Does the James Bond franchise need to be fixed? That’s a good question and one that GQ’s Scott Meslow has attempted to tackle. As Meslow sees it, Spectre was “messy,” and Bond is broken as a result. There may be some truth in what Meslow is saying, but let’s not get carried away.
Somehow, the Bond franchise has managed to survive lawsuits, poor reviews, and production shakeups. As recently as 2010, Entertainment Weekly proclaimed that the Bond series was “falling apart.”
I suspect that Bond will survive and flourish after Spectre, as well—with or without Daniel Craig.
Meslow offers some suggestions for Bond 25. He believes that Spectre’s ending should be forgotten; Blofeld should have a stronger role; and the story should grab more material from Ian Fleming’s novels. Meslow also suggests that maybe James Bond should die, a fitting end to Daniel Craig’s run.
Certainly, there are all sorts of directions in which Bond 25 can go. But I disagree that Bond 25 should move on from Spectre. The messiness of Spectre stems from the preposterous connection between Bond and Blofeld. Indeed, Meslow called this backstory “ridiculous.” And if anything in Bond 25 needs to be addressed (and fixed) it is this. But how?
Both Skyfall and Spectre offer some clues.
When Bond meets Silva for the first time, he says: “I’ve made my own choices,” to which Silva responds, “You only think you did. That’s her (M’s) genius.” This brief exchange takes on greater meaning when M later admits to Bond, “Orphans always make the best recruits.”
Connect these lines to the conversation Bond has with Madeleine Swann on the train in Spectre. After Madeleine asks Bond why he lives the life of an assassin, he says, “I’m not sure I ever really had a choice.”
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have reportedly been hired to write Bond 25, can easily use these lines to further examine the Bond/Blofeld backstory. Perhaps Bond’s adoption by Hannes Oberhauser was not merely random. Perhaps Bond’s parents died in a climbing “accident” that wasn’t entirely an accident. Perhaps Bond’s recruitment into the Royal Navy and, subsequently, MI6 wasn’t exactly of his own doing. And perhaps that box of personal belongings, given to Bond by Moneypenny, wasn’t actually recovered from Skyfall, but rather from M’s office after the explosion at MI6, and the timing of Bond receiving this box, just days before he would encounter Blofeld, is not a coincidence.
Going back to Casino Royale, M seems to admit that Bond’s destiny was predetermined. After he has broken into her apartment, she tells him, “I knew it was too early to promote you.” Ten years ago, the line seemed to only suggest some regret on M’s part. Now, however, it sounds more like M knew all along that Bond would be become a double-0. It just happened sooner than expected.
Certainly, as Meslow suggests, using Fleming as a source for Bond 25 can be helpful. But Purvis and Wade have rich material in the two previous Bond films, as well.
What are your thoughts on what should happen in Bond 25?