Commander Bond (Daniel Craig)
My
dad and I had two things in common, two things we both liked. He wasn’t much of
a reader (unless it was Douglas Reeman) and my own forays into volunteer work
pale to his. Indeed, my dad lived for volunteer work which he would enter, take
over, organise and have marching about in stark efficiency within a year of his
interest. It started with the local garden club, then the RNLI, and then life
saving at swimming pools. He would raise huge sums or train endless new
volunteers, he would commit his whole life to such endeavours and jolly good
for him. He liked committees. The progress was inevitable in whichever next
caught his fancy. He would attend, he would be treasurer, he would be chairman,
he would install a monorail and make sure that every door would swish smoothly
open and that people would be well supplied by guards in shiny helmets and
orange jumpsuits. Probably because one of the two things we had in common was
James Bond. The other was aircraft. Helicopters mostly, and he did a lot of
work with helicopters. But for today, Bond.
This is because I managed to watch
Skyfall yesterday, and jolly good fun it was too. I’m not going to point out
that that wasn’t the right sort of tube train for Temple, in a film where the
immensely complicated series of coincidence and plot is solely so the villain
can kill M the shape of an underground train is easily overlooked. I grew up finally
being allowed to stay up to watch Goldfinger, seeing Timothy Dalton not long
after leaving the parental abode, at first enjoying and then hanging on loyally
as Brosnan ventured into invisible cars, but missing entirely the latest reboot
when first it came out. Indeed, I saw Quantum before Casino – and the first on
the way to my dad’s funeral as I had a four hour wait for a coach. It didn’t
make much sense until I managed to catch up with Casino.
I read the Bond books as a teenager,
and even the oddities and strange opinions are a vital part of them. I read the
John Gardner versions as they came out (a strange choice my friends and I
thought, as Gardner’s Boysie Oakes books took the piss out of the genre – fine
though they undoubtedly were). I played the rpg – albeit at the time all our agents
were scruffy louts somewhere between Robert Plant and Bodie. Bond even produced
one of the finest console games ever in Goldeneye. The current reboot was
needed, and has been done well, and if you didn’t like Skyfall you probably don’t
like Bond movies. This is perfectly acceptable. Your opinion is valid; just
that in this case you are wrong.
Not
that Bond is the most successful of the 00 Branch.
001 and 005 are never mentioned.
They probably have very dull stories. The 00 branch being assassins (not spies)
they doubtless get a briefing, shoot someone, and then go home to the family in
Esther, Surrey. Or more likely push the odd person under a tube, probably at
Temple station.
Even if the tube train itself is
entirely of the wrong sort.
I watched it last night. It's a good film but I don't think its as good as it has been lauded. Also it sort of felt a bit ..actually I don't know, just left me with an odd feeling. Like when you revisit somewhere you knew well to find it's been re-developed and yet you are being led to believe its always looked that way - Like a chain built Victorian pub. I dunno, I'm waffling.
ReplyDeleteManaged to watch it last night.
ReplyDeleteIt got a yes from all of us!
I felt it had come full circle, was a bit of oddness, but as you say that's part of the books, I liked it. The only time I grumbled into my tea was when Kincade started waving his torch about on the moor - I'm not doubting that grizzled ex Scots Guards have flashlights - but they're heavy and black and used for coshing lads in balaclavas when you're doing a spot of moonlighting as night security for Bejams. Not waving about like you're trying to find a rave. But it's a pretty small hole to pick.
ReplyDeleteGood to see it ended up back in M's office. It'll be a nice change from M constantly looking like a news reader in front of massive tele-walls trying to be hip like the cool kids from the security service in Spooks.
ReplyDelete