In essence Kieran what you are saying is Craig's acting is really on par with Connery's James Bond. Craig's Bond actually gave a damn about the people he encountered, Roger Moore and Pierce Bronson were two pretty boys trying to get laid which my good Irish fella isn't a bad Thing.. hahahaha
Sean Connery is more “Bond”, according to the character created by Ian Fleming, but Craig has a great film presence and was a huge positive for the film franchise…
There's been a few forgettable songs too, including the Jack Whote one for Quantum of Solace. I think the U2/Tina Turner song, GoldenEye, was a classic Bond song, as well as the other ones mentioned, particularly the Carly Simon. Also, Diamonds Are Forever, which works on me in the same way GoldenEye does, and because I like the film, though not the singer, I enjoy the song for Spectre, because It's bringing me into the movie.
I absolutely love Nancy Sinatra and her theme song for You Only Live Twice, later immortalized again as the closing tune to season five of Mad Men (Jon Hamm‘a Don Draper f/k/a Dick Whitman would have made a great Bond). To my mind, Mad Men could have signed off right there with that scene in the bar!
Personally, I love the big female ballad singers. Let's face it, the only good role for a woman in the Bond films for the first 50+ years was singing the theme song. Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" is a top hit, and Adele's "Skyfall," too. I never liked "Live and Let Die," though it's probably better than most.
And Diana Rigg. But let's face it, the stronger women have mostly come in late in the franchise.
Wait just a sec.how can you exclude Carly Simon's No one Does it BETTER? ..It's was PERFECTO excellente arrangements and vocals
That was Tarantino’s take on it, when he met pierce Brosnan about making casino royale. He even suggested it should be made in black and white. Then the broccolis backed down and delayed and then changed actors, and the Craig era began. But I think you’re right, a reboot now should be meaningful, and not simply a continuation of the generic action flick the movies have become. We’ve seen Craig take down the biggest megalomaniac in history, followed by that megalomaniacs even more megalomaniacal boss, and so on, but stripping it back to something more relevant and less Austin Powers-ish might give the the next actor something new to get his teeth into…
I do agree with the Craig ones you like. (Turns out the only Bond I have never seen is "Spectre.") I also agree that the Lazenby one would be worth a revisit, and "Diamonds are Forever," which I have seen in years and years.
They are pretty goofy, and I wouldn't turn up my nose in the right circumstance, but they are kind of goofy and are in the category of "life is too short," for me.
I enjoyed the broodiness, and I think he set the stage for a Craig Bond, IMO.
I think it was a bit surprising that he didn't work better, but he was a vanilla bond. He was so enjoyable in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, and he's done some lovely indies, even. Maybe he was just too obvious as a Bond. I'm sure the producers were surprised. He lacks any real sense of danger, and was not quite suave enough to overcome that. (Whatever I think of Moore, he was suave.)
This is a fascinating idea. Go back to the Cold War? The time is ripe for making Russians the enemy again, anyway. But they'd have to avoid going back to 60s sensibilities on the women in the film, and that it was so "white." That's the downside.
IMO, Tarantino would have been a terrible choice to direct a Bond film. Precisely because they are Bond films, not Tarantino films. As I said before, I think the reason that the franchise has survived is that it does respect its own tropes. It keeps ahold of its center, and then riffs from there. Maybe I lack imagination, and a Tarantino one would be interesting, or likewise one in black-and-white. (Which would be the only one, to date.) I think we've seen that you can't sink the franchise with a mistake for one film. I do disagree that they've become generic action flicks, though I see why you'd say that. 21st C. action films have a certain amount of muscle and high-spectacle, and Bond films have not wanted to be left behind. But I honestly don't think they've been "Austin Powers-ish" since the Moore years.
A female Bond...No! It just doesn't work for me a female superSpy but Jennifer Garner Alias series was fantastic .too bad she met Ben Affleck and ruin that series.
I agree about Tarantino, he makes Tarantino films, which are great, but he’d warp the Bond franchise. But his idea was a great one, and at that stage, where it has become silly like Roger Moore again, it wasn’t a bad fit. Raymond Chandlers Philip Marlowe character is due a major revisit by Hollywood, my preference would be Josh Brolin, who would perfectly capture the man, and I used to wonder if Tarantino would be the director I’d like to see, but for the reason above, I think not. Tarantino is a great writer, but Raymond Chandler is a whole other level.
A Black James Bond could work just like the show Luther or something like the 1700s Bridgerton. An Actor who is playing the character not a black actor playing a part meant for a black man if that makes sense.I agree about Tarantino, he makes Tarantino films, which are great, but he’d warp the Bond franchise. But his idea was a great one, and at that stage, where it has become silly like Roger Moore again, it wasn’t a bad fit. Raymond Chandlers Philip Marlowe character is due a major revisit by Hollywood, my preference would be Josh Brolin, who would perfectly capture the man, and I used to wonder if Tarantino would be the director I’d like to see, but for the reason above, I think not. Tarantino is a great writer, but Raymond Chandler is a whole other level.
A female Bond? Now that would kill it off completely. I wouldn’t bother to see that. Any of the modern ideology of ticking boxes is deadening. A black Bond, then a trans Bond, then a Muslim Bond, a Japanese Bond. Just to include everybody, eventually. It excludes the audience, except the ones who think politics should have a say in art. Political thinking should never be forced onto culture, and I can’t help but feel that this would be the only reason why they’d go for a female, or black, Bond.
I have no problem with a sixties Bond story being so “white”, if it reflects the times perfectly. There’s nothing wrong with a film being”white”, especially if it’s a Scottish bloke against the Russians, where you’d expect “white”. I think the next Bond, if it’s set in a modern age, should maybe reflect the modern anxiety, which has to be China, much more than Russia. But China is such a big market for Hollywood, and we’d hate to see Bond have to do a John Cena type snivel before the tyrants.
I do like the idea of Tom Hardy as Bond, but he’s become the favourite so early in the race, we might become tired of him before he even starts filming…
