For those who love movies, there are certain milestone moments in life that cinema gives us. It might be the first flick a person was watching when they made it to second base. Maybe for you it is when a special effect or CGI innovation makes your eyes bug out and you can’t hold back a “wow” in the theater.
For me I have a few highlights in cinema. Take for example the animated/live action classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit? That is the movie I saw the most times in theaters (13 if you were wondering). Like many other 1993 summer moviegoers, Steven Spielberg made me believe dinosaurs could be resurrected from millions of years of extinction with fossilized mosquitoes and frog DNA because of the realism his effects portrayed in Jurassic Park.
When I was 17 I had another one of these moments that involved my cinematic hero, James Bond.
While working at a video store in high school, my coworker and I had a pretty slow summer afternoon shift and we discussed watching a movie (which was a no-no with corporate management). After bouncing around some ideas of movies to watch, we settled on starting with Dr. No and watching all the films in the series every time we had a shift together. A couple of hours later I was leaving work and with me were From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice.
I have never been so hooked on something so fast before. I had a new shiny toy and I wanted to play with it until its batteries died or Daddy took it away because I wouldn’t come to the dinner table.
Within a matter of days I had watched every James Bond movie available and was already on my way to purchasing the entire series on video (yes, this was way back in the day of the VCR).
Although at times (and certainly with the reboot of 2007’s Casino Royale) the series’ creators throw a curve ball at the audience to keep things fresh, the James Bond movies pretty much follow a formula that has been laid out since From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. You know exactly what you are going to get from a 007 picture, but that is sort of what makes me love the series even more.
The elements are always there: action, a dashing leading man, beautiful women, megalomaniac villains, gadgets, fast cars, exotic locales, henchmen with a distinctive characteristic and sidekicks who play the sacrificial lamb. Also, you can almost always rely on a scene or two with your favorite MI6 allies in the forms of M, Moneypenny and Q.
This repetition bothers some people who think the series is played out and should be put down for lack of originality, but every entry in the series brings something new to cinemagoers, whether it is a fresh take on how to hold the world ransom or simply a new stunt that excites the audience like never before. James Bond is going to win in the end and the credits usually scroll as our favorite British spy has his arms locked around some international beauty. I don’t go to the theater or buy the DVDs to be surprised by Bond. No, I go because I want to live vicariously through this man and his over-the-top, out-of-this-world, no fear lifestyle.
Just think that if James Bond were a real man, he would have contracted a venereal disease with one of his many partners, smoke and drunk himself a tumor or died by the third or fourth adventure because bad guys in the real world don’t invite their rivals to dinner.
So why would we want James Bond to be a realistic character? Real spies don’t drive fancy cars or wear tuxedos. They sneak around offices and organizations obtaining information from e-mails and late-night rendezvous. Occasionally gunplay is involved I’m sure (I don’t really know because the CIA won’t get back to me about my application), but in general it is a pretty low-profile occupation that involves high risk and very low reward.
Have I covered anything that hasn’t already been said before? Not really. We all know who James Bond is. We know the routine going into the theater. That doesn’t mean though that the ride isn’t still going to be fun.
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