Bond to die for
"Almost a third of Bond's lovers have died",since Sean Connery began the longest running film series ever when he played 007 for the first time in the landmark 1962 film Dr. No reports a new study in The Times (via The Guardian) and "the mortality rate is on the rise".The British newspaper has spent the last week or so watching the whole 22 film series and worked out that 51 of Bond's lovers have bit the dust, beginning with the third Bond movie Goldfinger with the golden muder of Jill Masterson. Which is still probably the most shocking and effective Bond girl demise of them all. His lovers in the first two movies Dr. No and From Russia With Love got away scot free but "in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, he looked on as two women were assassinated and another was devoured by piranhas".(SPOILERS FOLLOW IF YOU HAVE YET TO SEE QUANTUM OF SOLACE) I'm bringing this up because there's something about the new Bond series that I really enjoy and that's the consequences of Daniel Craig's actions and how it shapes and morphs his character. We aren't seeing Bond girl characters thrown into these movies for no other reason than that a Bond movie needs that titillating female character to fullfil the audience expectations, these ladies are characters that a serving a purpose to the story. They aren't just eye candy and then fish fodder, once Bond has had his way with them. In Quantum of Solace, we are introduced to the character of Agent Fields, who naturally, Bond manages to seduce and then who unfortunately finds herself in a sticky demise of having her whole body, inside and out, being drowned in oil.. a direct homage to Goldfinger and an outing that made a lot of the audience go a little squeamish at the screening I attended.
