10 James Bond Screenwriting Lessons You Can Learn From Spectre

5. Keep The Gadgets Grounded

The Bond movies of previous decades had their share of outlandish gadgets, taking the plots into ridiculous territory - Bond would always be issued the exact gadget he would need to escape a deathtrap. The previous Daniel Craig films tended to be more practical with Bond€™s arsenal €“ especially the first two movies since the typical gadget maestro Q was left out of those movies. In Skyfall, Q even jokes about not issuing Bond an exploding pen because that idea is outdated. Spectre once again strikes that balance. The watch bomb given to Bond in the movie is believable enough to be an actual spy weapon and doesn't telegraph how it will be used. But, most importantly, it reintroduces the fan favourite gadgetry aspect of the Bond movies without returning to ridiculous gimmicks. Similarly, Bond€™s Aston Martin in Spectre is equipped with gadgets that may have seemed on the outlandish side in previous films, but are written well-enough into the script that the audience doesn€™t see the concept of an ejector seat as inherently silly. The idea is that Bond can have his gadgets, but they can still remain grounded.