The other day I watched the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall.
In the past I’ve been a little disappointed by the newer James Bond films with Daniel Craig.
The newer movies are too violent.
Not that the old movies weren’t violent, but in the newer James Bond movies, James Bond himself is too violent.
In the older movies it was always the villain who was doing cruel things, like how Goldfinger dipped people in gold to kill them.
The new character doesn’t torture people, but he is reckless and uncaring for civilian life beyond what I would expect from a secret service agent.
Part of that is required in a James Bond movie. If he acted more reasonable then it would be a cop movie, not a spy movie (Not that the cop genre doesn’t have its own problems in this area).
For example, in Skyfall the opening scene is a perfect example of Bond’s recklessness.
In the process of chasing down a criminal he wrecks pretty much every street vendor cart in the city’s market district.
The criminal gets trapped in an open area and fires on Bond with an Uzi or something. Bond isn’t hit, but what are the odds that the dozens of bystanders weren’t?
The criminal shoots three cops who showed up on the scene and steals one of their motorcycles.
Bond steals a civilian’s motorcycle to follow the criminal on the rooftops of the historical market district.
They end up on a bridge where the criminal jumps onto a passing train.
As the train speeds up, Bond wrecks his stolen bike into the side of the bridge to give himself the momentum to catch the train.
On a cargo car of the train, Bond starts driving a backhoe and wrecks the 5 BMWs on the next car with it to try and reach the criminal.
The criminal decouples his car, but Bond won’t allow that! He digs his backhoe into the roof of the passenger car in front of him to keep it attached to the cargo car.
Bond climbs up the backhoe and jumps through the hole he created in the roof to stay on the train.
The cargo car then detaches fully, leaving an obstacle in the railroad.
Total casualties: Several business ruined, several civilians shot, three policemen shot, one wrecked motorcycle, five wrecked cars, three wrecked train cars, and other possible obstructions created during the chase that could create further accidents.
It just didn’t seem worth it to me. Any rational person in Bond’s position would’ve told himself, “I can chase him, but I have to do it discreetly or the people around me will get hurt.”
So that’s why I don’t like the new Bond films. He did this sort of stuff in Quantum of Solace too.
The villain is introduced after the first hour and the film improves rapidly from there. I just wish the movie could’ve skipped to that point a little faster.
-Mister Ed
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