ROTTEN TOMATOES: A Grittier, More Realistic Bond?

A Grittier, More Realistic Bond?

by RT Staff | February 24, 2005

Director Martin Campbell is going back to the original material for the next Bond film, "Casino Royale," he told the New York Daily News. The film will adapt the 1953 novel to the present day, but will attempt to be grittier, more realistic, and less action-based. "In the new film, Bond is essentially starting out in his career, and has just recently become part of the double-0 section," Campbell said." The idea is to put a bit of the dash back in Bond. By the end of the movie, the character will have been forged into the wiser, harder Bond we know." Campbell said he's interested in "humanizing" 007.

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(1-16 of 16 posts) | Reply

cmarlow writes:
on Feb 24 2005 07:26 PM

[b]YES![/b]
This is the Bond I've been waiting for.

Gritty.
Dark.
Realistic.

Here's my $9.50. Take it.

(Reply to this)

Ophiuchus writes:
on Feb 24 2005 11:29 PM

Sounds promising. I like to hear a director who's got the balls to take risks.

(Reply to this)

jeremyd4 writes:
on Feb 25 2005 06:36 AM

Kinda sounds similar to what's trying to be pulled off with Batman Begins... and that looks cool so YIPPEE!!

(Reply to this)

UndeadRoadkill writes:
on Feb 25 2005 09:34 AM

I think this is great. I hated how Bond turned from a gritty spy movies into over-the-top action movies.

(Reply to this)

mymodestmouse writes:
on Feb 25 2005 10:36 AM

I love Bond movies and this could be fantastic.

But isn't the outlandish-ness of it part of it's charm? (Of course i'm talking about the Connery/Moore/Lazemby Bond, especially Lazemby. I'm a sucker for On Her Majesty's Secret Service....the island, all those girls and their allergies....bloody hilarious).

More realistic could become boring. Half the good stuff in Bond movies is unrealistic.

(Reply to this)

cmarlow writes:
on Feb 25 2005 11:21 AM

In reply to this comment (#820086)
[b]Mymodestmouse[/b]
I think he/she brings up some valid points, but I fear the outlandish charm has become so ridiculous, and the one-liners so "Schwartzenegger", that they have become a parody of itself and turned Bond into a live-action cartoon.

(Reply to this)

mymodestmouse writes:
on Feb 25 2005 04:16 PM

In reply to this comment (#820087)
I completely agree that the newer Bond's have become silly and unwatchable. So much so, I haven't seen Die another Day. And i freakin' love me my Bond movies.

Quentin could do it up right...that's for sure.

(BTW...she)

(Reply to this)

cmarlow writes:
on Feb 25 2005 04:21 PM

[b]Rock on 'mouse[/b]
I do too! Man, I hope ROYALE puts Bond back to cinematic glory where it belongs.

(Reply to this)

cbebop007 writes:
on Feb 27 2005 09:43 AM

bueno

(Reply to this)

jeanpaul writes:
on Feb 27 2005 12:29 PM

[b]Wha...? "Less action based"?[/b]
Less action based, equals talkative, equals BORING... and this is good?

(Reply to this)

loudharley writes:
on Feb 27 2005 10:11 PM

Yea this is good because it will knock out all the nonsense that these movies have become.I would rather watch a bug crawling on a wall then watch some guy doing all these fantastic things that you know could never happen.These movies have went to camp pure and simple ,it will be refreshing to see some realism in the bond movies.

(Reply to this)

gowansy writes:
on Feb 28 2005 09:51 AM

i like the idea of a grittier bond,but i dont want this to overshadow what the bond films are about,i loved the old bonds because there villians where so memorable. goldeneye was amazing, if its anywhere near that then i'll be happy,there also needs to be some funny bits and less special effects. it would of being so cool to have kept all the bond movies set in the 60's :D

(Reply to this)

lilegs86 writes:
on Feb 28 2005 02:40 PM

i don't like the idea of humanizing Bond. I think that the grittiness and all of that would be cool, but if humanizing him means giving him real emotions, and making him a flawed hero, i don't think that it's worth it. Bond has always been the epitome of cool. So much so that it has turned him into a cultural archtype. Guys want to be him, women want him. The bond movies have always been about escapism, nothing more, nothing less, and i think that it would be a real shame to take away from what makes James Bond such a legend in Western pop culture.

(Reply to this)

renodc writes:
on Feb 28 2005 05:31 PM

The last time they tried to humanize Bond and make him grittier, we got "License to Kill" which was crap.

(Reply to this)

loudharley writes:
on Feb 28 2005 11:44 PM

Well just because they want to make the bond films a little more realistic doesnt mean that it has to turn him into a crybaby .All i wanna see is bond in a realistic setting ,without all the fake stunts brosnan has been doing.I understand that a lot of people like that type of stuff and thats fine ,its just i like realism in movies ,i want to since a little danger in a movie like this .I didnt watch the last bond movie because i really didnt like the( brosnan )ones before it,they all feel like the same movie ,phony action scenes and all.

(Reply to this)

puablo writes:
on Mar 01 2005 07:11 AM

Let's not forget that Bond, originally, was still supposed to be "human". They kept to that from time to time, if you watch the old Connery films you saw him still getting beat up a few times and failing to succeed at various acts. Timothy Dalton (we're talking "The Living Daylights" here) tried to go "back to the book" and be more serious and realistic - I liked it but many people did not. The character of Bond really does need to break this shell of over-the-top stunts and sheer invincibility, so I think this new approach will be awesome.

(Reply to this)

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