Judi Dench and the 'F Bomb'?

How did you guys feel about the use of swear words in Skyfall? I don't have a real issue with swear words, I'm not that much of a prude, but it was a surprise to hear quite a few 's***ts, b****r and Judi Dench herself dropping the F bomb. Did it shock you, or where you comfortable with it? I have to admit, I laughed heartily at Bond being called "a little s**t by Kincaid, although it's hard to imagine Connery, Moore or Brosnan's Bond's being given such a label. Love to hear your thoughts.

I think within the context of a harder-hitting and heavier Bond film, it's acceptable for the odd swear word to be used. If something like Moonraker had dropped an F-bomb, maybe I'd feel it was extreme, but in the context of Skyfall I had no problem with it.

M wrote:

I think within the context of a harder-hitting and heavier Bond film, it's acceptable for the odd swear word to be used. If something like Moonraker had dropped an F-bomb, maybe I'd feel it was extreme, but in the context of Skyfall I had no problem with it.

Yeah, but still, the F word. Feels like, in terms of the world of a Bond a little bit of a taboo has been broken, although the scene where's it's used is wonderful though and the context was correct, but it was strange, living in the UK to see the BBFC classification label have the phrase "one use of strong language" on it.

None of this would be taboo in the context of the novels and if the films are becoming more adult again, as Skyfall seems to suggest, then I'm all for it.

Erica Ambler wrote:

None of this would be taboo in the context of the novels and if the films are becoming more adult again, as Skyfall seems to suggest, then I'm all for it.

That's the thing I have to give John Logan (or maybe Purvis and Wade) credit for, it wasn't just randomly put into the film as many PG-13/12A rated movies are prone to do nowadays just because they get away with it, it's was put it into a nicely portrayed moment between M and Bond.

Yes, and it also shows that M and Bond have a relationship that transcends the normal military hierarchy/protocol. Not that anyone should be in any doubt of that by this stage of the film...

Erica Ambler wrote:

Yes, and it also shows that M and Bond have a relationship that transcends the normal military hierarchy/protocol. Not that anyone should be in any doubt of that by this stage of the film...

Of course that was never in any doubt. I have to say, the highlight of the Craig era so far, for me, has been the relationship between M and 007 and this movie as a whole was the best it had ever been. The way that Dench has taken the maternal qualities of M from a softer quality in the Brosnan era to to something more stern and spikier with Craig has been a joy and both actors have done it so well.

Spoiler:

It was barely audible in the viewing at my cinema. No audience interuption, the sound was iffy which seems to be the case in the Odeon. I didn't mind it, like LTK, the swearing seemed in the right context. Thing is I could imagine Fiennes' M being similarly outspoken, as it were.

Hilly wrote:

It was barely audible in the viewing at my cinema. No audience interuption, the sound was iffy which seems to be the case in the Odeon. I didn't mind it, like LTK, the swearing seemed in the right context. Thing is I could imagine Fiennes' M being similarly outspoken, as it were.

Am I right in saying that Dalton's Bond is the only one to actually swear himself? I might be wrong here, I do recall "watch the birdy you b*****d" and him telling the Hong Kong Narcotics to "p**s off", but have any of the other on screen 007s ever swore?

Sir Dalton Craig wrote:

Hilly wrote:

It was barely audible in the viewing at my cinema. No audience interuption, the sound was iffy which seems to be the case in the Odeon. I didn't mind it, like LTK, the swearing seemed in the right context. Thing is I could imagine Fiennes' M being similarly outspoken, as it were.

Am I right in saying that Dalton's Bond is the only one to actually swear himself? I might be wrong here, I do recall "watch the birdy you b*****d" and him telling the Hong Kong Narcotics to "p**s off", but have any of the other on screen 007s ever swore?

As far as I know it's only been Dalton. Moore might have come close swinging atop the fire engine in VTAK but no one else has.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRxhoUbW_Q&feature=player_embedded

If only.

I'm sure Connery/Lazenby/Moore chalked up a few from the 'mild' end of the swearing scale ('Damn/What the hell/My God'), but yes ... Dalton was the first to push it beyond that.

After all those sex scenes and the torture scenes from Casino Royale, I think the F word is the less. I was surprised, because I think I heard a total of four swearing in the whole Bond saga, but it didn't worry me. As said before, there was swearing in the books

M's potty mouth is awesome... :cheers:

It wasn't a bad moment. It wasn't an ill-judged and stagey "OMG, look M's just swore!!!" moment like the one in CR. As Hilly said, it's not very highly audible, though you do hear it. It's a perfectly in-the-moment occurrence which I didn't even really stop to think about afterwards.

Yeah, I was onboard for that. The Fleming novels have a decent amount of it, even if its all censored for the times.

Hilly wrote:

It was barely audible in the viewing at my cinema. No audience interuption,

Agreed. I don't think my audience understood Dench's accent in that scene, as it appeared her comment went right over their head. I was expecting it, so I knew it when I heard it. Either they didn't hear it or they just didn't care.

Lazenby. wrote:

It wasn't a bad moment. It wasn't an ill-judged and stagey "OMG, look M's just swore!!!" moment like the one in CR. As Hilly said, it's not very highly audible, though you do hear it. It's a perfectly in-the-moment occurrence which I didn't even really stop to think about afterwards.

Agreed.

No reaction to her voicing it in our theater today either, but it was a matinee and there were less than 100 people present, so that might not be representative.

Lazenby. wrote:

It wasn't a bad moment. It wasn't an ill-judged and stagey "OMG, look M's just swore!!!" moment like the one in CR. As Hilly said, it's not very highly audible, though you do hear it. It's a perfectly in-the-moment occurrence which I didn't even really stop to think about afterwards.

Agreed. I liked that there was no emphasis on the word. Just a small moment.

Still, I would love to hear this exchange one day between Bond and a villain.

"Go f*** yourself."
"Even I cannot do that."

I noticed the odd moments of swearing, and typically I never have a problem with cursing in films as long as they actually fit the connotation. Here they felt woefully out of place as much as all the "Mum"'s did. I never took Dalton's lines as swearing and actually as inspired bits of characterizing language.

I also noticed it because I heard a parent ask the the theater owner if there was any swearing in the film and went in thinking "what, swearing in a Bond film?"

Largo's Shark wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRxhoUbW_Q&feature=player_embedded

If only.

Indeed. I rewound that scene upwards of 10 times when first viewing the AVTAK features.