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In search of James Bond 007 - is he disappearing ?
Connery was the ultimate - suave,sophisticated,deadly,looking fantastic whatever outfit he wore.
Lazenby was a hard,tough Bond BUT also had class.
Moore was the ultimate in cool,with an eyebrow to die for,deadly with the ladies.
Dalton was steely,determined,focused..charming when he needed to be,deadly when not.
Brosnan was slick,lean,never flustered under pressure..charming on the outside,a killer on the inside.
Craig is ?
Do you think the Bond we all know and love is slowly undergoing a change ? becoming more of an action hero than a spy ? losing all the charm and sophistication he once had with the other 5 Bonds ?
His lack of respect for M,especially in SP ..does this concern you ?
Is this a sign of the times,as Bond has to compete with MI and Bourne ?
Is the ever-growing length between Bond films damaging Bond's image compared to the 2 year gaps before,meaning we are losing touch with him as the wait gets longer ?
This is a serious subject that I think needs discussion from hard-core fans like us ...comments ?
Lazenby was a hard,tough Bond BUT also had class.
Moore was the ultimate in cool,with an eyebrow to die for,deadly with the ladies.
Dalton was steely,determined,focused..charming when he needed to be,deadly when not.
Brosnan was slick,lean,never flustered under pressure..charming on the outside,a killer on the inside.
Craig is ?
Do you think the Bond we all know and love is slowly undergoing a change ? becoming more of an action hero than a spy ? losing all the charm and sophistication he once had with the other 5 Bonds ?
His lack of respect for M,especially in SP ..does this concern you ?
Is this a sign of the times,as Bond has to compete with MI and Bourne ?
Is the ever-growing length between Bond films damaging Bond's image compared to the 2 year gaps before,meaning we are losing touch with him as the wait gets longer ?
This is a serious subject that I think needs discussion from hard-core fans like us ...comments ?
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Comments
These days we have so many action franchises that Bond can get lost in the shuffle and too many Bond films (ie every two years) would damage the series as people have enough action films to see.
And I believe Bond became more of an action hero and less of a real person way back in the 70s.
As for Craig, he is a little bit of a loose cannon yes, but Bond has never been one to sticking rigidly to his orders (even Roger Moore went off on a tangent now and then).
He doesn't do the charm thing that well I agree. So he has morphed into a combination of traditional Bond and modern action hero. Designed for modern audiences.
Brosnan was slick, lean....hang on lean? Have you seen DAD??!! ;)
Craig is......the best Bond since Connery.
The charm and sophistication is there to see.
His lack of respect for M, especially in SP ..is grounded in his contempt at the former M being dead. In Fleming's novel YOLT, Bond has a terrible attitude towards M as he is depressed. In fact in TMWTGG he get brainwashed by SMERCH and trys to kill M.
The gaps between films are annoying, but this is due to the scale and finance required in modern times.
No, I think Craig is actually more Fleming than Moore and Brosnan. The character also remains a well dressed snob.
Daniel Craig plays to his strengths as an actor. He's not a Connery/Moore type actor - not an actor that's naturally smooth/charming but that's not necessarily a negative. Roger Moore is not a Daniel Craig type actor. What works for one actor doesn't work for another.
The idea of a gentlemanly spy with a licence to kill is a bit outdated for a mainstream audience. We have films like The Fast and The Furious, Jason Bourne, Mission Impossible etc that have taken inspiration from James Bond but stripped the aspirational qualities we associate with James Bond.
I think the rise of the internet - where people can post what they like, where it's easy to be provoked, to give and receive offense - makes the old Bond seem even more anachronistic. The charming, gentlemanly Bond with little character backstory - a mysterious hero with few or no flaws - doesn't quite fit in the post 9/11 internet world, perhaps. It's a product of the 1950s/60s and you can't expect things to stay in the past.
That sums it up perfectly. No direction no clear path no originality.
Yup.
You are saying Daniel Craig has no direction, no clear path etc? I would debate that. He has given his character a very clear path. The character has grown and been shaped by what has happened in his life. Craig totally puts across Bond's journey from Casino Royale to Spectre.
Someone like Pierce Brosnan (who I liked as Bond on balance) never really did that. He just tried different things and he gave four different interpretations of Bond without really getting it how he wanted it.
I agree, but believe that's purely a Craig thing. It can change back with a new actor.
