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Necros (meaning 'death' in Greek) was the assumed name of a fictional international mercenary and former KGB agent in the employ of General Koskov and Brad Whitaker. A secondary antagonist portrayed by German actor and former dancer, Andreas Wisniewski, but voiced by Canadian actor, voice-over artist and writer, Kerry Shale, he appeared in the 1987 James Bond film, The Living Daylights.

Biography[]

Background[]

Necros is the strong, and chameleon-like mercenary-for hire, working under rogue Soviet general Georgi Koskov, and American arms dealer Brad Whitaker. A tall, blond, no-nonsense individual, his only vice seems to be an addiction to his personal stereo, which he is rarely seen without (blaring the song "Where Has Everybody Gone?" by the Pretenders). Necros uses a great number of disguises and many techniques of killing, although strangulation seems to be a preferred method.

Smiert Spionem[]

His first priority is to see that Koskov is brought safely to Brad Whitaker's estate in Tangier, Morocco, from the safe house in England, where Koskov is being held by the British Secret Service. Disguising himself as a milkman, whereby he gains access to the intelligence compound. Necros enters the kitchen to strangled the cook and dumped him into a chest freezer. While this is being done, the butler, who in actuality is a covert agent of MI5, entered the kitchen and engages Necros in hand-to-hand combat, being finally knocks out by the assassin by a blow from a frying pan. Necros then stole the radio of the body of Green Four and subsequently radios in a report of a major gas leak within the building. This causes security to order an immediate evacuation. In the confusion, he abducts Koskov and effects his escape with the help of explosive grenades that look like milk bottles, killing several MI6 agents who attempt to apprehend him, leaving the agency humiliated and its superiors demanding justice.

Necros is later seen with General Koskov in Whitaker's villa not the USSR as would be expected. Koskov is by a swimming pool talking business with Brad Whitaker (who is feasting on a lobster) while Necros is making out with a bathing beauty. Whitaker discusses plans to kill General Pushkin in revenge for cancelling an earlier arms deal, as well as to avoid any chance that supplying arms to the Soviets in Afghanistan could be traced to Whitaker.

Necros later kills Saunders, head of Station V in Vienna, Austria, whose death leaves James Bond enraged. This occurs when Bond is taking Kara Milovy on a date at a carnival in Vienna. Necros is able to do this while disguised as a balloon salesman. To avoid detection, he pretends to be looking for potential customers, but Bond notices the Walkman hanging from his neck, which normally would not be done if a legitimate employee is trying to concentrate on work. It's believed that Necros has become part of the operation to make the British secret service believe the Soviets have instituted a "Smiert Spionem" or "Death to Spies" operation.

Necros is then again seen in Tangier, where General Pushkin is about to make a speech. He is disguised as a lighting technician and is ready to take his shot, but is thwarted by Bond who "assassinates" Pushkin instead. Necros is surprised by this turn of events, but holsters his weapon and remarks to himself that assassination is unneccesary, then attempts to flee in the ensuing panic. Bond fires a shot at Necros' light in order to aid his escape, and is later breifly glimpsed by Bond when he is knocked unconscious by Kara with Chloral Hydrate. He is seen most of the time around Koskov or Colonel Feyador in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan and death[]

Kara Milovy: "What happened?"
James Bond: "He got the boot."
―Necros' death[src]
James_Bond_vs_Necros-0

James Bond vs Necros-0

When Bond and Kamran Shah attack Feyador's airbase, Necros primarily acts as Koskov's bodyguard. After Bond manages to hijack a cargo plane containing Koskov's opium shipment, the General dispatches Necros to board the plane. Shortly after taking off, Bond enters the cargo hold to de-active a bomb he had hidden in the opium (prior to being discovered by Koskov at the airbase), but is jumped by Necros, who attempts to strangle the spy with a cargo net. A struggle ensures, with Bond and Necros at one point left on the cargo net, in mid-air. As the pair struggle, Necros grabs 007's boot for support. Bond avenges Saunders' death by cutting his shoelaces, causing Necros to plummet to the ground and allowing Bond to get back into the plane in time to stop the bomb.

Personality & Abilities[]

Koskov's highly trained and disciplined Soviet assassin with KGB affiliations, Necros is ultimately loyal to Koskov. His only vice seems to be an addiction to his personal stereo, which plays loud rock music and he is rarely seen not wearing. Although a fairly distinctive looking man Necros is known to use a great number of disguises and many techniques of killing, although using the cord of his personal stereo as a garrotte seems to be a favourite.

Weapons & Vehicles[]

Behind the scenes[]

In the course of filming the scene of the fight with Green Four, Bill Weston, who played Green Four, broke a finger and was accidentally knocked unconscious on one occasion by Wisniewski.

Reception[]

Perhaps due to his imposing stature and chiseled features, variety of false accents and love of pop music, Sally Hibbin considers Necros to be one of the most memorable Bond villains.[1] However, Steven Rubin stated that he was "not on-screen long enough to make any true impact", although he added that "even he has his sympathetic moments."[2] Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall say of Necros, "Necros is the most intriguing of the film's trio of main villains. He is a silent, humourless, but extremely handsome assassin who tends to use a Walkman as a strangulation device. The role is well played by Andreas Wisniewski, who provides the film with a much-needed sense of menace."[3] Esquire Magazine ranked Necros #20 in the list of James Bond Villains.[4]

Gallery[]

Necros/Gallery

Trivia[]

  • In the video for the theme song, A View to a Kill, lead singer Simon Le Bon is dressed in almost the exact same way as Necros, complete with blonde hair and is wearing a hat and carrying a stereo. And just like Necros, by pressing buttons inside his stereo, Le Bon can automatically trigger explosions. However, it should be noted that A View to a Kill was filmed in 1985 with The Living Daylights being released two years later in 1987 so it's possible that Necros's appearance was based in or around Le Bon's appearance in the A View to a Kill video.
  • Necros' demise, in which he dies by defenestration in an attempt to kill Bond, is very similar to that of Gobinda from Octopussy. One difference is that Necros was more arrogant in fighting Bond without regards for self-preservation, unlike Gobinda who had some private thoughts that fighting on an airplane in flight was dangerous.
  • The reason for the Walkman, be it in the script of the actor's preference. It likely was a representation of the character flaw, but moreso not fully accepting socialist dogma of the USSR that every person inside the Iron Curtain was expected to abide by. Up until the 1980s, Russian rock groups were not allowed to be in public and foreign music (such as the Pretenders) was banned in the USSR as it was thought to be a bad influence on the Russian youth. At the time of the film, the Politboro sought to shed its stodgy image and be somewhat more open to the rest of the world, and encouraged russophilia by exporting nesting dolls and books about Russian culture and fairy tales, and conversely was more accepting of Western imports of music, movies, video games, and the like into the Soviet Union. As such, it made better sense how Necros acquired the portable stereo. Some Walkmans also ended up in Russia from the Afghan War.

References[]

  1. Hibbin, Sally (1 August 1987). The official James Bond 007 movie book. Crown Publishers, 125. ISBN 978-0-517-56643-5. Retrieved on 11 December 2012. 
  2. Rubin, Steven Jay (2003). The complete James Bond movie encyclopedia. Contemporary Books, 297. ISBN 978-0-07-141246-9. Retrieved on 11 December 2012. 
  3. (1 April 2003) The Essential Bond: The Authorized Guide to the World of 007. Channel Four Books, 153. ISBN 978-0-7522-1562-4. Retrieved on 11 December 2012. 
  4. Jacob Hall. "All 104 James Bond Villains, Ranked", 14 May 2017. Retrieved on 2018-07-18. 
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