I think it takes age and maturity to be worthy of a killing license. Like, what credentials can a 25 y.o. possibly have amassed to support his application, failing an outright war? Only the kind of killing that say "sociopath", which on the whole is not the way to go when you are thinking franchise.

A couple years older, he's had time to, like, go to college, gain some experience of the world, and then start killing people, work his way up the chain of command, you know.

Also, I suspect an assassin in his 30s would not be doing things like getting drunk and mooning people in a bar, whereas this does not strike me as atypical behavior in a 25 y.o. assassin. The nice thing about assassins is, because they kill for a living, nobody blinks twice at the impulse to kill them, especially when they are being boorishly obnoxious.

whereas this does not strike me as atypical behavior in a 25 y.o. assassin

You had rougher 20s than I did, I guess. I know as many moronic 30 and 40 odd year olds as I do 25 year olds.

You're not giving the average person a license to kill, ever.

I wonder about all the other unlicensed spies. So they're restricted to thrashing their opponents to within and inch of their lives? Much trickier than killing them, for sure.

Nutty -- I hope that the people making the "Young Bond" movie use some of your suggestions.

Because: Funny.

I rewatched Chopper last night. Bana, even 35 pounds heavier, is defintely charismatic. Don't know about the sophisiticated. That's a problem a lot of people have with my lovah Clive Owen, especially in England, I've read. He's not got a posh aura or accent. Me, I think he can do anything.

How posh was Connery when he took on the mantle?

He wasn't. but he played posh. Clive's got a Midlands accent, which apprently is not Bonds-y. I don't agree with any of this, but it's what "they" are saying.

He wasn't. but he played posh

Which is pretty much the key requirement, isn't it?

I'm guessing they think that Clive can't act well enough? I mean, he's not an assassin either, but he did manage to pull that off.

How very odd.

No, what I read was that he seemed too thuggish--it's the accent and the slightly bad skin, and the knocked about face, I think. He's rspected as an actor, so I think it;'s more looks and accent. It IS weird to me.

Spy vs. spy.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

I remember talking about this with Jim E-T -- he said that Owen was "too rough". He wanted someone who had, like, gone to Eton and spent some years in the Navy -- someone to whom baccarat would come naturally, more naturally than craps or other "low class" gambling games. (I think the idea was that Bond was always slumming, hanging around in the spy world.) Then again, Jim's also a book-devotee, and I think we're far along now in the movie-Bond development to give altogether much for book-Bond.

Then again, who is movie-Bond? Gadgets, a quip or two, expensive suits, and an awful lot of narrative convenience. I'd be perfectly happy if Bond were to be reworked, in a distinctive way, for a new actor.

I wonder about all the other unlicensed spies. So they're restricted to thrashing their opponents to within and inch of their lives? Much trickier than killing them, for sure.

I think they just kill off-license, and get good practice in hiding their tracks. SEE: Jason Bourne.