Craig's Bond (spoiler)

in my humble opinion, Craig was the worst bond of all of them. not even looking the part of the character to start with.

immediately this series discounted, reduced, removed, and even mocked everything that made bond Bond: the cars, women, gadgets, his job - now reduced to what: retiring?? Bond IS a secret agent. That's the ticket I am paying for. Not some RETIRING, drama riddled, weakling.

If this is what the new enlightened generation thinks is right, that's fine, but do all that elsewhere and leave bond alone. Make a new enlightened secret agent, that isn't really an agent because he is retiring and has all these feminine personal issues to deal with while crying on the shoulders of the superior females.

BRING BACK BOND

Daniel Craig is really the Bond for those people who've seen Ian Fleming's Bond sketch and then conflated that with having read all the Fleming novels (which they haven't) and then state that he's the closest we have to seeing the real character of Bond on the big screen.

It's probably a bit unfair on Craig personally (maybe with the exception of this last entry) as he wasn't behind the forced direction taken post Casino Royale.

That was essentially a one trick pony. And by that I mean that once you go off formula (which many talented directors / writers had adhered to over the course of something like twenty films) to do the hard nosed reboot, then sure you get the clapping seal applause for being "original" for that one but then you're left with nowhere else to go and you land up with the abomination which was QoS with it's amazing water supply control storyline...

After that they knew they were screwed and thus turned to hacking the Dark Knight to produce Skyfall, quite literally one of the most laughable (and not in a good way) entries in the entire series. And the funny thing is that that film is lauded (without them seeing the irony) by the same chumps who champion Craig and bemoan the previous use of the formula within Bond films! The literally copied another film and it's apparently amazing 🤣.

Then you've got Spectre - I didn't see that but even people who are Craig fans struggle to defend that one!

So how do you subsequently correct course after that?

You have him retired and then subsequently die because despite an abject failure to be able to write an ACTUAL Bond film, this will allow you take plaudits for doing something "brave and bold" rather than the cheap cop out it actually is. What a joke...

Agree with pretty much everything you've said. Craig imo is the best Bond and I don't care what anyone else says. The guy brought something unique and special to the character while also being the closest iteration of the character envisioned by Fleming, with Dalton being in the mix as well. I've seen every Bond film and Craig is primarily the reason why I consider myself a diehard Bond fan. I've loved every iteration before him from Connery to Brosnan but Daniel is the one who stood out the most because his Bond had an arch throughout his films which makes you resignate with his Bond the most.

I also agree Casino Royale and Skyfall are masterpiece's and they are two of my favorite movies of all time in general. Skyfall was my first Bond film as well as being the first Bond film I've seen in theaters in IMAX. So that film holds a special place in my heart but I think Casino Royale is slightly better. Quantum of Solace I think is alright. I know many consider it to be underrated and I can totally see why. What stood out to me the most was him over coming Vespers death and I loved that the film continued the trend of Craig's Bond being dark and all that. My favorite scene was with him and Mathis on the plane. I just didn't care for the story or the villain. Spectre I thought was enjoyable but it suffered due to the lack of screentime for Waltz and the third act when it's revealed him and Bond are half brothers. I actually don't mind them being brothers, it's just the motivation from Blofeld really held the film down with Blofeld starting this whole organization just because his father payed for attention to Bond then himself. As for No Time to Die, I thought it was damn good conclusion and I didn't mind the ending at all. I just wished we had more Rami Malek and that his character was fleshed out more.

But yeah Daniel Craig is definitely the best Bond and I consider him to be one of my film heroes who I look up to.

There's a word for hyping/biasing the current trend that escapes me for now.

It will wear off though.

Daniel Craig is a brilliant actor. However his films don't feel like Bond at all. They feel more like Jason Bourne

I love Craig as Bond, I don’t like the idea of having an overarching continuity between each Craig film. James Bond is better when each film is just a standalone adventure and has little to nothing to do with the ones that came before it.