Before Daniel Craig appeared in “James Bond”, fans were already a little confused about the role.
For decades, 007’s actors have changed like a revolving door, but does each change of actor mean a complete restart?
Then why some supporting roles (such as Judi Dench’s M) actors have not changed?
If it is not a reboot, are these “007”s in the same universe before?
Is there a basic law for the “007” world view timeline?
Fifteen years ago, when “Casino Royale” was released in 2006, the audience compared this latest version of the Bond movie with the thriving “The Bourne Identity” series at the time.
After all, “Casino Royale” is rougher, bloodier, and more realistic.
Related Post: Daniel Craig: After ‘Casino Royale’ I was told at least four more films .
When “The Bourne Identity” first appeared, it was regarded as an “anti-bond” genre movie.
It’s not as ostentatious and exaggerated as Pierce Brosnan’s late 007 movie.
The approach of “Casino Royale” is similar to that of “Batman Begins” released the previous year.
These two series that brought iconic heroes back to life are to peel off their feasting shells and begin to analyze the characters’ hearts (Casino Royale co-writer Paul Haggis also acknowledged the influence of “Batman Begins” on the film).
For Bond, “Casino Royale” brought him back to the “quiet, tough, cruel, and ridiculous” side of Ian Fleming’s novels, and returned to the nature of doing dirty work for the British government.
“Casino Royale” is not an origin story, but it shows Bond’s first killing.
And Daniel Craig’s performance also redefines Bond, “quiet, tough, cruel, cynic”, he fits these words.
Not only that, Craig also showed Bond’s very rare sense of vulnerability in his rivalry with Eva Green.
Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green, is one of the few women who are “matched” emotionally with him.
She is a role that Bond falls in love with and makes people feel very reasonable.
It can be said that although Vesper Lynd only appears in “Casino Royale”, it runs through the five movies of Craig’s version of “007”, and the plots are also in the same line because of her.
The second “Quantum of Solace” is a whole movie, and it can almost be said that Bond is avenging her.
The villain Silva (Javier Bardem) in the third “Skyfall” is a member of “Spectre” just like Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) in “Casino Royale”.
In the fourth “Spectre”, Bond finally killed Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) who was most responsible for Vesper’s death.
In the fifth Daniel Craig’s last film “007: No Time to Die”, Bond and Mr. White’s daughter Madeleine (Léa Seydoux) have a daughter…
Overall, these five are a complete story.
Only after “Casino Royale”, Bond still sleeps with women in every movie.
But there is no one who can achieve the chemical reaction between him and Vesper.
The routine of the Bond series is to more or less forget the existence of the previous work, occasionally mention the plot and characters of the previous work (such as M, Felix, Moneypenny, Q, often change actors and often new), and sometimes the villain will appear again.
But for the 007 series of movies, they generally don’t require the audience to have seen the previous work before they can understand the sequel.
“Quantum of Solace” in 2008 is more like “The Bourne Identity”…
“Quantum of Solace” even has parkour scenes that we are not familiar with in many other Hollywood action series.
Film chose to continue the unfinished story of “Casino Royale”, which is not common in Bond movies.
The film ends with Bond killing Vesper’s ex-boyfriend.
He threw Vesper’s necklace in the cold Russian snow to bid farewell to the past.
The choice of 2012 “Skyfall” is even more confusing.
The director of this film is Sam Mendes. The closest he is to the action scene is the plastic bag floating in the air at the beginning of “American Beauty”.
Not kidding, although Sam Mendes had filmed the war film “Jarhead”.
But the choice that led him to direct the “007” movie is still disturbing, after all, he had made feature films before.
But the facts proved that Sam Mendes’s choice was very successful!
Bond movies have always had beautiful scenes, beautiful people, beautiful clothes, beautiful cars, and so on.
But “Skyfall” can be said to be the first work that can be called a “beautiful movie”.
Whether it’s the Scottish hills or the Macau skyline (although not shot in Macau), the photographer is Roger Deakins, so it makes sense for such stunning visual effects.
Silva, the villain of “Skyfall”, feels that Bond is evenly matched.
He and Bond discussed why the latter became who he is now, and introduced a new version of Miss Qian (Naomie Harris), which deepens the bond between Bond and M.
After Vesper, Bond looked mediocre in terms of romance and sex.
But Craig’s version of Bond seems to be the first to have a deep relationship with his friends.
The story of “Skyfall” is relatively more independent, and has the least connection with the other movies in the Craig version.
Although “Spectre” is still related to the entire five movies, maybe this is why it is better than “Quantum of Solace” and “Spectre”.
By the 2015 “Spectre”, it no longer draws inspiration from “The Bourne Identity” and “Batman”, but simply “Marvelized”?
Christoph Waltz played “Blofeld”, the most famous villain in the “007” series.
The lawsuit caused by the copyright issue of this role has been fought since the 1960s, and finally “Spectre” can appear legally.
And Blofeld in “Spectre” is like Thanos, operating everything with a big wave. The villains in the first few movies are all members of the organization “Spectre” he founded.
But at the end of the film, when Waltz reveals that he is actually playing “Blofeld”, the effect may not be as good as the film’s imagination.
Ordinary audiences are unfamiliar with the name “Blofeld”, and may not care much about a character that existed on the big screen more than 50 years ago.
Although he returned this time.
And M has also transitioned from Judy Dench in the era of Pierce Brosnan to Ralph Fiennes, who has bid farewell to “Lord Voldemort”.
“Spectre” started well. Although the long shots on the Day of the Dead in Mexico are no longer by Deakins, the photographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (Nolan’s favorite) also performed very well in this segment!
At the end of this movie, Bond and Madeleine drove away in the iconic Aston Martin.
It is said that “Spectre” can also be used as the end of Craig’s version of “007” movie.
And Craig himself did say in an interview later, “I will cut my wrist when I return to play 007.”
But the facts are unpredictable, we really waited for Craig’s real last film “No Time to Die”.
“007: No Time to Die” is also a film where the viewing experience will be compromised if you don’t watch the previous work.
It inherited the plot, protagonist and villain of “Spectre” (Blofeld also continued to be a demon in prison), and it went all the way back to “Casino Royale”.
When Bond burned a note saying “Forgive Me” in front of Vesper’s grave. If you remember the woman in red who chose to understand herself in the water, she would be touched more or less.
Craig’s last film is from 2021 after the new crown epidemic.
In “007: No Time to Die”, the beautiful sceneries are constantly switched, as well as the drag racing scenes jumping up and down.
It even makes people feel in a trance that something is in the shadow of Universal Pictures’ “Fast and Furious” series.
The ending of “007: No Time to Die” is not spoiled, but how to put it, this ending is very “anti-Bond” and his character is also very “anti-Bond”.
In the film, cue has the new “007”, but this is not the same as what fans had imagined before.
This episode is not a serious relay of the baton, but more to highlight James Bond as the special agent of the “007”.
What 007 will face next will be an unprecedented new journey.
