No Time To Die - Goodbye, Mr Bond

you know the thing about playing Britain's most iconic spy is that eventually your tenure must come to an end some actors reach that point sooner than others and some hang around a lot longer than they should have but eventually it happens all the same and when that thing comes I like to reflect on their time as James Bond what they've brought to the role over the years and where it might be going next and if I had to sum up daniel craig's timers bond with a single word the word I choose would be uneven his tenure got off to a good start with Casino Royale a smart restrained strip back Bond movie that made effective use of tension and good characterization rather than goofy gadgets and ridiculous action scenes and it turned out to be one of the best Bond movies ever then quantum of solace chemo and honestly I'm still trying to understand what the [ __ ] that movie was supposed to be but one thing it wasn't was good things picked up briefly with Skyfall which give us a decent villain with an understandable motivation and a small but interesting insight into bonds past it was also the swan song for Judi Dench as em but then Spectre tumbled oh and it felt like an unfocused over a blown mess that bungled the introduction of one of bons most iconic villains it also [ __ ] up the tenuous continuity the series had tried to maintain up to that point so the question on everyone's minds was what comes next Daniel Craig had made it pretty clear he didn't want to play Bond ever again he was getting too old and wary of typecasting and he was keen to move on to new projects maybe we needed to find a new Bond or maybe it was time for double-oh-seven to hang up his license to kill altogether I don't know how they managed to change his mind [Music] but somehow they convinced him to sign on one more time for a bond 25 the movie went into development way back in 2016 and the factor isn't coming out until next year should tell you something about its troubled production history a whole bunch of different scripts writers and directors have come and gone since then and the whole thing was starting to look about is focused and well organized as a Disney Star Wars movie the general atmosphere of pessimism and disinterest lingering around this movie wasn't helped by the announcement that Bond's codename was going to be given up to a new female character this time around that the use of Bond girls had been banned on set and the British writer Phoebe Waller bridge had been brought in to make sure the movie carried a more progressive feminist message Jesus talked about not understanding your audience I'm gonna let you in on a little secret guys people don't watch a Bond movie for its progressive subtext anyway so the first trailer for no time to die drop the other day and I figured it would be remiss of me not to offer up my thoughts on it so let's get started shall we the trailer actually starts out quite promising Lee all the usual Bond tropes are present and correct glamorous locations check Aston Martin check gun fight check improbable stunts that would almost certainly result in severe injury check looking good so far Mr Bond so based on the voiceover it seems like global terrorism is getting out of control and they need double-oh-seven on the case to sort things out the problem is James Bond stuck on a gorgeous tropical island somewhere looking inexplicably miserable because you know that's kind of been his thing since Daniel Craig took over Jesus Christ dude you must be the only man on the planet who doesn't want to be James Bond at least try to look like you're enjoying yourself so anyway Felix Leiter takes a break from being pussy-whipped on the set of Westworld to track bond down and ask him to come out of retirement and that's pretty much when it all starts to go wrong boudin commander bond no kidding the world really has moved on remember when Bond movies used to be escapist fun and entertainment remember when Bond himself used to be a smart tough hard-drinking suave playboy yeah well forget about that the world has moved on now and it's time for James Bond to make way for so it turns out this diverse person has taken over bonds places double-oh-seven since he retired from active duty something she seems extremely keen to remind him of you get in my way I will put together two new names no glib remark no pithy comeback yeah what is the matter with you James why are you letting her trash talk you the James Bond I grew up with would never tolerate [ __ ] like this especially from a smug arrogant [ __ ] like this he'd be right in there with a witty put-down of his own letting her know that just because he's older now doesn't mean he's any less effective at kicking ass and he's certainly not gonna let himself get disrespected by a junior operative see that's the kind of verbal sparring we like to call banter banter allows characters to come into conflict with each other without getting into an actual physical fight which is especially useful in conversations between men and women a lesser scare feel for the dynamic between them and a smart well balanced script could have both characters scoring points against each other demonstrating their