The thing that gets me about the Craig era is - and I say this as someone who likes the films - that there is no coherent motivation to the villains besides Le Chiffre. What the fuck was going on in Quantum, or Skyfall?
Replies
Quantum set up a new Big Bad organization then they through away to chase the next big actor in Bardem and Waltz. Failure in narrative continuity imo
sep 1, 2025, 1:24 am • 2 0 • view
Not just the villians, I could not buy into Madelaine Swann as the love of his life. There was no there there.
sep 1, 2025, 1:33 am • 0 0 • view
Bardem's character hates M, that's kinda it?
sep 1, 2025, 1:16 am • 1 0 • view
“I was tortured!!” yeah dude you’re a secret agent that’s kinda an occupational hazard
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 am • 2 0 • view
People are often not logical about psychological trauma.
sep 1, 2025, 1:47 am • 0 0 • view
this is a mid 80s millennial speaking, but the shadow of the long recession and then covid (plus other events) really color what possible motivation one can do as a bond villain without it feeling trite or done before, death drive is now recognized by the general pop in dozens of things
sep 1, 2025, 2:56 am • 0 0 • view
to the point “it is Banal” creating choke points to make money, that is ordinary, nuclear annihilation we been thinking it 60 almost 70 years, revenge done before, can not be colonialism, a new technology … what new tech ? the future and past are already here unequally distributed.
sep 1, 2025, 2:58 am • 1 0 • view
I think trying to install a puppet ruler of a country to sell overly inflated resources makes a lot of sense. It has happened in real life, unlike "irradiating a gold supply to make your own gold more valuable"
sep 1, 2025, 1:52 am • 2 0 • view
I mean, wtf is motivating our current cast of national villains‽
sep 1, 2025, 1:21 am • 1 0 • view
Quantum was heavily impacted by the writers strike - no script!
sep 1, 2025, 2:56 am • 2 0 • view
Le Chiffre was phenomenal though. Also, Skyfall was such a great rebound and so intensely acted who could worry about the details?
sep 1, 2025, 1:17 am • 11 0 • view
I care, and gosh I gave up on Bond with that movie
sep 1, 2025, 2:52 am • 0 0 • view
Skyfall is arguably the most quintessential Bond Film of the Craig era in that the specifics of the antagonist's scheme and even his motivation is pretty much irrelevant to the plot and pacing of the film lol
sep 1, 2025, 1:20 am • 28 0 • view
Skyfall threw away the story being developed in the previous two, killed off a great M, and gave us a pointless Home Alone sequel where Kevin McAllister has grown into a murder hobo.
sep 1, 2025, 2:24 am • 2 0 • view
……. Amazing set up would watch again.
sep 1, 2025, 2:34 am • 1 0 • view
I love the first two movies and have gone back to them many times. Quantum has flaws, but it needs to be viewed as a middle movie of a trilogy.
sep 1, 2025, 2:38 am • 1 0 • view
The Daniel Craig Era was pretty simple: What if these movies were good? (Or just tried to be?) Casino is an A+, Quantum is like a weird B, Skyfall jumps back in with an A, and then you get a B- or C with the last ones which just don’t make sense but hey Pierce Brosnan road a tsunami once.
sep 1, 2025, 1:23 am • 1 0 • view
rode*
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 am • 0 0 • view
I really really think Brosnan got screwed by bad, hilarious writing and concepts, even moreso than Usual Bond. Ice fortress? Someone in a watery prison cell in an ice castle would be deas in 8 minutes. Invisible cars? Hell, even Goldeneye was CARTOONISHLY almost scifi. And that was the BEST ONE!
sep 1, 2025, 1:39 am • 1 0 • view
Goldeneye might only be good because Sean Bean as Trevelyan, now that I think about it
sep 1, 2025, 1:41 am • 1 0 • view
(Disclaimer, I enjoyed all of the Brosnan films even while laughing at them. And Goldeneye is almost certainly colored by the Goldeneye 64 video game - i was born in 1986. But still)
sep 1, 2025, 1:39 am • 1 0 • view
I was really about to write “GoldenEye ages even better because of the game.” (1987)
sep 1, 2025, 1:41 am • 1 0 • view
So many super late nights playing 4 players on a screen, maybe the best (to that point) single room multi-player FPS. Also the single player campaign wasn't terrible at all!
sep 1, 2025, 1:42 am • 1 0 • view
Wait do you wanna like come hang? We can get a 12-pack of soda and some pizzas.
sep 1, 2025, 1:53 am • 0 0 • view
I couldn't agree more. Skyfall is one of my top movies and I think the biggest thing holding it back is that it was a Bond movie.
