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David Fear believes Daniel Craig is the best 007


https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/daniel-craig-best-james-bond-1234978/

Agree or disagree? Give your arguments for or against

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Who's David Fear?

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The dude who wrote the article. No word on whether or not he and Cape are related

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I don't agree. Pierce Brosnan is the best Bond.

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Brosnan wasn't as shitty as many like to pretend, I would agree. Here's a reply that I wrote over on TMDB, in a thread which linked this same article, and tacitly posed a question similar to the one I've posed here:

D.Craig wasn't terrible, nonetheless that article sets up a false binary right out of the gate.... Aside from George Lazenby, how do we even begin to say who was "the best" Bond compared to all of the others?

As venerated as Connery is, the writer who once described him as having the charisma of formica during his first couple of films wasn't exaggerating. Yeah, From Russia With Love is great; let's just not pretend that a lot of this memorableness isn't just as attributable to the presence of two phenomenally charismatic villains in the form of Donald "Red" Grant and Rosa Klebs. To say nothing of Daniela Whatshername wearing nothing but bedsheets and a ribbon around her neck in one scene. SC had great presence, and definitely grew into the role; by time the last couple of films rolled around though, he'd gotten paunchy and clearly was exhausted

Roger Moore still dishes out one liners more adroitly than any Bond before or since. Everyone who pointed out that he's probably the least "Alpha" of the Bonds is correct. Does anyone really think Connery, Dalton, or Craig would've looked in place in one of the zany yarns that Moore found himself in? Aside from perhaps For Your Eyes Only

Timothy Dalton arguably came closest to embodying Ian Fleming's original vision. Oddly enough, this return to Bond's roots was pretty fitting for the blood and guts heavy action movies of the 80s, where the franchise was now having to contend with characters like John McClain, Rambo, and Martin Riggs. By time the more light hearted 90s rolled around though, Dalt's brooding and glum take on 007 would've looked just as retrograde as Van Damme, Stallone, and to a lesser extent Arnie did during that same decade

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The rest of that reply from TMDB:

Pierce Brosnan functions as something of a hybrid between Dalton and Moore. He's pretty deft with the quips, and is a passable enough actor to seem believable in the action sequences, nonetheless he also hews more closely to the playboy adventurer interpretation of the character set forth by Moore than he does Dalton's laser guided assassin. He was a perfect fit for a decade in which The Soviet Union was no longer worthy of being called a menace, the narcoterrorists depicted in LTK seemed to be on the wane, and entirely too many of us believed that Bill Clinton's jack-sery was cute, rather than unpresidential. But he was already outmoded by time the early 2000s, and yes 9/11, had rolled around

For all the flack Daniel Craig takes for not having much personality in his interoperation of Bond, one also wonders what Eon and any actor who took this role was supposed to do in the world we've all inhabited since The West began is nebulous and now seemingly failed War On Terror? The Jason Bourne comparisons are valid, and they also grievously ignore the influence that characters like Jack Bauer almost certainly wielded over the direction Bond took. Yeah, Craig era Bond is more or less a monosyllabic killing machine, mightily as Babs Broccoli tried to give him a depth heretofore unseen in these films. They also didn't really have a blueprint upon which to build a new and adapted-for-something-other-than-The Cold War Bond though

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Ok, the real rest:

Iconic as Connery's portrayal was, in many respects it embodied everything that the counterculture later derided as plastic and phony within the lives of upper middle class people and their fantasies; that sure as hell wouldn't have flown in the 21st Century. For all the drubbing that Moore's work gets, he was a perfect fit for the 70s camp that this era of Bond traded in. Going back in that direction would've seemed worse than anachronistic in the 2000s. Dalton's rightly been sited as the spiritual precedent to Craig's interoperation, nonetheless he was still too flip, too playful, and nowhere near as physically pumped up to have fit into a cinematic landscape where all traces of fun had been declared verboten, and actors who took these sort of roles were now being called upon to pretty much put themselves through the Q course at Fort Bragg before filming. Brosnan's interpretation was nowhere near as mirthless or serious enough for a world that's knickers were soaking wet over the mere mention of names like Bourne or Jack Bauer

Asking "Who's the best Bond?" ignores the fact that each era of the franchise is representative of a historical context that's markedly different from the others

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Nah man, Brosnan is the best Bond. He embodies the Bond character. He's the handsomest and Britishest-looking. He has the best gadgets and most advanced cars.

The only thing I would change from Brosnan Bond movies is just the car brand. Bond shouldn't drive a BMW. It should be an Aston, or at least a Lotus. Keep every techs in them, just change the brand.

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Precisely! That's what I was gonna ask, but you beat me to it.

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Disagree. Sean Connery is James Bond. All the others are just lame actors playing Bond.

