When people think Bond films, I think their standard image of the villains is somewhere along the lines of Dude Stroking a Cat (Blofeld). It's someone with gimmick--he's got an eye patch, or a massive scar, or something else that's kind of cartoonish.
I get it, in a way--if Bond is your hero, and he's very not-kooky, a kind of Avatar of us, then making his villains pretty much the exact opposite seems like a strong choice.
As it turns out, the more cartoonish they become--and Dude stroking Cat is very much Peak This for me--the less serious we take them. They undermine the potential intensity of the movie. Early Bond movies don't always care about that. But obviously in the modern era, with a Bond like Craig, that's important.
(Actually the modern-day equivalent to the camp of earlier eras is once again the Blofeld character in SPECTRE. And he is a bit campy just in his delivery. But more than that he seems far more like a plot device than a believable character. Seriously, after all the investment made in this shadowy organization running everything in the Bond movies, the leader turns out to be a guy Bond grew up with, who's mad that Bond stole his daddy's affection? THAT is high camp. And it doesn't work.)
The best Bond villains, in my experience, seem to be quiet, focused characters on a mission. It's Dr. No, it's Goldfinger, it's Le Chiffre. They may still have some affectation, like Dr. No's weird plastic robot hands, sharks for pets or the nicknames all Bond villains seem to be given. But they are not about that. They have a goal and they are deliberate and patient in the pursuit of it.
It's really that simple. When the villains are painted like that, undaunted and unphased by Bond, it puts him in the position of having to earn the win. In fact, they can make him seem a little bit foolish or over his head, so in addition to having to fight to save the day, he has to fight to regain or keep our respect. A villain who makes bold choices, is three steps ahead (without having to say so) and unafraid when the hero walks in the room is someone that turns the audience's head.
These kind of moves are a sort of the villain version of the hero's "save the cat". And it's great to have them. Us kind of loving the villain makes the hero's journey that much harder.
YOUR TURN
Who's the antagonist in your script? What are his distinguishing characteristics?
What about him is going to seduce us into rooting for him?
