Bookies call end to Bond betting - Insider betting?

Oh man is anybody else like me really just tired about all things Bond? Maybe like Trek, this is one franchise that needs to go into hibernation for several years.

Bill Clinton said it best, when he was advising Senator Kerry: Americans don’t care about the past. So quit dwelling in the past.

While Bond is British, a large part of the franchise’s audience is American. As a movie geek, I would appreciate a throw-back to the 1950s for Bond, but I don’t think it would sell well. And I bet that both the Brocolli family and MGM feel the same way about this matter.

I think the alternate would be to do a full reinvention — a “Bond Begins”, essentially. For example, have him be in his mid-30s right now; have the movie open with him working with the British Special Forces somewhere in Iraq. With his history, and prior spy work, it could be said he first worked on missions during the first Gulf War.

Elaborating on my “Bond Begins” idea:

I’d make Bond a young man during the first Gulf War, which is when he first got recruited by M5. The “M” he answered to then was an old man.

I’d bring back Jaws. He could have been a soldier in the first Gulf War in one of the armies of the allied countries. (Polish perhaps?) He lost his lower jaw during a mortar attack, for example.

Between the first Gulf War and the Iraq War, Bond hasn’t been “activated” by M5. Now he has been, and he’s on his first, official mission. The “M” he answers to is now a woman, the successor to the old man.

“Q” and “R” — I think I’d bring back “Q” and keep him as an elderly gent still. But I’d have Bond work with “R” more (”R” would appear on the field to rendezvous with Bond). Don’t laugh: But I would suggest casting Daniel Radcliffe for the role of “R”. Like Bond, he’s also a bit “green” on this first mission.

The settings: I’d have it set in parts of India and Pakistan. In fact, perhaps the plot should have something to do with these countries: Bond has to prevent the Evil Villain from escalating tensions between the two nations.

Why is Evil Villain doing this? Hey, this is a Bond flick, so we can get away by saying he wants to contrive a war so that the faltering war industies he runs can bid on private military contracts. This is where Jaws could fit in: He’s a “private security consultant” (i.e. a mercenary). I would make the private military industry (i.e. Halliburton) the bad guy in this.

My fellow Americans: Our armed forces, soldiers and the CIA would be depicted as being pretty powerful and ominous but largely ineffective, and compromised by both the villain and its own bureaucracy, to be able to effectively prevent this war from happening. So there would be good forces and bad elements among the Americans. Some assisting Bond (but their hands are tied behind their backs); some bad, who stand to profit from Evil Villain’s plans.

I would keep the gadget tech within the realm of possibility — basically, extrapolating from geek tech we know of today and what’s coming right around the corner.

Yes, Bond would still be fucking chicks. Hot chicks. I’d make one Bond Girl Indian — get a well-known Indian actress for the role.

At the end of successfully completing his mission, “M” makes Bond an offer: Become an official member of M5. He accepts. And, thus, he’s given the number designation: “007″.

Jesus Mark — you’re GOOD at this (I loved your X-Men sequel ideas too). Are you an aspiring screenwriter? Because, really, you ought to give this a try. :) I’d watch your reinvention of Bond.

I can easily picture your Bond and R in a balls-to-the-wall action sequence where Bond is racing a British Royal Forces “desert rat” dune buggy across the Iraqi desert.

I think that’s what the Bond franchise needs: A rebirth along with a more nitty-gritty realistic approach. Bond can still be a ladies man, but while he’s out on the field, the approach should be more like a British version of Rainbow Six with bitchin’ gadgets.