Of the first ten pieces I wrote for this blog, three were about James Bond movies. I ranked the Connery and Moore Bond movies, as well as all of the Bond movie theme songs. Go back and read them if you want to know the true Bond rankings. And I don’t waste any time ranking the movies of the lost Bond years — those starring Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan. They were the “Star Wars prequels” of Bond movies.
But Daniel Craig is clearly different. I consider him the equivalent of what I had previously (before Craig) considered the best Bond — Sean Connery. And in some ways, better. Craig has the Bond mystique and physicality about him, and his films as a whole — the action, the story lines, the direction — helped bring that out. Connery had to put up with a certain amount of of 60s cheese. Cheap models for special effects — you could probably see the strings if you looked hard enough — and fight-scene choreography that was pretty much relegated to the style of the old, classic Hollywood stunt-man saloon-fight. And yet Connery worked with what he had…and made it work.
But I would consider Craig’s go at Casino Royale to be the best Bond movie overall, with Quantum of Solace and Skyfall not far behind. But then came Spectre, and the movies started losing something.
And that brings me to the latest, No Time to Die, which I finally got around to watching last night. And I was a bit disappointed. Some of the Craig Bond was there, but there was also a bit of the corniness of the Moore Bond, and I came away from the whole thing thinking “they tried to hard to do something here.” Maybe they were subconsciously (or even consciously, I don’t know) trying to give Craig some kind of memorable send-off, knowing this would be his last Bond film (although Connery’s Never Say Never could leave one with hope).
But in all honesty, it was about time for Craig to move on. And they handled it as well as could be expected. They did well to lay the groundwork for other “007s” to step up in the future, and even someone who could take the name “James Bond” (you have to watch to the end of the credits to catch that one). But Craig was used up. He wasn’t really into it anymore. Still, in the end — and the sixth best Bond theme song comes to mind here — he went out on top.
A simple list of Craig’s Bond movies, in order from worst to best — and this is easy:
5. No Time to Die
4. Spectre
3. Skyfall
2. Quantum of Solace
1. Casino Royale
I will probably go back and watch the first four to flesh out the reviews soon enough, although Skyfall and Spectre are not free on Prime. Maybe they’ll have to wait. But I know I can’t go wrong with the first two.