Doing It The James Bond Way!

I have been writing a lot on vocal since I seriously started writing here about 3–4 months back. I have written stories, poems, and informative articles. During this journey, I have shared a lot about myself or what I think, directly or Indirectly.

So I thought it was time I share some more exciting stuff!

I have been a fan of ‘James Bond’ since I was six! I was such a big fan that I believed James bond was real! In fact, at the time, I was so young that it wasn’t long ago that I had understood when a person dies in a movie, he doesn’t die in real life. But, even though I had understood films were not real,

I was convinced it could be the case with other movies but not with ‘James Bond.’

You must be wondering what made this kid such a big fan?

Well, then let me tell you all about it. It was 1996 or 97, and I was almost six years old. ‘GoldenEye,’ the movie which revived the James Bond franchise after a long time, had premiered on Indian television. Let me also tell you, back then; I didn’t understand English well enough to watch an entire movie. But I had heard about this movie from my dad, who was also a big bond fan.

One day I was skimming through the channels in the afternoon alone, I stumbled upon Star Movies (an English movie channel). I used to like action, and even though I didn’t understand the words, I had watched a few English action movies with my dad. As I came across star movies, there was a fight scene, so I decided to watch.

It was one guy in a black outfit fighting with an army!

He was trying to escape on a bike into a running plane and fly away! But the pilot fought with him, and both fell out of the plane. I thought the ‘plane’ idea was not happening anymore! He was outnumbered and also running out of time as he would have been gunned down if he didn’t escape soon!

A guy on a motorcycle was chasing him, and somehow he fought with him and got his bike. But, unfortunately, the enemy army was catching up on him and was very close to shooting at him. All this was happening on a runway, which was on a mountain. The plane was on its course, perhaps on autopilot, and would fall off the cliff if it did not take off.

So our guy looks around, perhaps evaluating all his options, and does something irrational! He picks up the bike and goes after the plane, which will fall off the cliff. There was no way he could have caught it. Even the army general found it erratic! He instructed the soldier not to waste bullets and to let him die on his own!

The plane falls off the cliff. Still, he increases the acceleration. Finally, the bike jumps off the cliff with even more speed! However, this guy was not done yet; mid-air, he jumped off the bike. He moved closer to the plane while free-falling! Eventually, he gets inside the plane and tries hard to take off, but it appears he is going to hit a mountain.

But fortune favors the brave! He was successful in flying the plane away from the hill!

And when he does, a bomb explodes, and the entire enemy facility got destroyed!

I was six!

Completely in awe! The theme song starts playing. GoldenEye…

Yeah, I know; most of you have already watched the movie. But I was awe-struck!

I was so much in awe that I was standing on the roof of my house the next day, and there was a breeze. I spread my hands and felt the air and wondered how cool it would be if a plane flew from here and I could jump and catch it! But, luckily for my family, a plane could not have flown there!

I got to know later that this guy was James Bond!

Much later, I realized his name was Pearce Brosnan. That was the day I became a fan, and I still am!

Now let me tell you something that appealed to me and what I find missing in the recent bond movies. This movie threw Bond into a dead-end situation, but he managed to make his way out in the most sensational way! It has been a hallmark of all bond movies before the Daniel Craig era. Perhaps it was the feature of Sir Ian Fleming’s writing. (The creator of James Bond) I am yet to read them, I admit!

But the critical point is, the recent movies though they have great action sequences, fall a bit short in the way they suit the story’s structure. By watching the previous bond movies, I have a perception that Bond was a type of person who would look for espionage ways and go for combat only when critically needed.

Moreover, the movies were structured in this way. But if you look at the recent films like ‘Quantum Of Solace,’ it had great action in the start but not so much in the climax, which could have made a grand ending. And I also feel the plot should demand a great action sequence which opens the scope for the ingenious gadgets made by the Q-branch.

People have grown away from unrealistic gadgets, but that doesn’t mean you have to drop the idea. Instead, you could do some research and make it realistic and fantastic with a bit of a grey area to allow for creative liberty. However, I feel not doing this is taking away Bond’s charm in the long run.

So that is what I say has been the James Bond way, which recent movies have deviated from! And I desperately wish to see that back, fingers crossed for the upcoming bond movie- ‘No Time To Die.’