“That’s not James fucking Bond”: the 007 movie that underwhelmed Quentin Tarantino
There are many movies that Quentin Tarantino almost made, but one of the most famous was his flirtation with diving headlong into cinematic spycraft and directing a James Bond film.
Rights-holders Eon Productions are notoriously stringent about the who, what, when, where, and why of the legendary franchise, which is one of the major reasons why the project never came to fruition. He wanted to take a crack at Casino Royale, but there was no chance 007’s stewards would sign off on it.
As a result, he couldn’t bring himself to watch Daniel Craig’s debut in the blockbuster of the same name that kicked off his tenure as the industry’s most famous secret agent, but he’s remained a fan nonetheless. Much like contemporary Christopher Nolan, Tarantino was raised on a steady diet of Bond flicks, and he’s been more than happy to pass judgment on the past, present, and future.
His personal favourite is Sean Connery’s From Russia with Love, but he was of the opinion Pierce Brosnan made the defining version of the character. That might have had something to do with the fact he wanted to draft the star back into the fold after Die Another Day to headline his Casino Royale, but there was nothing biased about his scathing assessment of Bond’s biggest-ever hit.
The only entry in the long-running series to crack the fabled billion-dollar mark at the box office, Sam Mendes’ Skyfall was instantly anointed as one of the best ever made. The stunts are spectacular. Javier Bardem has a whale of a time hamming it up as the villain, and audiences couldn’t get enough.
However, one of the major common criticisms of Skyfall was its climactic third-act action sequence, which opened the doors to plenty of Home Alone comparisons Mendes hopefully didn’t intend. Tarantino was just one person who bore umbrage with the finale, and he felt betrayed by the ethos of Bond.
“I thought Skyfall was like, ‘This whole fucking movie’s ending at a shootout in a fucking cabin? This is a James Bond movie?'” he raged on the ReelBlend podcast. “That’s not James fucking Bond! From the opening action sequence in Spectre on, it was like, ‘Now this is a James Bond movie.'” Mendes’ follow-up does open in suitably Bondian fashion with an extended introductory action scene set during the Day of the Dead festival, but it would be a stretch to call it better than Skyfall.
It’s definitely got a more classic feel thanks to the increase in gadgets and introduction of Tarantino’s two-time Academy Award-winning star Christoph Waltz as Blofeld, though, which is clearly something he appreciated a great deal more, having been left severely underwhelmed by Craig, Judi Dench, and Albert Finney’s desperate last stand.
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