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 am • 1 0 • view
“Knives were outstanding” is one of the best one-liner payoffs ever. youtu.be/KhKQA3-Rais?...
sep 1, 2025, 1:32 am • 1 0 • view
The pacing, the themes, and the acting all would stand on their own without being a franchise entry.
sep 1, 2025, 1:28 am • 1 0 • view
Wait, but Bardem's motivation is very clear!! Hes a former agent who got hung out to dry and then endured horrific torture, a thing that kind of almost happens to Bond at the start of the film. I dont think it resolves very well, but "what does it mean to be expendable" works pretty well as a theme
sep 1, 2025, 1:30 am • 3 0 • view
Although, as OP talks about, the theme isnt really picked up in later films, so I guess you can say Bond just kind of gets over it??
sep 1, 2025, 1:32 am • 2 0 • view
OP's subsequent point about QoS being good actually is correct, but it's correct only insofar as the movie exists outside the specifics of whatever the bad guy's plan was (which incidentally is related to the fact that it falls apart when the bad guy's scheme has to compress into the plot)
sep 1, 2025, 1:22 am • 9 0 • view
Sky fall was the burned agents revenge, no?
sep 1, 2025, 1:22 am • 0 0 • view
Quantum was horrible so you can throw that one out completely
sep 1, 2025, 1:16 am • 1 0 • view
I liked the Craig Bond. And I kinda think maybe it's that the films were designed to appeal more to viewers like me, who weren't keen on the whole creepy Bond legacy (there's at least one coercive rape, and I haven't watched all of them). So less fan-oriented, more broad base. Was that a betrayal?
sep 1, 2025, 1:34 am • 0 0 • view
Pre-Craig bond is gadgets, shootouts and chases, Craig bond is sweaty hand to hand combat, and literal cock'n'ball torture.
sep 1, 2025, 1:41 am • 1 0 • view
I'm not sure if you're trying to counter or agree with my comment.
sep 1, 2025, 1:46 am • 0 0 • view
It's like, entirely different vibe. If using LOTR as an analogy, it's less Peter Jackson's changes and more "it's just Game of Thrones with LOTR title card"
sep 1, 2025, 1:53 am • 1 0 • view
I never got into Game of Thrones (kinda super rapey for my tastes) so I don't know how to interpret this comment.
sep 1, 2025, 2:01 am • 0 0 • view
Uhh, Star Trek vs The Expanse?
sep 1, 2025, 2:40 am • 1 0 • view
Maybe? But which Trek? It's kinda huge. (no citing lensflare Trek, I will 100% ignore that)
sep 1, 2025, 5:32 am • 0 0 • view
Any of the Treks which are not The Expanse.
sep 1, 2025, 7:39 am • 1 0 • view
More techy, clean, and political, vs brutal on a massive scale? Ok, I can see that.
sep 1, 2025, 3:21 pm • 0 0 • view
I mean, Jackson left out Tom Bombadil and added a whole lot of cheesy mediocrity to Tolkien to appeal to a broader audience, so it's not like this tactic is unprecedented.
sep 1, 2025, 1:34 am • 0 0 • view
Skyfall’s climax revolving around a Home Alone situation remains incredible amusing to me.
sep 1, 2025, 1:18 am • 8 0 • view
Bond writers.
sep 1, 2025, 2:30 am • 0 0 • view
My hot take is that the Craig era was secretly bad. #UnpopularOpinion, I know.
sep 1, 2025, 1:17 am • 0 0 • view
Blofeld wanted to be the architect of Bond's pain, he worked very hard to get his certification
sep 1, 2025, 1:29 am • 0 0 • view
Quantum of Solace was the first time I ever wished for the villain to give the "before I kill you, Mr. Bond, let me explain to you my brilliant plan," exposition dump speech.
sep 1, 2025, 1:42 am • 5 1 • view
I saw Casino and Skyfall. They seemed well-acted and directed. But yes, I was unclear as to the point of it all.
sep 1, 2025, 2:14 am • 0 0 • view