strength and cunning without either one coming out on top tense conversations like this are a battle of wits intellect quick thinking and biting repartee the kind of thing that bond is supposed to be [ __ ] legendary yeah but know this weird bored looking Bond imposter just kind of stands there like a dumb plank of wood absorbing the insults and disrespect as if he can't think of anything to fire back with Oh James were they done to you you used to be cool and smart and awesome no you just looked sad and lost and fed up and then it gets even better because bond tries to sign in to mi6 headquarters and the security guard gives them a who the hell are you kind of look and I guess that's supposed to be funny because nobody remembers him anymore not only has he lost his double-oh-seven codename but he's become a forgotten old has-been James Bond has become irrelevant in his own movie that'll be more stunning script work from Phoebe Waller bridge then it's amazing how these writers are willing to sacrifice an established characters dignity legacy and accomplishments in the name of a cheap awkward bit of humor isn't it don't think too deeply about sit just laugh and clap at the dumb jokes like the mindless seals you are so it seems like bond and whatever-her-name-is are gonna be working together on this mission because I guess someone needs to smash the patriarchy out of him and make sure he stays in his lane shut up and then there's a bunch of stuff that alludes to a dark past four bones wife and honestly I couldn't care less because bond should never have gotten married in the first place they did it in Her Majesty's Secret Service that was a dumb idea then and it's a dumb idea now bond is not the sort of man who's gonna settle down and live a quiet life it's simply not in his character also Remy Malick shows up playing a creepy bug-eyed weirdo play to your strengths of gas and because there's a kind of weird attempt at tying all these movies together now Christoph Waltz shows up again as probably the worst version of Blofeld ever committed to the screen and I'm included Telly Savalas in that sorry telly you were awesome as Kojak little dude so what the hell are we supposed to make of all this well display all the flashy editing an impressive set pieces this trailer feels like a strangely hollow empty experience yeah the surface level Bond stuff is all present and correct there's action scenes fighting explosions car chases and even a few gadgets thrown in but none of it feels particularly fresh or different or original it's just the same stuff we've been getting for the past 10 years really but the real reason it feels so hollow and empty is because the thing which should sit at the core of this movie now feels like its biggest weakness bond just doesn't seem like bond anymore I've never been terribly enthusiastic about Daniel Craig's casting and that opinion has only been reinforced by his recent efforts or lack of he always felt like the kind of guy that got cast because they couldn't find anyone else yeah he can definitely do action and fight scenes but he never really struck me as suave or confident or sophisticated like a bond is supposed to be Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan had it and even Roger Murr could pull out of the bag on occasion but even at his best Craig seems kind of flat and dull he's not charismatic or interesting he's not tall or particularly handsome and worst of all he acts like he doesn't really want to be there which works out nicely really because the script doesn't seem to want him there either the trailer seems to be going over this way to paint bonders over the hill irrelevant and in desperate need of being put in his place by someone more diverse and it all just seems kind of sad to me that one of the most iconic cool and exciting male characters in cinema has been dumbed down constrained and neutered by a combination of idiotic script writers and a disinterested star who probably should have moved on by now bond as a character has survived for the past 50 years precisely because he's an archetype of classic masculinity he's the quintessential man's man the kind of guy men used to aspire to he's smart resourceful and ruthless he travels the world drinks expensive cocktails drives fast cars and wears cool clothes he knows how to handle himself in a fight and he always has a cool quip on hand when things get tough and yeah maybe he plays fast and loose with the ladies as part of his job but what the hell if I look like this then so would I but if this trailer is innocent to go by bond just doesn't bond anymore he's a hollow shell of a man with no real substance of bite left in him everything that made him who he is has been taken away in the never-ending quest to make once great characters as bland safe inoffensive and relevant as possible but the thing about having to try so hard to be relevant is this sooner or later you inevitably become era of an shocking positively shocking anyway thus so I have for today go away now

Channel: The Critical Drinker

Views: 2,080,811

Keywords: James Bond, feminist, Bond Girl, Daniel Craig

Id: ol8E-cPOhdA

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 09 2019