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Have they made the character of Bond too important in his own universe?


Especially with the reboot... Bond is only 1 agent (the 7th out of... however many) and has only had one real mission and has disobeyed orders or gone rogue on the others. He's barely achieved success on any missions (he was even "killed" on one of his few official missions!) and gotten many people killed.

We as the audience know that he's saved the world many times over and is iconic, whereas the characters within the world (especially M) seem to think this as well, even though as a new agent messing about and disobeying orders would most likely be fired.

M following him around to every foreign country where there's a crisis, and presumably neglecting her other agents (as well as her paperwork and carbon footprint!) for this one guy who doesn't seem that great seems a stretch.

I can understand in the old timeline that his successes have allowed him a certain maverick leeway as the series went on (saving the world many times over would do that!) whereas the rebooted version is a little unbelievable that he's so revered so soon and sometimes makes me struggle to buy into the world of the film.

Just wandering what others think?

"What are you, some kind of doomsday machine, boy?"

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He's had three real (maybe not REAL) missions technically, at least that we've seen. The trip to Madagascar to capture the bombmaker (which Bond obviously failed), beating and capturing Le Chiffre, and finding and defeating Silva.

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Also finding the list of undercover agents. So, four.

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Also finding the list of undercover agents. So, four.
Did they even recover that? It seems like after a while SKYFALL completely dropped that subplot and everyone forgot about it.


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The recovered it after Silva is captured.

It dropped that subplot because it was resolved.

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Well, they didn't "close the loop" via explicit exposition.

But...the list went to Silva and they "recovered" Silva's island and his stuff. So it was implied but not discussed. Either that or (more realistically but less Bondish) once it got to Silva...recovering it became an impossibility as it was/could be disseminated irretrievably once hacked off the specific local hard drive, thus that mission would be over, either way.

Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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Not too wandering.

Hmmm. I think I can sign on with your sense that Bond gets an unrealistic focus from his Bondverse that seems to bend towards him, unjustifiably. That gravitational "center of the universe" black hole seems to grow in force as the franchise matures, and continues. Exacerbated, in part, by the Craig-era construct that we're now watching a rookie agent screw up and learn and go rogue and frustrate rather than delight his peers and bosses.

That said, its an intentional part of the deal now...Bond stories are not stories about an agent. They are, instead, stories about an agent who is also known by the audience to be a (the) cinematic generation-spanning icon with as much or more baggage and expectation placed upon him than any other current character today. Basically Bond stories are no longer just about Bond but they are mostly about his emotional resonance and importance to us. The stories are about us, now, in a way.

So that significance must manifest somehow, lest the panty buncher wander where all the "real" Bondliness went. It's not Bond if its not a ricochet of many if not all prior Bonds, we all say in varying ways. (Some of us more whingey than others.)

Note, there are clear signposts that one can grab onto to help navigate, which you did omit from your synopsis above. For example, it seems intentional that we are to interpret there's been a significant gap filled with experience and success between QOS and SF. It seems a misread to pretend the stories are trying to tell us nothing much happened between those two windows. Frustration with not getting to see it differs from an assertion that there was really nothing to see in Bondverse. Also, some of this "magic" gravitation towards Bond is part and parcel. Eg...Moneypenny is supposed to do that over James, somewhat masochistically and unrequitedly. And everyone seemingly knowing James was awesome and magnetic has been a self-spoof since around the YOLT/DAF timeframe, not really a Craig thing.







Now, this is a signature gun, and that is an optical palm reader.

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The main thing most people want out of Bond movies is less of an emphasis on James Bond, I agree.

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The main thing most people want out of Bond movies is less of an emphasis on James Bond, I agree.Well, if you put if that way.

What no man Can give ya. And none Can take away.

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