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James Bond as a film franchise has endured with audiences now through seven decades for his impeccable suits, cool cars and exotic adventures but much like any other franchise ( specially from such a long time span) the secret agent has also had a rocky path within its more recent production cycles and in all his multiple story cycles throughout several cast members ( including actors Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan). There are several highs, as much as lows (as all franchises are always open to re-evaluation by the very nature of what an adaptation offers to a new generation) so any honest look about James Bond’s movie history should not be without its balanced criticism for its overall context, especially in regards to what modern re-evaluation does show.
Daniel Craig's portrayal of James Bond starting in 2006 with 'Casino Royale' is now regarded as a watershed moment for the series. By grounding the character in a more brutal and realistic version this created a huge disconnect against prior camp and almost comedic style that dominated older eras, this offered more emotional depth and complex explorations ( unlike the simplistic villains that also often took center-stage of prior film entries.) That was a radical and drastic departure that showed a character who could bleed and suffer and it brought many fresh concepts for a character whose adventures had somewhat grown stagnant and repetitive, his performances aren’t only over action and thrills as he shows (with an incredible actor range) deeper emotional aspects regarding loss, betrayal, inner-conflict and personal responsibility that normally were ignored before.
'Casino Royale’ with its brutal realism, created by both a far leaner action based visual set design mixed up with a much more vulnerable depiction of the agent at his beginnings is probably the highlight of his entire running time as the movie offered new fans ( alongside older watchers who also welcomed such new direction) to appreciate that, when done right ‘Bond’ still could deliver unique creative entertainment options and be relevant for the modern cinema with an interesting and more contemporary perspective about its core values, specially in contrast with its 90s take with other Bond actors. With his entry, ‘James Bond’ had to change with his audience. All thanks to bold production and casting choices.
However as amazing as the Craig’s series has been his portrayal still faced some clear creative stumbling blocks which is something very visible in 'Spectre’ with some poorly written attempts in creating an overly complicated narrative connection to the previous Craig cycle films when most often those prior titles operated better as unique stand-alone storylines which might have worked during one specific approach, not another. The constant use of interconnected plot lines created an unnecessary issue which detracted heavily with any possible meaningful or independent analysis as those individual movies began struggling to support themselves which also showed that even some of the most high production series always run the risk of creative compromises in favor of larger external concepts rather than singular cohesive independent ideas.
Pierce Brosnan’s ‘Die Another Day’ remains a more polarising moment as despite his excellent performances for Bond the creative team seemingly lost their minds in their attempt to provide a modern approach by also implementing far more questionable set of story ideas that ultimately undermined and did severe damages for its long standing reputation of 'stylish but effective’ movie themes for James Bond’s film cycles by using invisible cars or even using what could’ve been a somewhat well structured concept but implemented a ‘bad guy' as some form of generic and cliched ‘villain of the month’ which added an unintentionally comedic or even ‘parody’ like take on its narrative. That approach wasn't a good fit when viewed years later. There's definitely merit in the movie if it was intended to exist within some form of separate parody format but what was supposed to appear innovative ended up completely missing the tone and style by creating several issues on long-term viewing experiences which makes it one of the lowest points of this property.
If Craig's start created an upsurge on series relevance , its very evident that ‘Quantum of Solace’ ( which served as the follow-up to such high expectations after 'Casino Royale) did end up providing a story that tried too hard to be something else without really embracing its core values; that particular entry showcased something that felt more at home with more hard edged crime style thriller without all those lavishly executed over the top set pieces. This provided a ‘different perspective’ but not necessarily one that many long term watchers were that invested on exploring leaving viewers with somewhat ‘missed potentials’; even with short run times or ‘lean’ design; some long term concepts about core 'James Bond' attributes ended up lacking which might’ve put a stain that the later Craig’s cycle struggled to maintain.
With ‘No Time to Die’ Daniel Craig gets a well earned finale and a memorable (and highly emotional) departure with all its overlong run time and all those major high production set action pieces, that story and conclusion made sense for what Craig presented but as an unique viewing point rather than a regular consistent ‘Bond format’. The issue with most of this era is precisely that these all are quite removed (mostly in style) from all previous elements so what does get remembered often are its ‘standalone’ values more than the overall consistent long standing thematic patterns present through that main spy story arcs with few exceptions of those moments that seemed a better fit with what is commonly expected from 'James Bond’ franchises as all, those choices created various mixed bag of ideas where many found what they were looking for (if only once in the timeline) with different approaches. However some did fall under great missed steps and others were simply well intended ideas that didn’t necessarily make as good of an outcome due to too big of an expectation being attached before any production was truly completed. Its what often happens when media and fan expectation starts to take over as main priority than purely the narrative.
For all those that are curious to explore the spy franchise of ‘James Bond’, it should start from 'Casino Royale' (2006) for its fresh take while avoiding the most problematic entries to then move on exploring other equally important but far less appreciated options (as their original critical approach does now seems somewhat misplaced ) as this might provide more solid base with understanding of what was and what ended up becoming. 'Skyfall' remains a highly important entry point if one wishes to explore deeper concepts while it still remains relevant to most elements often attributed to core characteristics.
There is value even for all other choices though as each provides unique ( if flawed) explorations; be that a campy Bond (with ‘Die Another Day’) or the less stylized ‘Quantum of Solace’ those all carry weight in understanding that James Bond is always evolving and never completely stagnant so those can provide some level of critical thinking analysis; however do not jump into ‘Spectre’ unless fully versed on the other core entries as you'd more likely than not have much more problems appreciating such entry’s choices. But overall the best ‘beginner approach’ can also benefit a long term hard fan just because of its consistent value even if ‘familiar concepts’ are pushed into newer more modern takes; always start from the ‘beginning’ so all is set into a well grounded context that then adds far more value by experiencing those evolutions as a more organic growth within a shared story universe that expands beyond the superficial action set pieces.
James Bond as a character ( for better or worse) shows what’s required for long running film production and although at its core is all made for mass consumption and entertainment values those cycles also show a fascinating pattern of creative direction for all to analyze, which is what sets aside from most simple over the top, blockbuster franchise style. With all its ups and downs it still creates great avenues of discussions, exploration and it does so without shying from what made it endure for seven decades as no matter if an individual production misses a specific ‘key' there will always be a next title or a newer generation that does connect again ( or for a new audience to have that moment) as no approach in such franchise timeline is ever completely perfect as all often have strong unique points to learn from as well as elements that also provide important understanding about production itself and audience acceptance patterns. Its not about ‘best’ it is mostly about consistent efforts to provide an intriguing human value throughout different periods and different perspectives.