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Disagree. Craig is actually one of my least favorites, especially after watching No Time to Die. Not a bad movie, but a terrible portrayal of Bond.

Connery is the original and certainly the most iconic Bond, but my personal favorite is Brosnan. GoldenEye being my favorite individual Bond film.

Great childhood memories playing the N64 video game as well!

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Disagree. Craig is actually one of my least favorites, especially after watching No Time to Die. Not a bad movie, but a terrible portrayal of Bond.


The Craig Era definitely gave us the most emo of all The Bonds. As masterful as Skyfall was, in the future there will be much debate over whether or not these are even Bond movies in the classic sense

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I thought Skyfall was a little overrated, actually. The only Bond movie of the Craig era I really liked was Casino Royale.

Agreed on Craig being the most "emo" Bond, though.

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I agree. The only good Craig Bond movie is Casino Royale, but that's just because Craig was playing not-yet-a-Bond Bond. It worked because Craig has never actually played Bond, he played not-exactly-Bond Bond every time. Even in No Time to Die he never quite really becomes Bond.

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100%. I almost mentioned something similar in my earlier post. Casino Royale was very good, but it could have worked just as well with one of any hundred other actors playing Bond. Hell, even as some generic secret agent movie, it would have been solid.

Craig was serviceable in the role, but he didn't exactly elevate the film to that next level.

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Ditto on this exchange. Agreed, except that I hate Skyfall.

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Skyfall was bad, but Spectre was worse.

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I was ambivalent about Skyfall the first time I sat through it. This one grew on me with second and third viewings though

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Agreed. Spectre was so bad that I still haven't seen the new one. Franchises that I have religiously watched, even through very low points, have dipped so low that they bucked me off the horse. Star Trek and 007 being the big ones. I would have included Star Wars but I ended up seeing the last movie anyhow.

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Having the term emo in a sentance referring to Bond, is everything wrong with modern Bond.

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Having the term emo in a sentance referring to Bond, is everything wrong with modern Bond.




Yeah, this was a departure from the overall tenor of the franchise, the end results of which have proven ropey. One does have to wonder though..... What else could Eon and Babs Broccoli done with this series, in the post-9/11 world we were living in when The Craig Era began? Fun in spy films had become more unwelcome than clothes are on Emily Ratajkowski, and Jason Bourne and jack Bauer were were THE hot properties at the time. Brosnan's playboy adventurer take on Bond was hopelessly outmoded when Die Another Day was released back in the early 2000s

There really was no blueprint for revamping Bond for a world mired in The War On Terror

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Disagree. I hate Craig, he's almost like the anti-Bond: ugly and whiney.

My favourite is Brosnan, although each movie of his become more over-the-top, climaxing in the absolutely horrendous Die Another Day.

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What are your thoughts on Salma Hayek's husband? Is he a fat Daniel Craig?
https://www.thelist.com/img/gallery/salma-hayeks-husband-is-one-of-the-richest-people-on-the-planet/intro-1547674440.jpg

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Looks more like Bond than Craig.

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He's definitely fat and ugly, but you really think he's a lookalike? Maybe if Craig and Vincent Cassel had a baby.

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I see a similarity.

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A fella like that being able to lock down Salma Hayek gives us all hope

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I really liked the Daniel Craig era, but Connery will always be the iconic Bond for me. The only one I didn't care for was Dalton - he always has that smirky smile on his face in any role he plays.

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I love Craig as Bond. There have been times I was ready to proclaim him GOAT. But then I rewatch say FRWL, and it's easy to forget just how great Connery was.

I'll say Connery is a 10/10, Craig's a 9.8/10. Then (in descending order) Dalton, Moore, Brosnan, and Lazenby.

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The way I look at this is which movies would you watch tomorrow? I wouldn't waste my time with Moore, Lazenby or Dalton. Which leaves Sean, Craig and Brosnan as the best. To me that's like asking who the best baseball player of all time. Ruth, Cobb, Ted Williams. Sean's movies seems so long ago and we've seen them so many times. They were great for that time. Craig is also good but seems cold unlike Sean and Pierce. I own 3 or 4 Craig's movies but the go to Bond would be Pierce. Guy is great in everything he acts in. Thomas Crown Affair for example.

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Which actor plays the best Bond and which movies are the best have different answers.

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No....never said what was the best movie, said which one would you want to watch...big difference. Who's acting doesn't matter. Goldfinger may be the best but maybe it's not the one movie you want to watch. It's kind of cartoonist in nature and maybe it's someone I don't wish to watch. Your good at writing only one sentence instead of giving your ipinion aren't you

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You obviously feel attacked. Too bad. I enjoy Bond discussions with relaxed people.

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again with the 1 or 2 sentences......lol. very limited vocabulary. sounds like your a little snowflake

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I fear he may be wrong.

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