We all know that bigger, more violent, more explosive and more serious action movies are better these days, especially (the Huffington Post claims) in the East of the world.

All this bang for your buck comes at a price though: the cost is subtle humour, originality, and for the James Bond franchise, John Cleese.

The “Monty Python” alum, who played Q’s assistant in 1999’s “The World Is Not Enough” and Q in 2002’s “Die Another Day,” told RadioTimes that the Bond franchise now tries too hard to emulate the “very gritty and humorless” tone of the Bourne movies in an effort to up the action ante and entice audiences in the East.

“The big money was coming from Asia, from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, where the audiences go to watch the action sequences, and that’s why in my opinion the action sequences go on for too long, and it’s a fundamental flaw,” Cleese said. “The audiences in Asia are not going for the subtle British humor or the class jokes.”

While train-top chases and huge explosions are exciting now, there are only so many ways you can blow James Bond and his various villains up. While team 007 do not seem to perturbed by Cleese’s comments, there is something to be said for his exit. It’s all about the cash: bigger budgets, bigger booms, and less actual intelligently written scripts seem to be on the cards to keep profits high.

Read more at Huffington Post.