10 Ways That Bond 25 Can Improve On SPECTRE
5. A Memorable Villain
However briefly he appeared as henchman Hinx with only one memorable line, Dave Bautista was a welcome presence in SPECTRE- from his eyeball-popping entrance with razor thumbs to the fantastic train fight, he represented the much loved return of a classic type of villain.
Something Bond 25 needs is a truly memorable villain who is not particularly subtle. Out of the last 4 films, only Le Chiffre and Silva have been distinct and iconic. Whether it's a henchmen or secondary villain to Blofeld should he return, or the sole bad guy of the film, we need a truly despicable character who poses a real threat to Bond and the rest of the world.
Craig's villainous counterparts so far have been, for the most part, emotional threats that play on his insecurities, the women he loves, the fact he's getting too old... Whilst that has never been a problem, it's time for a physical threat like Hinx, as well as someone who is an intellectual threat, undermining Bond at every turn, leading to a spectacular victory as they underestimated Bond at the end as he outsmarts them. No family ties, no taunting of his past, just a nasty piece of work who has no history with 007.
The Dark Knight trilogy may be a source of inspiration, as it was for Skyfall. Ra's Al Ghul and the Joker were both emotional and ideological threats to Bruce Wayne, exploiting his sense of what was right and wrong, manipulating him by mocking and threatening friends and family. Bane did the same but also managed to break Batman physically. Skyfall's Silva is the only villain to really match up to this, so Craig needs someone who can batter him and break him, as well as make him question why he does what he does for Queen and Country... on top of threatening to destroy the world.
Leftfield casting is key for this- the likes of Cillian Murphy, Michael Shannon or Bertie Carvel would be interesting choices, or maybe the often-rumoured Kevin Spacey, even turning the tables on the rumors of Craig's replacement and cast Idris Elba as a rugged, brutal adversary.