The Next Bond Film is "SPECTRE"

[Graham Kennedy]

Yeah, Craig.

Actually this is also one of the things that has me a little worried about the current Bond, which is the villains.

Casino Royale had a great bad guy. Bond was dealing with terrorists; we all know terrorism is a real life problem. And he was dealing with their banker, Le Chiffe (however it's spelled). Terrorists having a banker is a little more out there, but it makes sense - terrorist organisations must raise and spend money like any organisation, so it makes sense that some shady financiers have their hands in that pot, and it makes sense that MI5 would be after those figures. It's all very solidly rooted in the real world.

Then we get the next film, where the baddies are "Quantum". An organisation or rich and powerful people, including an adviser to the PM, no less, who have agents in MI5 itself, even though MI5 has never even heard of it. And who are all out to manipulate the world by overthrowing governments, seizing control of natural resources, etc. It's a somewhat more "out there" idea, rather less realistic. There's some rooting in reality there - yeah, I can imagine powerful corporate types exploiting countries like that, sure. But they seem to do it pretty well without all the overthrowing governments and stuff, perfectly legally, because let's face it, the governments of countries like that are usually perfectly willing to sell their people out.

Then we get Gay French Guy in Skyfall. And he was very well done, and creepy and evil but also kind of sympathetic... but it's the kind of "mad genius with a plan" baddie that the Bond franchise often served up in the old days. It's not very realistic, really, and whilst Gay French Guy isn't exactly Doctor Evil, he's at the other end of the same ballpark as Doctor Evil.

And now, apparently, Spectre is back. Spectre was always a pretty ridiculous idea, and I worry that this is a sign that Craig's Bond is going to find himself increasingly in the old-fashioned Bond universe, with evil megalomaniacs who want to destroy the world, or hold it to ransom or whatever. Will we see a parade of increasingly absurd Bond gadgets, dry one liners, etc? I hope not. I hope they keep their feet in the real world.

[Tsukiyumi]

...I hope they keep their feet in the real world.

Thoroughly agreed.

[Reliant121]

I would hope we see real world as well. I thoroughly dislike the Roger Moore era silliness with the criminal evils etc.

I can never decide whether my favourite is Lazenby or Dalton.

[Coalition]

I would hope we see real world as well. I thoroughly dislike the Roger Moore era silliness with the criminal evils etc.

I can never decide whether my favourite is Lazenby or Dalton.

So no Octopussy with a Soviet general using a gem smuggling route to sneak a nuclear bomb into a US military base, to make the United States remove its nuclear weapons from the potential front line of a renewed Soviet invasion? (And Roger Moore had wanted to stop being Bond by this point)

Or a Silicon Valley company owner who wants to own a monopoly on the new silicon chips, and is willing to cause an earthquake to sink his rivals in the process?

[Graham Kennedy]

How about a billionaire who has built a fleet of space shuttles and his own space station in orbit so he can shoot capsules full of gas that only kills humans at the earth in glass balls so he can depopulate the human population and then replace them with his own version of the master race? But it's okay because the US sends a shuttle full of space marines to shoot them with laser guns.

[kostmayer]

Skyfall is full of plotholes, and Silva's plan to take out M was just way too elaborate to work.

On the other hand, I really liked the look of the more low tech MI5, I'm hoping they keep the new HQ in Spectre. In the end, it came down to Bond outsmarting and outfighting his enemy, rather than relying on a bunch of gadgets.

Quantum of Solace was a bit of a mess, though my main problem with it was it just didn't feel epic. And it pretty much boiled down to Bond getting a load of people killed to avenge the death of a woman who he was apparently planning on killing any ways.

[Mikey]

I disliked the more realistic feel of the new version of Casino Royale. It made for a pretty good film, I thought, but not a good Bond film. The gadgets, the dry one-liners, the over-the-top masculinity and misogynist womanizing... all of those are what made Bond Bond (though I agree that things like Moonraker went too far over the line set by films like Goldfinger and Thunderball.)