Best or worst Bond film?

The new James Bond stinks. The new James Bond is the best ever. Which is it? Two Bond fans, filmmaker Ced Chan and author Nury Vittachi duke it out.

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Vittachi: No gadgets. Man, how can a Bond film even be a Bond film without gadgets? I kept waiting for his watch to turn into a helicopter.

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Chan: There were gadgets. He had standard 007 gear like a pen gadget and a decked out car with bonus gear that could kick-start his heart!  They just toned it down.

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Vittachi: Okay, a few gadgets. And I admit it was a well-made movie. Tight script, brilliant direction, never a dull moment. But it didn't feel like Bond.

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Chan: Actually, I think it was bold move on the Broccoli family’s part to tamper with what has been a winning formula. The previous Bond film was the highest earning one in the series -- until this one.  Going back to the source, Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel was a wise choice.

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Vittachi: This one is the biggest earner?

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Chan: Yep. The biggest Bond film at the box office and most critically acclaimed as well.

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Vittachi: Another thing: I didn't like the music. The old Bond films had beautiful sweeping themes. The songs would always dramatically modulate from C to A flat and the melodies would stick with you for ever. [sings] Yoooo only live twiiiiiiice….

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Chan: I love those sweeping scores as well.  But I think they broke from that long ago with more pop-oriented themes in the latter Roger Moore Bond films. 

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Vittachi: Maybe. I'll concede that point. They lost the plot on the music a long time ago. But what about the star? Daniel Craig isn’t even good-looking. He's not handsome. He looks like a thug. He's got a boxer’s nose and too many muscles.

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Chan: A lot of people agree with you on that one. Many women I know didn’t think Craig is particularly good looking, except maybe for that bathing suit scene.  But I always thought Bond should be a bit of a bruiser, since he gets into so many fights.  Besides, I think Craig pulls it off because he’s a good actor.

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Vittachi: That's true. The thing about Bond movies is that they included excitement, edge-of-the-seat thrills, drama and so on - but they were also full of laughs. Casino Royale has no laughs.

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Chan: There were laughs.  They were just a bit more understated.  I loved his response to the question of whether he wanted his martini “shaken or stirred”!  [“Do I look like a give a damn?”] Remember it wasn’t so long ago when Pierce Brosnan stabbed someone to death with a pen, and then muses something like: “Hmm. The pen truly is mightier than the sword”?  In today's age, Austin Powers pulls off lines like that much better than Bond.

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Vittachi: I admit the script for the new one is tight. I’m not saying that this is a bad movie. It’s a very good movie indeed. What I’m saying is that it is not a Bond movie. Bond is a comic book hero. He is Superman without a cape. He’s a fantasy figure. He gives us thrills and spills, laughs and spectacle. It’s pure entertainment. The new movie is a different animal: it’s a very good action movie. The old Bond was a cappuccino -- dark at the heart but also with a touch of sweetness and froth. The new one is a double espresso. It’s a good drink but not to everyone’s taste.

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Chan: Au contraire, mon frere.  Bond is still very much a super-agent in this film.  He makes superhuman leaps at construction sites, he survives bashes in the balls that would crush lesser men.  But I think you summed it up nicely when you recently told me that age of the hero is over.  I agree; the age of the classic hero like Superman is over.  This is reflected by today’s most popular heroes who are a darker, grittier breed of antihero like Wolverine or Batman, whose most recent films far out grossed that of the most recent Superman film.

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Vittachi: Are you saying I'm past it?

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[Debaters leap out of their chairs and start grappling.]

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Editorial board verdict: Chan wins by a knockout.

Comments

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I;m with Cedrick Chan on this one. It's a great movie. People who pine for the old wisecracking comic book James Bond are people who have failed to grow up. They should be wearing short pants and a school cap/.