Year 5 of an Indie Writer: Week 7 AKA Bond and Batman

Well, if it wasn’t for Matt Reeves and Billie Eilish, I’d have darn near nothing to discuss today.

You see, this has been a bit of a nothing week. After Gregg Hurwitz week last week, not much happened. I’m reading The Nowhere Man, Hurwitz’s second Orphan X novel. Really digging it and the character.

I’m also reading some Star Wars comics from the late 70s, specifically the months leading up to the release of The Empire Strikes Back in May 1980.

TV wise, I’m catching up on Magnum PI via my CBS All Access subscription. The move from Monday nights to Fridays pretty much screwed my airtime viewing of the show. When I went and reviewed the list, I realized I had only seen two episode. Now, I’ve watched six episodes in three days. Love being able to watch on my Chromebook at lunch at work.

Thus I didn’t have much to write about. Until Thursday.

No Time To Die by Billie Eilish

I’ll be the first to admit that I disliked the news Eilish had been given the opportunity to write and sing the new James Bond theme song. I’ve seen her on SNL and random other live events and I’ve been less than impressed. Even her rendition of “Yesterday” last week at the Oscars left me wanting.

Still, she’s on a terrific run. She’s following up her four Grammy wins—the four biggest of the night—with a Bond song. Bueno to her for having a moment. And, clearly, she’s popular.

But what kind of Bond song would she create? The Daniel Craig films, if I’m being honest, have batter .500. I really enjoy Skyfall and You Know My Name. I ended up only tolerating Writing’s on the Wall while watching Spectre. And I don’t like Another Way to Die, the theme from Quantum of Solace.

Fear not: the record for the worst Bond song is firmly set: Madonna’s Did Another Day. Too bad. Pierce Brosnan had some great theme songs and a bonus: kd lang’s Surrender, the best non-main-theme song of the entire Bond oeuvre.

So it was with great trepidation I dialed up Eilish’s song on Thursday night. I sighed at my son as I started the video. He left. I sat and listened.


By the time it ended, I had a verdict:

I didn’t hate it.

It was quiet, somber. Her voice actually seemed to fit. It had an elegiac vibe, pretty nifty considering this is Craig’s last bow as Bond. I actually liked the “Food me once, fool me twice” part, segueing directly into a short orchestral part.

There were some good Bond-music elements in the piece, especially the last chord.

So it looks like my opinion of Billie Eilish singing a Bond song was wrong. I do find it fascinating, however, that three of the five Craig theme songs were slow. Wonder what that means, if anything.

The New Batman Revealed

Also on Thursday night came the first images of Robert Patinson in his own Batman suit. Yeah, I only know him from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the Twilight movies. His casting didn’t bother me. He was new. He was different. I’m looking forward to the new Batman movie. I’ll wait to see the movie before I pass judgement.

But how did the suit look? I’ll freely admit I liked Ben Affleck’s suit in his two appearances on screen. It was very comic book accurate, the best we’ve had to date.

Here it is.

But in a real-world environment—the vibe Matt Reeves seems to be going for—the body armor suit seems appropriate.

We didn’t get to see a lot of Pattinson’s suit. We saw the symbol, which looked like it that bat-symbol could be popped out and used as a weapon. Interesting. Makes me also think of the Kevin Smith-penned story from Detective Comics issue 1,000 in which Bruce took the gun used to kill his parents, melted it down, and inserted it into his suit as a breast plate. Wonder if that’s part of it.

Pattinson’s cowl looks really fascinating. There are what appear to be stitching along the front, leading me to wonder if this Bruce Wayne doesn’t have the tech gadgetry of the Nolan films. I would actually like that. I like also how the eyes are either hidden in the shadow of the red-hued film or actually behind some sort of lenses.

Oh, and that Michael Giacchino music? CanNOT wait for that. Giacchino is great at everything he does. You heard his music for 2012’s John Carter? Great.

