Blog Post New Entry
Have the James Bond films 'lost heart?'
|
|
George 'Ow my foot!' Lazenby was interviewed this week, and on the subject of the Craig films, he had this to say.
"He's a fantastic actor, but [his movies] are more violent, aren't they? It's the way our society has gone,You can't have someone who's got feelings now. Bond has to be able to shoot someone now and kiss a girl three minutes later. When I did it, it had more heart. There's no heart to the new Bond."
That got me thinking, although the James Bond films have taken a more gritty turn, have they really lost their heart?
Well I think we should start by going through the quote sentence by sentence.
"He's a fantastic actor, but [his movies] are more violent, aren't they?"
I agree with Daniel Craig being a fantastic actor (probably the best technically so far) but I don't agree with the new Bond films being more violent. Sure the fistfights can be brutal, but the overall violence is not as bad as previous entries. Wasn't it On Her Majesty's Secret Service that had a guy fall into a snow machine, having his innards sprayed all over the fresh Alpine snow? I doubt that's as violent as someone being shot in the eye with a nailgun bloodlessy!
"You can't have someone who's got feelings now. Bond has to be able to shoot someone now and kiss a girl three minutes later."
I think you may have missed the part of the Craig films where Bond falls in love with Vesper, watches her die, is clearly affected by this, and swears revenge on whoever made her commit suicide there George. Just because he didn't visibly cry doesn't make him a machine. Are you going to say that about the other Bond's too? Or is this an attempt to hold an olive branch to Brozza after you insulted him for being too feminine?
"When I did it, it had more heart. There's no heart to the new Bond."
Oh really? As far as I'm concerned, the amount of heart in a film is dependent on the cast and crew, there was a lot of heart in OHMSS sure, but it was mostly from Peter Hunt and your co-stars. Your off-screen antics, growing a beard when told not to, trashing the film, insulting the director and refusing to talk to him and being a complete douchebag doesn't exactly tell me that you put heart into that film! As far as I can see there's a lot more bloody heart in Craig's films than there has been since the Moore era! Hell there was so much heart put into Quantum that Daniel Craig and Marc Forster worked on the script during the writers strike! I'd have loved to have seen you and Peter Hunt forced to do that!
'Having heart' and being gritty and realistic are not mutually exclusive, you can do both as a lot of current films are proving (particularly the Nolan Batman films, there's clearly a lot of heart in those!) and I'm finding myself agreeing with Pierce Brosnan's description of Lazenby as a 'pissed off Aussie'. If even Roger Moore, the most light hearted Bond, can find heart and enjoyment in the new films, I'm pretty sure anyone can. This just sounds like sour grapes from Mr. Lazenby once again.
Categories: Gurning Chimp's Stuff and Junk, Movies & TV, Thoughts
Post a Comment
Oops!
The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.
10 Comments
Gurning Chimp says...
Exactly! His biggest role after Bond was the Kentucky Fried Movie if I remember rightly!
Yep...."Catholic High School Girls in Trouble" sketch, if memory serves correctly. He also scored a recurring role in HBO's Emanuelle Series back in the ' 90s.-you know....serious acting roles, right? LOL
Les says...
Hi Gurning Chimp. I liked George Lazenby as Bond, but compared to Daniel Craig, he might as well have been performing Inspector Clouseau. There's no basis for him to criticize Craig as Bond, none whatsoever. Besides, what kind of a career did Lazenby make for himself after his 15 minutes of fame in OHMSS?....yeah, I don't remember him in anything, either........Definitely sour grapes, my friend. Peace.
Exactly! His biggest role after Bond was the Kentucky Fried Movie if I remember rightly!
BigBlackHatMan says...
It is hard to take Lazenby too seriously since he screwed up and did only the one film. He seems bitter. He may have meant it, but it is hard to believe it. Good article
Thank you, Lazenby has had a pop at the last two actors now, he even feuded with Brozza at one point! I do think he's incredibly bitter.
Jockerlee77 says...
I will say this on the matter. Craig bond is not a ladies Bond at lesss not in the last two movies howere that just a weakness i could live with just as long as the story is good and not over the top. as for what George had said i liked him in NHMSS and was hoping he would siting on for more I say that because his dump manage had told hi to walk away from the franchises because i will not last long. and look what happen? also i feel form some of his interview he sum rather bitter and had even bash the movie he was in even though the ovie had good revie when it came out.
as for James bond lost heart ? not really it just this bond is more colder and dose do chap on liner. he is a train killer and that what i like about this new bond. he a killer and an agent over the egae. and i could liv with that. again just my opinion
As far as I can see, that's part of the story arc of introducing this Bond. SkyFall will have Bond back to his womanising ways from the look of things.
Indeed, a spy is essentially a government sanctioned thug when you think about it.
as for James bond lost heart ? not really it just this bond is more colder and dose do chap on liner. he is a train killer and that what i like about this new bond. he a killer and an agent over the egae. and i could liv with that. again just my opinion
Ratin8tor says...
Oh the James Bond films still have 'heart'. They just have a different type of heart.
George Lazenby's solo outing was with a rather silly film that had a strong emotional ending when his wife died.
Daniel's Craig first outing was a rather more mature film (still had silly moments though) that had a strong emotional ending when his girlfriend died.
While I don't mind the silly nature of the Moore films (for the same reason I don't hate campy, lighter Batman), I don't think the Bond movies have become too 'dark and gritty'. They've just adapted themselves to fit in a 21st Century cinema. Public's appretion of movies has changed, thus Bond must change to better suit them or else become irrelvant.
So the Bond movies still have heart. They just beat with a different rhythm.
Indeed. As I said, it's sour grapes from Dino-Laz.
George Lazenby's solo outing was with a rather silly film that had a strong emotional ending when his wife died.
Daniel's Craig first outing was a rather more mature film (still had silly moments though) that had a strong emotional ending when his girlfriend died.
While I don't mind the silly nature of the Moore films (for the same reason I don't hate campy, lighter Batman), I don't think the Bond movies have become too 'dark and gritty'. They've just adapted themselves to fit in a 21st Century cinema. Public's appretion of movies has changed, thus Bond must change to better suit them or else become irrelvant.
So the Bond movies still have heart. They just beat with a different rhythm.
Categories
Recent Videos
Recent Forum Posts
TLHCG's Push Comes To Shove
Subscribe to the Community!
Follow Us
Webs Counter
Oops!
Oops, you forgot something.