"James Bond's Perfect Movie Reboot Would Fix Craig's Blofeld Mistakes"
sirso
Posts: 209MI6 Agent
"James Bond's Perfect Movie Reboot Would Fix Craig's Blofeld Mistakes":
Quote:
"There's a perfect storyline for James Bond 26 to reboot franchise, and one that could fix the mishandling of Blofeld during Daniel Craig's era. Blofeld is not only 007's most famous foe, he's one of the most iconic villains in cinema history. The character - and his famous white cast - was introduced in 1963's From Russia With Love, though his face wasn't seen. He and his criminal organization SPECTRE reappeared again in Thunderball before Donald Pleasence portrayed the first version of Blofeld seen onscreen in You Only Live Twice. It was a tradition that Blofeld be played by a new performer in every subsequent entry, but following a messy lawsuit, both he and SPECTRE disappeared from the James Bond movies for decades.
That dry spell was finally broken with 2015's aptly-titled Spectre, with Christoph Waltz portraying the new incarnation of Blofeld. What sounded like perfect casting on paper didn't translate to the movie, sadly. Waltz's Blofeld was saddled with a needlessly convoluted backstory that revealed he and Bond were foster brothers, and in addition to running a terrorist organization from the shadows, his hobby on the side was making Bond's life miserable. Waltz lacked menace in the role and the story made Blofeld seem incredibly petty and insecure instead of an all-powerful threat to the world.
Waltz returned for Craig's final outing No Time To Die for a cameo, which felt more like wrapping up a narrative loose end than an important part of the story. After viewers spent decades waiting for SPECTRE's - which has MANY members - to return, their belated appearance in the Craig era felt disappointingly lackluster and contrived. As No Time To Die wrapped up the story of Daniel Craig's Bond, the franchise is due for a major reboot with the next actor to inherit the role in James Bond 26. The perfect storyline may come from the Dynamite comic James Bond: Agent of SPECTRE, where 007 is recruited by none other than Blofeld to take down a rogue number within his organization. The idea of Bond reluctantly working with Blofeld is not only a new dynamic for the series, it would also make the villain and SPECTRE key parts of the new 007 series right from the start with Bond 26.
Agent Of SPECTRE was published in 2021 and was written by Christo Gage. It sets up a civil war within SPECTRE, with "Number One" Blofeld - portrayed as a hulking, former weightlifter - thinking Bond would be the ideal person to handle a competitor. He offers a large fee for Bond's services, in addition to threatening the life of his friend Felix Leiter. The comic wisely doesn't make Bond a rogue agent or traitor, and he uses the opportunity to hurt the organization from within. Not only does it make Blofeld himself a cunning threat once again, but an uneasy alliance between him and 007 also gives the story an intriguing hook.
James Bond 26's reboot doesn't even have to be a direct adaptation of the comic - the producers behind the Bond series appear shy of using non-Ian Fleming Bond material for the movies - but if SPECTRE is going to reappear, this is a genuinely new approach to take. While Agent Of SPECTRE is set in the modern day, the next adventure could also take the series back to the '60s too for a return to 007's roots. Fantastic as Craig's James Bond run was overall, its portrayal of Blofeld and SPECTRE left viewers and critics cold; Agent Of SPECTRE is the perfect remedy to that."
Comments
I think the idea is good. But I would change a few things. I wouldn't start this storyline for real in Bond26. Maybe Blofeld (under a different name) has a small role as a MI6 informant in Bond26 or 27. When the new Blofeld storyline starts for real he had grown in importance for the MI6 and in the movie and Blofeld is seen as an ally of MI6 and Bond. As in the comic Blofeld uses Bond/MI6 to get rid of a competitor whom the British belive is the leader of SPECTRE (MI6 may not know the name SPECTRE, but they know there's a large criminal organisation out there). Only near the end of the movie do we and Bond learn Blofeld's real name and the fact that he's the leader of SPECTRE. And no "My real name is .... BLOFELD!!!" scene. The name doesn't mean much outside SPECTRE. Maybe the competitor Bond kills uses his last breath to talk about SPECTRE and its leader. "He uses many names, including (Blofeld's alias when talking to MI6), but I think his real name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld".
I dont know if thats specifically the solution, but if the Bond26 reintroduced Blofeld in a more conventional role (at least not Bonds long lost brother) than that would isolate Brofeld as being strictly in the CraigBond timeline, and the embarrassing mistake can be dismissed with no further mention. not reintroducing Blofeld could leave the question open.
there may be precedent for adapting comics plotlines into the films. A year or so before Live and Let Die, the Daily Express comic strip Bond used a hangglider to infiltrate a villain's headquarters. As with later bits that seem very similar to things Kingsley Amis or John Gardner wrote, theres never been any official acknowledgment, I think Amis's credit in SPECTRE was the only time this has ever happened and that was because they quoted specific dialog.