Assumptions Busted

All in all, it’s a week of assumptions being busted. Well, only one with Eilish. I’m an open book when it comes to Pattinson.

Either way, I’m looking forward to the last Craig-as-Bond film in a few weeks and am eager for Pattinson’s Batman.

What are y’all’s thoughts on both things?

License to Kill at 30

With thirty years hindsight, one of my favorite James Bond films could have easily worked in the 21st Century.

The Summer of 1989

It was altogether fitting that the fabulous summer of 1989 for movies would also include a James Bond film. It had been since 1974's The Man With a Golden Gun that a Bond film did not premiere in the summer. Coming two years after 1987's The Living Daylights, License to Kill was Timothy Dalton's second outing as 007. I would have liked to have seen more (yet I truly enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's turn as well).

License to Kill (LTK) was the first Bond film not based on a single Ian Fleming novel. With A View to a Kill and The Living Daylights the titles for a pair of short stories, even LTK's title was unique. It's story of drug cartels in Central America was straight out of dozens of films in the 1980s. Some might think this was pandering to a current trend, but I have always seen it as fitting. Although it hadn't happened yet, 1989 would see the unification of Germany and the felling of the Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union was crumbling. The United States and United Kingdom was down one major adversary. Why not turn to a smaller, more intimate James Bond film?

And Timothy Dalton was the perfect actor for the role.

The Darker Bond

Before Daniel Craig signed on and made the James Bond franchise noticeably darker in tone and subject matter, Timothy Dalton was the one who did it. Sean Connery had moments. Later, Brosnan had one of my favorites. Even Roger Moore had a few moments here and there of the literary Bond. But Moore had turned Bond into a middle aged super-hero by 1985's A View to a Kill, something from which Dalton turned away. Heck, he even had Bond smoking again.

For a story in which Bond goes rogue, seeking vengeance and revenge for the mauling of his friend, Felix Leiter, and Leiter's new bride, I can't image any actor up until then playing the role quite the way Dalton did. Sure, Craig could do it now, but up until 2006, we hadn't seen a brutal Bond for an entire movie. Watching the movie again this past weekend for the first time in I can't remember how long, I was struck by how hollow the humorous moments felt. When Bond takes his first revenge again the traitorous US agent Kilifer, the dialogue you can imagine any of the actors saying. "You earned it. You keep. Old buddy." Then he throws the suitcase at the agent hanging over the shark tank. The traitor falls and the shark feasts. But it's Dalton's dead stare that is so chilling. Craig delivers looks like this. But up until 1989, no Bond had done so.

A Worthy and Scary Adversary

It was the brutal actions of Franz Sanchez, drug lord from a fictional Central American country, that brought out Dalton's dead stare. Sanchez, played wonderfully by Robert Davi, fed Leiter to the sharks after having his wife killed (and presumably raped). All throughout the film, Sanchez is unlike most of the villains Bond had faced up until 1989. He was ruthless and vicious, happily willing to mete out punishment in violent ways. Despite Sanchez saying thing were purely business, Davi pretty much plays Sanchez and a man who enjoys the pain he dishes out.

For the longest time, I would always associate Davi with the role of Sanchez. Didn't matter what he was in, whenever I saw him, I'd say "That's Sanchez."

In a movie with one of the better villains in the Bond franchise, it also had one of the better Bond girls.

A Tough and Capable Partner

Carey Lowell has been one of my favorite Bond girls for thirty years. Even at the time, I could tell she was different. She wasn't some shrinking violent who only needed saving. The then most recent one--Maryam d'Abo from The Living Daylights--fell into the prior category. I honestly can't even remember Tanya Roberts's turn in A View to a Kill. (I can barely remember anything from that film save the great theme song.) You had to go back to Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only for a Bond girl who could hold her own with 007 in the action department. Honestly, I think my favorite of all is Michelle Yoeh from Tomorrow Never Dies.