I agree. Craig plays to his strengths, as he should. EON have, to date, made films that fit his persona and characterization, although I think they veered off course with SP in this regard, which was more Brosnan'esque imho.
I'm not sure if I agree with this. I think there is a place for a more suave, sophisticated, and refined spy relative to what James Bond is today. As an example, somewhat controversially, I believe Tom Cruise was far more elegant and sophisticated in his dinner suit in both the end sequences of MI4-GP and in Austria in MI5-RN than Craig was in SP, despite the white dinner jacket. Cruise does dapper very well when he has to. Craig needs to be finessed by an outstanding script and direction, as he was in CR and to an extent in QoS (again, in Austria coincidentally). A lot of this is physical (Craig has a thuggish look to him that evokes Red Grant or McQueen - I think McQueen was more refined actually) but some of it is acting style too.
Very good post @bondjames ...i cant argue with any of those points.
Im just throwing many questions that have been asked often,into the ring,in one thread rather than sporadically spread across the site.
Basically being 'devil's advocate' .
Brosnan's Bond was essentially a "greatest hits" Bond. If the script called for a Connery moment he gave us his best Connery. If it called for a Roger Moore moment, out came the smirk and the eyebrow lift. He did a pretty good Dalton-Bond too. In Brosnan's defense, he was only playing it the way Eon wanted him to play it. But he never gave us "his" Bond and now is suffering for it in the eyes of many fans.
Bond Has always essentially been an action hero
I realize that CR is one of the best Bond films, but the air of refinement in that film came from others for me, such as Vesper, Mathis and LeChiffre, rather than from Bond himself.
I look forward to the return of that slightly arrogant and highbrowed spy one day. I think he'll be back.
Sophistication: Craig's Bond has a penchant for Italian and English tailoring and John Lobb tailored shoes. He drinks the EXACT Fleming Vesper Martini, Bollinger Grand Anee Champagne and vintage 50 year old Makellon Whisky. He dives an Aston Martin both at work as well as having a private car and has an Omega watch. He also dines on Caviar and is put off by health foods. Sounds pretty Fleming to me. Craig's English accent is also perfect for the part. EXACTLY the same as Fleming's Bond, Craig's incarnation drinks the odd beer in hotter climates. Fleming's Bond was not uniquely British despite being a public school boy and Naval Officer. He is a 'man of the world' and therefore has more exotic tastes than the average less travelled Brit. He also has a half Scot/ half Swiss heritage too.
Action Man: Mathis to Bond Casino Royale novel (1953): "Don't let me down and become a human yourself, we would lose such a valuable machine".
The question remains, is he convincing in that regard. I contend that he is not in comparison to his predecessors from the 60s through the 80s. We wouldn't be having this discussion if there wasn't some doubt about it.
Some of that is down to him (persona, physique, characterization etc.) & some of it is down to the scripts, which don't emphasize Bond's cultivated air as openly or effectively as in the past. Arguably two films were about rookie Bond though.
That's not to say he's not impressively convincing with other aspects of Bond's persona or as a cold blooded killer. He certainly is.
Every actor's suitability has been questioned, especially Roger Moore in the 70s and 80s. Now we look back on his time with misty eyed fondness because he can't possibly do any more damage (not that I thought he did, but the consensus from critics and hard core fans).
my opinion is that first and foremost the actor must have enough charisma to carry the role. If the actor doesn't own the screen then the audience won't believe in him or the film. Getting an exact interpretation of Fleming's character is (sadly or otherwise) less important. It's my main gripe with Dalton - he was never a big screen leading man despite his look and looks.
This is spot on.
I contend that Craig is the best Bond since Connery in everyway. He has natural presence and charisma on screen as a leading man. That's why he's the highest paid British actor in the world. In interviews off screen, yes he isn't as suave as e.g. Moore naturally, which makes his acting talent all the more impressive.
I think Moore's best performance was in FYEO; it was a more serious down to earth approach to the character than what he was normally use too. I always divide the Moore era into two categories; there is pre TSWLM, and post TSWLM. LALD and TMWTGG were Moore's more harder edged performances. TSWLM is where they began to tone down the character for Moore, but you saw that harder edge reemerge for FYEO
Harrow ? so did i,in Harrow Weald....!!!!
It's a small world! Harrrow on the Hill for me. Long time ago though. Miss it.