Mendes for Bond 24?

Control wrote:

I really wouldn't be surprised if Mendes gets a call back and takes it.

With the biggest Bond ever under his belt, I'm sure EON is going to offer him quite a bit to come back and rival his previous film.

His own island and a lifelong supply of caviar (Bulaga, south of the Caspian)

Regardless of whether Mendes returns, I suspect that BOND 24 will feature the following:

- The gunbarrel at the end of the film, just prior to the closing credits.

- A scene in which Bond has a great big row with M (perhaps Bond and Mallory will actually come to blows) and either threatens to quit the service or actually does so.

- Bond getting drunk and wallowing in self-pity (he may or may not also be AWOL at the time).

- Q taking the piss out of Bond for being a clapped-out old man and making quips like: "I'm sure you still find mobile phones to be miracles of modern technology, 007." (Although he may - somewhat implausibly - refer to them as "cell phones".)

- M on the point of firing Bond.

- Moneypenny being kidnapped or held prisoner or in some way inserted into jeopardy in order to make Bond's mission seem more "personal".

- At least two scenes in which Bond is shirtless so that audiences can gaze in wonder at his muscular physique.

The only one of those I can see definitely occurring is the last one. I think both Mendes and Logan are smart to know that simply doing another SKYFALL won't work. I can sort of imagine Bond and Mallory having a row, but threatening to quit the service? At this point it would seem like an empty gesture.

Just as OTT plots and special effects threatened to plunge Bond into cliche, I think having yet another film where Bond is on the verge of leaving the service, having his usefulness to the service questioned, going rogue etc. poses a similar threat. As Sharky suggests, by now it's been fairly well-established that MI6 needs Bond (and vice versa) and they can't keep milking the rogue agent/reboot angle for eternity.

Loomis wrote:

- A scene in which Bond has a great big row with M (perhaps Bond and Mallory will actually come to blows) and either threatens to quit the service or actually does so.

- Bond getting drunk and wallowing in self-pity (he may or may not also be AWOL at the time).

- M on the point of firing Bond.

Possibly, but what if it was all a ploy to get Bond into a position where he is recruited by the villain? I don't think he's done that before. And based on what we've seen of Fiennes' M, he approves of his people taking initiative and/or finding creative ways to solve problems.

Manhunter wrote:

Ripped off from several other films, with an utterly unbelievable main plot and villain character.

You do know we're talking about a Bond movie, right?

If only Terence Young's name was attached to SKYFALL, Manhunter would be singing praises.

Largo's Shark wrote:

The only one of those I can see definitely occurring is the last one. I think both Mendes and Logan are smart to know that simply doing another SKYFALL won't work. I can sort of imagine Bond and Mallory having a row, but threatening to quit the service? At this point it would seem like an empty gesture.

And I think Mendes knows enough about Bond to avoid the cliches that we've been seeing since 1995.

For example, in SKYFALL, I was sure that Severine was simply going to set Bond up and turn into another expendable villainess. I was surprised that she legitimately brought Bond to Silva with hopes that he'd kill her "master".

Manhunter wrote:

Ripped off from several other films, with an utterly unbelievable main plot and villain character.

What would you consider to be "believeable", then? A rogue - even by their standards - North Korean colonel, who has his DNA totally transplanted to become someone else in order to set himself up as a legitimate businessman and then builds a Giant Space Laser Of Death to detonate all of the mines separating the North from the South in the most expensive, inefficent and disappointing world domination scheme (he doesn't have any plans for the Giant Space Laser Of Death once the mines are cleared away) ever?

Gustav Graves was a pretty impressive fellow. Not everyone can score a knighthood after a mere 14 months of existence.