But Lowell was right there. We first see her with Leiter as he's working with her to capture Sanchez. Next she's welding a shotgun in a bar and enables hers and Bond's escape. We learn she's a pilot, a skill that comes in handy more than once. You can see the turn in her character after Q mentions a field agent must use all the whiles at his (or her) disposal. At that point, she's there to save Bond's butt more than once.

For me, she's top tier of the Bond girls.

The Theme Song

Sorry, Gladys Knight. You sing well, but I've never enjoyed this theme song. But considering the theme for Die Another Day is sitting there as the all-time worst Bond theme song, License to Kill will never reach the bottom. Actually, as I'm writing this piece, I have a YouTube playlist going with all the theme songs. Even when compared to others, LTK just doesn't hold up for the absolutely worst reasons: it's boring. Who writes a boring Bond song?

And this is one of the few Bond films I can remember that had a different closing song. Sorry Patti LaBelle. "If You Ask Me To" is a better song that the main theme, but the record for best-ever closing song is k.d. lang's "Surrender" wins in a blowout. That's so good, it could have--should have been--a main theme. Love that song.

Bond's Plan

It's a common trope to have the hero infiltrate the villain's lair and destroy from within, but I can't remember one for Bond in quite this fashion. Goldfinger brings 007 to Fort Knox thinking Bond knows something. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond's investigation leads him to Blofeld's base in the Alps. Most of the time, Bond finds himself in the hideout, but he soon starts blowing things up.

In LTK, Bond uses his brain much more than in other films. He's cold, calculating, thinking of ways to get to Sanchez rather that just shoot him. His actions remind me of the character in Dashiell Hammet's 1929 novel, Red Harvest, and the move Yojimbo (1961). I suspect the writers had this trope in mind. I'm just surprised it took Bond so long.

The Stunts

In the history of all the Bond films and Bond stunts, I have always enjoyed the water skiing sequence in LTK. Of course he would do that. It was all the funnier later in the movie when Anthony Zerbe, as Milton Krest, explain it to Sanchez. The drug leader didn't believe it. Most of us wouldn't either.

As to the 18 wheeler on its side? Well, this was 1989. All practical effects. Some stuntman on set actually did that, so be quiet about "it couldn't happen." It did happen.

Q in the Field

I've always loved LTK for the extensive use of Desmond Llewelyn as Q not only giving Bond the gadgets, but actively helping 007 with his mission. I'm a fan of the franchise, but this is the only one when this happens, right?

The Verdict

License of Kill remains one of my favorite Bond films. Dalton remains one of my favorite Bonds. I like that he and the producers sought to bring Bond back to his darker, literary roots with The Living Daylights and License to Kill. I'm glad it was Dalton who portrayed Bond in a story like this. This wasn't some megalomaniac trying to take over the world. This was personal. This was revenge. This was Bond's career be damned. He was going to have his revenge.

LTK is a film firmly ensconced in the 1980s, and I'm fine with that. So, too, was From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Quantum of Solace. Bond evolves with the times. Bond reflects the times. It makes perfect sense for Bond to confront the drug cartels of the 1980s.

As a result of the subject matter, License to Kill is a darker film. In fact, as I mentioned to my wife, watching the movie from  the vantage point of 2019, License to Kill is a Daniel Craig-type Bond film...just years ahead of its time.

Ranking All James Bond Theme Songs

I'm a tad behind on listening to the nifty James Bonding podcast with Matt Mira and Matt Gourley. In the most-recent episode, #34 (dated Dec 2016), they spend 2.5 hours discussing all 24 James Bond theme songs.

Never one to let an opportunity to make a list pass me be--especially when it comes to James Bond--I made my own before listening to the episode. You can hear their list here and mine is here. The only caveat: I didn't include the Dr. No theme because it is the James Bond theme. I put it at zero.

Oh, and I'm happy to note that their #24 is the one that immediately, without a second thought, jumped to last. Abysmal song.

