Ironic, Brutal, And Cold

November 30th, 2008 at 08:41pm Mitch Mulhall 171

I secretly relish watching critics slather egg on their faces by using their pen to eviscerate. That’s what happened to the critics of Daniel Craig in the months leading up to the release of Casino Royal. Mind you, I’m no James Bond fan, much less an Ian Flemming purist, but the negative press generated by Craig’s appointment to the James Bond role caught even my attention—this, ostensibly, by the people who said relatively little about Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton.

I saw Quantum of Solace the other day. Casino Royal was a damn good movie. I haven’t finished framing Quantum. Nevertheless, I have a few thoughts.

First, I have spent some time wondering what has sparked my interest in recent Bond flicks where previously little, if any, existed, and it’s nothing as simple as new blood. I don’t know who writes Bond screenplays, but there’s a shift in focus that places the Bond series squarely in the genre of the Jason Bourne series. Flemming once described Bond as, “ironic, brutal, and cold,” a characterization perhaps best epitomized by the way Bond orders martinis. Where this attitude was once portrayed as aloof, controlled, and unquestionably sack-worthy, the new Bond is riding the ragged edge of keeping his shit together, and he’s nothing if not lucky to get away with it.

That said, the new Bond doesn’t borrow too liberally from the Bourne series. Where Bourne has no clue about his past (though he is seemingly non-plused about his arsenal of lethal fighting skills, linguistic diversity, and driving ability), the new Bond has no misconceptions about his past, is well aware of the shit storm he can bring to bear, and above all else is keenly aware of the weight of it all. Even Frank Church could empathize with Jason Bourne. Not so with the new Bond.

That said, Daniel Craig is definitely the glue that makes this new Bond work. Craig delivers the darkness that troubles Bond’s soul in a way that previous Bond actors could not have even attempted, proving once and for all that not only is the life of an international spy not all high-tech gadgetry, Jedi mind tricks, and gratuitous sex, it’s far less attractive than a CIA desk at an Ivy League college career day.

Entry Filed under: Movies, Aspen, People