with the girl, giving the hobbit a chance to stab him from behind. Then the girl monologues and stabs the wraith in the face.
The only that got away with killing the star early is Psycho.
Besides, he'd just duck under the bullet after it was fired anyway.
I always find that comical as well.
They force Bond (usually at the point of a presumably effective gun) to participate in some wildly complicated, time consuming and often ridiculous slow-motion death scheme, and then they all walk away and leave him to figure a way out on his own.
Is this supposed to be some sort of criminal sporting instinct, or do all criminals harbor some secret Rube Goldberg preoccupation?
Whenever I watch TV or movie, I always comment about whether or not a character is a “Player Character” or “PC.”
When I played RPGs, looooong ago, bad guys didn’t monologue, because our player characters never stopped to listen. They ID’d the heavies and laid down maximum firepower on them (or ran like hell, depending on how over matched we were...).
In books, movies and TV, the morons will hesitate, listen to the villain run his mouth and let him gain a physical or psychological advantage over them. Or do stupid things like surrender over a hostage (idiots - he’s just going to kill you both...), etc.
Dunno who writes those scripts or why they write them that way. I’d like the show a lot better if some bad guy started to talk and had his brains instantly flushed out the back of his head...
Actually, in that scene Goldfinger lets Bond live (and maintains him as a captive) because Bond knew the code name of the heretofore secret plot, "Operation Grand Slam."
Don’t know.
We caught you, bang, you’re dead doesn’t make for much of a movie, nevermind a 50 year franchise.
What I think we need to do in this thread is poll what was the best death scene that Bond extricated himself from.
1. Getting out of a covered shark tank.
If you are on this thread you simply must click on this link and immediately scroll down to “The Top 100 Things I’d Do
If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord”
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
Which is why Han shot first.
“What I think we need to do in this thread is poll what was the best death scene that Bond extricated himself from.”
Don’t know as there were many, but that Jaws character had more lives then a room full of cats.
Seems odd to focus on Bonds’ ineptitude when clearly the thrust of the article is that the villians are incompetent, too.
Han shot. Period. Full stop. In the original scene the green guy had his gun out, but never fired it.
Like the negotiation scene in The Fifth Element.
No, it’s just that they want the hero and the villain to meet with the villain in a position of power so they can ham it up before the hero ultimately wins. It’s nothing to do with the preoccupations of the characters and everything to do with the audience’s need to have that scene.
Probably because it’s fiction.
“This sort of behavior has been mocked by ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘The Incredibles’”
Actually, it was mocked back in the 60s by the Bond imitators and continually by the likes of SNL before Austin Powers beat the dead horse. Which makes me wonder why we’re waisting our time again now. Next article this guy will write about why the whole plane should be made out of the black box.
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