This is easily some of the worst 44 seconds of any James Bond movie ever.
As anyone who knows my opinion of No Time To Die (2021), it obviously revolves around the awful Mathilde/daughter plot line from the movie. In this cringe-worthy, throwaway, awful scene, we see an attempt at portraying a domesticated secret agent James Bond, 007 interact with a toddler (his daughter…ugh!) during a morning routine where a false sense of security is palpable.
I hate everything about it:
- Mathilde
- Her stupid bunny doll, dou-dou
- The stupid kid’s tv show shown on the TV (no one cares!)
- The way Bond peels the apple
- The fact that Bond uses a switchblade to peel the apple
- Bond’s “cutesie” look at Mathilde
- Why are none of the subtitles punctuated? (maybe it’s just this version?)
- Madeleine’s “now, dear!” look
- Did I mention Mathilde???
Just total cringe. Friends don’t let friends put kids in a James Bond movie. *puke*
James Bond’s daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), from No Time To Die (2021)…ugh.
I like the way Agent XXX/Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) was introduced in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Instead of showing the agent on a mission, in the thick of it, they use the bait-and-switch strategy to make the audience think that the USSR’s “best agent,” according to General Gogol (Walter Gotell), is not much different from James Bond: a man on a mission, bedding a beauty and ready to answer their country’s call.
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Bond (Roger Moore) and Tibbett (Patrick Macnee) have a great rapport in A View To A Kill (1985), and it peaks in this scene. Just after arriving in their room at Zorin’s compound and setting up their recorded dialogue as cover for eavesdropping ears, the two make their way to the balcony where they focus on their mission of investigating Zorin more deeply. They playfully comment on the hilarious, charade relationship they’ve exhibited since they arrived, but then get down to business.
Bond trusts Tibbett’s play-by-play of the parties welcoming and arriving on the helicopter, and when an absolutely stunning Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) arrives, focus quickly turns to her. Side note: the jazzy/mysterious 80’s music of this scene is great, and it’s some of my favorite from the movie. This is also by far the best look for Sutton in the movie, and she seems a bit star-struck herself when she meets Zorin (Christopher Walken) on the launchpad.
Bond cracks a joke to Tibbett that Sutton needs “closer inspection” after they silently acknowledge her good looks, and a more serious Tibbett can’t believe Bond would suggest such a thing: “We’re on a mission!” – to which Bond quips that any interaction between the two would be his own “sacrifice” for the mission – a win-win for Bond and her majesty’s secret service, no? I think their characters’ dynamic (although short-lived) is some of the best Moore’s Bond has with any other during his tenure as 007.
This exchange from Spectre (2015) elicited a loud laugh from the movie theater audience at my first viewing. The “bar” at Swann’s health clinic wasn’t serving any alcohol, so Bond ordered a drink based on Q’s recommendation. From the sound of it and its dark green looks, Bond was uninterested and sealed its fate with a memorable one liner – a rare occurrence that 007 talks about his bowel habits. Maybe the other time in the series is when Moore’s Bond asks a taxi to go to a pharmacy for aid in the “release” the golden bullet he accidentally swallowed in The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)?
Bond is having none of this nutritional cleanse drink in Spectre (2015)
Normally when James Bond interacts with wait staff or passersby, the scene is normally short and sweet, and his own quips and charm make the scene somewhat memorable, if at all. It’s not the case in this scene from The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), however.
As Bond searches for Scaramanga’s girl, Andrea Anders, in a hotel, this helpful worker asks Bond (Roger Moore) if he needs help with his champagne on ice delivery. Bond declines, but gladly has uses him to open the door to room 602, Andrea Anders’ room. Does Bond want the staff member to open the champage? Nope – no further assistance is needed from staff, as Bond says he wants his visit to be “a surprise.”
The hotel worker’s response is hilarious in its giddiness and glee. I wonder if it was improvised?
This scene from The Living Daylights (1987) is how I like my Timothy Dalton James Bond: rough around the edges and disgruntled with superiors – has his own disagreeable opinions and agendas but in the end always wants to get the job done, and does.
This scene takes place in M’s office with M, Bond and Frederick Gray, the Minister of Defense assessing the catastrophic event that just occurred, where a defected Georgi Koskov was re-captured by the KGB and MI6 made a “laughingstock” in the intelligence community as a results, as relayed by Gray.
I like this scene so much because everyone expresses their own frustrations in unique ways. M grumpily cleaning out his pipe, Gray begrudgingly leaving to meet the Prime Minister evoking his disdain, and Bond defiantly bending to M’s orders to take out Pushkin. This is a relatively rare direct “termination order” issued by M to Bond in his office, and although Bond has a license to kill, in this case Bond is skeptical that Pushkin could be behind the plot. M senses his defiance instantly (you can sense this isn’t the first time this has happened between the two) and his “What? Do you think I don’t?” is expertly delivered as a “STFU, obey my orders” declaration to Bond.
