Kristatos wrote:I'm re-reading this at the moment and was amused to note that one of the chapter titles is A Crag-Like Face. Naturally, it refers to the SMERSH assassin who kills Le Chiffre, and not to Bond.
I started re-reading it yesterday. End of chapter 2 and I am already FURIOUS once again at what they did in the movie. While some things needed to be modernized, you don't need to freaking turn upside down the character and the story for it to be modern. Quick example: SMERSH. They could have had the same exact type of organization, but one that goes against RUSSIAN MAFIA people that don't comply with the (corrupted) government's orders. This would not have offended the Russian government, quite the opposite (Putin is an assassin but he is known for trying to put a stop to this). They could then have had Bond find out about it after Vesper's death AND QoS could have been about an ALLIANCE between Bond and the Russians to take down the equivalent of SMERSH. (and for God's sakes don't call it QUANTUM). I don't think I need to stress out how energy issues (oil and gas), general economic worldwide balance, et al, could have come into play, while making both the Russians and the Britons plus Americans look good as they try to take down these people? Which would have meant for starters a plot for the follow up to CR that we would ACTUALLY have been interested in.
And Le Chiffre? Le Chiffre may well have been left exactly the character he was at that point, except the detail would be that he is Russian Mafia and the equivalent of Smersh is after him. What the HELL were they thinking when they hired that horrid actor and made Le Chiffre a completely unthreatening FREAK with a bleeding eye duct? I mean, SERIOUSLY!
Second but not for importance.. WHAT THE HELL were they thinking when they made Bond this generic, bland, UNATTRACTIVE fella who doesn't even know how to order a drink? Are you kidding me? Bond in CR is VERY much James Bond, despite this being the first book. HE IS refined. HE HAS style. HE KNOWS his food and drinks. HE is WAY above average. And he is a freaking attractive dude who kills IN STYLE, not some random assassin pouting over a stupid girl! And don't even get me started on what they did with Vesper.
And M is M for God's sakes. He doesn't behave like Bond's mother. It's fine to have a woman play M but NOT if you make the character a mother to Bond. The hell?
As far as the card game. Texas hold 'em is a JOKE. NO refined person plays that. They didn't want baccarat? Well then do freaking blackjack! I don't care how much publicity the Texas Hold 'Em got them, it's NOT something Bond would play, the end.
There's just so much that is wrong with what they did to this novel when making it into a movie that I can't even begin to state HOW much wrong it is.
Then of course there's the fact CR wasn't a Bond movie since there wasn't James Bond in it. UGH. And I'm unsure whether the worst piece of casting was Bond or Vesper. 'cause Eva Green sure sucked in the role as far as I'm concerned (I know some like her so please take no offense, it's just and only my very personal opinion).