0. Dr. No (James Bond Theme)

1. Live and Let Die
2. Goldfinger
3. Thunderball
4. A View to a Kill
5. You Only Live Twice
6. The World is Not Enough
7. Diamonds are Forever
8. Nobody Does it Better (The Spy Who Loved Me)
9. The Living Daylights
10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
11. The Man With the Golden Gun
12. From Russia With Love
13. Spyfall
14. You Don't Know My Name (Casino Royale)
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Moonraker
17. Goldeneye
18. License to Kill
19. Tomorrow Never Dies*
20. All Time High (Octopussy)
21. Writing's On the Wall (Spectre)
22. Another Way to Die (Quantum of Solace)
23. Die Another Day

*The k.d. lang song, "Surrender," heard in the closing credits, is a brilliant song. Were it the official song, it's a Top 5 song (replacing Thunderball)

P.S., I never knew Shirley Bassey contributed a song for Quantum of Solace. They play a snippet (and then I went out and listened myself) and it's another swing and a miss.

Book Review Club: Dr. No by Ian Fleming

(This is the September 2010 contribution to Barrie Summy's Book Review Club. For more great books, click the link at the bottom of this post.)

In a year where we should be looking forward to the new James Bond film, we have nothing. The next new James Bond novel--written by none other than Jeffrey Deaver--is almost a year away. If you wanted a Bond fix, you could easily break out a DVD or check cable TV but, perhaps, some of the films have staled after repeated viewings. Then I have the remedy for you: read one of Ian Fleming's original Bond novels.

With only fourteen published works, I try to pace my reading of the Fleming stories, not wanting them to end as I enjoy them so much. I've been reading them in published order and this summer, I got up to book #6, Dr. No. Interestingly, Dr. No is the first Bond film and I've seen it enough times to know the general story. What the movie lacks, however, is the uncertainty that permeates the beginning of the story.

The last book, From Russia With Love, ended with 007 getting himself poisoned by Rosa Klebb's hidden shoe blade. As Dr. No opens, Bond is given the "easy" task of investigating the seeming disappearance of the head of the Jamaica branch of the secret service, Strangways. Had you read the books in order, this is a reappearance for Strangways, having helped Bond in the second literary adventure, Live and Let Die. Bond's boss, M, frankly doesn't think Bond is ready and thinks this "rest case" will do 007 some good. No one expects what Bond uncovers.

Like the film, the literary version of Dr. No has a slower pace, not all action-packed like the later movies. Bond actually does some detective work and gets himself quite dirty, another fun trait of the literary incarnation. The novel, written in 1958, is full of the type of hard-boiled language and prose befitting a story of this era. It's a reminder of Bond's true pulp origins.

The movie has arguably the most iconic shot in all the Bond canon: that of Honey Ryder, as portrayed by Ursula Andress, rising from the beach, clad in a skin-tight bikini. Well, she's flat-out naked in the book. You can see why they could not do that scene in the 1962 film. Her backstory is fleshed out and, while its interesting, it isn't exactly fascinating. Bond's repeated reference to her as "girl"--she really is years younger than Bond's thirtysomething--puts a bit of distaste on the tongue. Yes, it's a book of its time, but it still grates.

The big finale in the book is nothing like the film. In fact, as Bond struggled through the Big Scenes in the novel, I kept waiting for the filmed version to show up. It never does, and that is one of the biggest treats about reading Fleming's original books. For every faithful version (From Russia With Love), there is a Dr. No or, more specifically, a Moonraker or Diamonds are Forever.

I can easily recommend any of the Bond books to any fan of 007 or the spy genre in particular. They are great fun and a nice peek in the origins of one of the most famous characters of the 20th Century.

Oh, and that reading pace I mentioned earlier? I enjoyed Dr. No so much that I chucked the one-book-a-year pace out the window and plunged directly into book #7, Goldfinger. But that's for another review...

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