M, Bond and Frederick Gray meeting in M’s office in The Living Daylights (1987)
Despite Bond’s pleas, M demurs and tells him to either do the job or leave for a fortnight and 008 will do it – since 008 will follow “orders, not instincts.” I always love when other double-oh agents are mentioned in Bond movies. 🙂 And it happens doubly so here, since 004 was killed in the Gibraltar training exercise at the start of the movie, as a result of the Smernt Spionom (Death to Spies) agenda that has commenced. So even though M attempts to allay Bond’s hesitations, Bond still relents and says he would like to delay the operation to obtain more information. M’s job transfer threat is all Bond needs to hear, and he takes the mission.
Knowing this James Bond, however, we know that his agenda will come before MI6’s, for better or worse.
The Q Branch scene from GoldenEye (1995) is one of my favorites of the series. It has it all: physical humor, great chemistry between Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn), funny one-liners and quips and…the only time another movie’s theme is mentioned in a previous movie? Although it’s great, it does have its flaws.
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The Quantum Of Solace (2008) gun barrel sequence is unique because it comes at the end of the movie, not at the traditional start. I actually enjoyed this subtle change more than I thought I would – specifically because there’s nothing better than hearing the Bond theme blaring at the end of a Bond movie. It’s an exclamation point!
Following this gun barrel sequence is a cool animation to incorporate the gun barrel circle into the movie’s logo, as seen below. Nothing crazy, but another way the series has had fun with the 007 logo and movie title logos over the years. Kudos!
The Quantum Of Solace Gun Barrel Logo
In the above scene from Casino Royale (2006), Judi Dench’s M and Daniel Craig’s James Bond have a heated exchange at her abode about his disastrous, headline-grabbing mission at the start of the movie. His sloppy parkour chase ended with an unarmed man (albeit an international terrorist bombmaker) killed and a headache for MI6.
After grilling him for a bit, M is also perplexed as to how Bond found out where she lived. To which Bond replies that it was just as easy as finding out what the M actually stood for. M quickly interjected her disdain and threat of murder (!). I remember this exchange piquing a lot of interest in Bond fans when Casino Royale came out, but much to our chagrin her name was never referenced again for the remainder of the movie.
In later Craig Bond movies, however, her name is referenced a few other times, albeit in different circumstances and still leading to more questions than answers.
Most notably:
- “Mum” – In Skyfall (2012), Bond oddly (affectionately?) refers to her as ‘mum’ on several occasions. Maybe this is an MI6 inside joke/reference to her being a woman M, so “mum”? Or just British slang or a drawl?
- Emma/Em – Also later in Skyfall, Kincaid brazenly refers to her as “Emma” – leaving the question open as to whether that’s her actual given name, or just another English play on words of the letter M? Or does he think Bond is shortening “Emma” to “Em” and doesn’t know that M is her MI6 code name
But, all is not so. As seen in the below screenshot, Dench’s M’s real name is actually revealed at the end of Skyfall (2012), where Moneypenny hands Bond a box containing the dreaded figurine of Jack, the Union Jack bulldog.
The real name of M (Judi Dench) is revealed in Skyfall (2012) as Olivia Mansfield
It’s a single frame, but you can clearly see M’s full name Olivia Mansfield visible and the package recipient’s name, James Bond (here it is zoomed in):
The real name of M (Judi Dench) is revealed in Skyfall (2012) as Olivia Mansfield
As Olivia Mansfield was deemed as canon by EON Productions, the name speculation is put to bed. Some fans have gone a bit further though, and deemed the name a play on words of the male-dominated field of espionage and the head of MI6 (code named “C” in real life actually) as a “man’s” “field.” It would have been interesting to have heard Dench’s M finally referred to as Mansfield for once, but oh well.
Regardless, if the above revelation didn’t happen, I still like to guess what name Dench’s M could have possibly have been. Here are my top 007 “M” guesses (all of which according to Google were the most popular girls names in the 1930s, the decade when Judi Dench was born):
- Margaret
- Mary
- Marilyn
- Martha
- Marie
- Mildred
- Marjorie
In No Time To Die (2021), right before Bond (Daniel Craig) gets coaxed out of “retirement,” we see the simple solitary island life he leads, content with the world. After a successful snapper catch/diving session, he comes to port in his sweet sailboat (with Red Ensign flag on the stern) and his speargun, flippers and snorkel in tow. He’s not dressed to impress here, as his t-shirt has multiple holes and I’d advise not to wear those dorky croakies anywhere in public. He seems carefree.
Eagle-eyed James Bond fans would recognize the setting as the real-world Goldeneye estate where Ian Fleming first started writing the James Bond novels – an awesome hat-tip to Bond history. My only complaint is that we didn’t see more of Bond’s island life. It would have been great to go along with him on his diving session or see how he passes the time.
