Allan Martinez
The idea of a Bond who sacrifices himself to “save the day” is not an easy concept to grasp. Especially since James Bond, “the superman spy”, must finish the mission saving the good guys while he receives a passionate kiss from his girl while navigating the Grand Canal in Venice.
The Craig era left us reconciled with the character. We wouldn’t have to look to past stereotypes like Sean Connery, Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan to claim something from Craig, at all. I think the British surpassed everyone. A great achievement, without a doubt, was humanizing the character and showing other emotional facets of Bond that were worth exploring by the franchise. This influenced in some way the superhero cinema and the universe of Marvel and DC Comics to look for other nuances to the character such as Tony Stark, Captain America, Thor, Loki, and Bruce Wayne.
Daniel Craig made his James Bond debut with Casino Royale.
Daniel Craig made his James Bond debut with Casino Royale. He was lucky to have a villain up to the task like Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). The franchise had an explosive, entertaining and romantic relaunch. Then came disappointment with the esoteric title Quatum of Solance. They recovered with Skyfall where the origin of Bond was explained and the confrontation with the psychopath Silva, with a dazzling Javier Bardem, was exciting. With Specter we were indifferent to the wasted intervention of the villain played by Cristopher Waltz and, in this latest installment, the same thing happened to Rami Malek. I was disappointed that both scripts didn’t measure up to two greats like Waltz and Malek because these were supposed to be the worst.
No Time to Die is a worthy ending for the spy. This is because if a real Bond was chosen, the character’s development curve as well as its end must be congruent. The interpretation of Daniel Craig refreshed a character who was aged by fashion, style and machismo.
The action scenes were just as complex, raw and violent in order not to abuse the special effects as did the Jason Bourne saga, at the time.
We can’t have much claim on this Bond because he displayed pure testosterone while showing off elegance, sipping martinis, or sucking the blood from Eva Green’s fingers in the bathtub while pouring water. As a good mortal, Bond was never given the mating issue, and Craig’s was no exception. Vesper, his great love, betrayed him to save his life. Monica Bellucci was a “means to an end” and Léa Seydoux, who played Madeleine, was the daughter of her own murderer and who, in the end, also failed her.
Daniel Craig’s James Bond will go down in history as the archetype of the spy created by Ian Flemming and will be the comparison of what happened and what will come with the franchise, as he left a legacy difficult to imitate or even achieve.
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