Skyfall breathes a refreshing change into the Bond series by exposing skeletons from Bond's vast and treacherous past, blurring the lines between good and evil. In this installment we have the pleasure of enjoying some of the most highly acclaimed actors in the shoes of Bond's nemeses.
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| James Bond Movie Series List |
Sexy Jarvier Bardiem takes on the role of the charming but deadly Raoul Silva, an ex-MI6 agent who is back with a vendetta and no doubt, a sinister plot to plunge the world into damnation. Ralph Fiennes makes a seductive entree into the Bond series as the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. You can expect him to be powerful, political and bordering on deviousness. Would he be Bond's savior or his enemy?
You can never tell whenever Ralph Fiennes is cast ... so this will leave room for some very stimulating guess work throughout the film!
THE GENESIS OF JAMES BOND
The EON Productions series of Bond films has to-date grossed over $12,360,000,000 (adjusted for inflation) making it the second highest grossing film franchise in history. It is the only movie franchise in the world to have spanned across five generations and the only non-superhero character to have canvased every medium of story-telling; beginning from Ian Fleming's novels, and then spawning its own television show, radio show, an active comic cult-following and a slew of box office films.
At this stage you'd have to ask: what's the secret formula behind this epic success? Is it the girls? The cars? The gadgets? Sean Connery? The obvious answer is that James Bond epitomizes the modern day superhero - an ordinary man, with extraordinary skills. He's got fancy gizmos like Batman and he's suave and fashionable like Bruce Wayne. And like all superheroes he saves the world time and again, and he always gets the girl.
But is the prosperity formula of the Bond legacy really this simple? What has made Bond such a formidable icon that has not just survived, but thrived for 50 years and is still going strong? Let's go back a century and introduce the genius who is Ian Fleming, the creator of JAMES BOND.
Ian Fleming, born an Earth Monkey in 1908, conceived the 007 character based on his own real-life experiences as a spy. Born to a wealthy British merchant banker family, Ian was educated at Eton College and grew up surrounded by the high life - girls, martini cocktails, cars, cigars and designer suits. Following in the footsteps of his father (who was a Major in World War I), Ian joined the armed forces during World War II, entering the British Naval Intelligence unit in 1939. He was involved with coop intelligence units, one of which was named operation "GoldenEye".
With inside knowledge of field operations and a fortuitous dash of creativity, Fleming cleverly fused the two worlds he knew best and published his first Bond novel Casino Royale (1952). It was an instant hit! The shadowy machinations of spydom was injected with a potent serum of glamor and a new kind of superhero was born. Bond was so well-received that Ian went on to write 11 James Bond novels, earning him a place in the Times' list of "50 Greatest British Writers since 1945".
Since Ian's death in 1964 the legacy of 007 has continued via numerous novels penned by six other authors and 23 films have been made starring this very famous spy.
You would think that by now we would have grown tired of James Bond, and the character would have lost its former glitz and sizzle. But here we are, waiting eagerly for opening night of Skyfall, to watch James Bond die, resurrect, and do what he does best (for the 23rd time in history) - which is to blow up everything, get the girl and save the world! Surely there must be an invisible celestial hand that has paved the way for this franchise!
Well here's an alternative view.., a hypothesis if you will. What if the real secret to Bond's longevity and prosperity ties back to the feng shui magic of NUMBERS? This ends Part 1 of James Bond Movie Series List. To find out more, you can check the next post.