#22: Casino Royale (2006)
Casino Royale was very divisive. Half the audience found it slow and without spyshit, and the other half loved how it was taking its time and was down to earth. It was a smart departure from the Brosnan films, which quickly lost the dramatic aspect of Golden Eye and became mindless action flicks nobody could take seriously.
Craig plays the most humane Bond of them all and this alienated anyone who was used to seeing a male empowerment fantasy instead of a human being. But the truth is the age when Bond was fine just as a male empowerment fantasy was over once women became capable. Also, without emotions an action hero is boring nowadays. The movie updated the formula to fit modern standards, but overdid it to the point it was unrecognizable with what the audience was familiar with.
The most obvious difference is how it removed the spy gadgets so it could focus more on its characters. From here on you are watching James Bond for James Bond; something which as I mentioned was alienating for most. He is presented as a flawed character, and far more relatable than in any previous iteration. For example, there is a torture scene in here, just as there was in “Die Another Day”. Bond doesn’t forget it after it was over. It was even a catalyst for the deception twist that took place in the third act. Unfortunately, the exact same thing made him seem kind of stupid, since 00 agents are supposed to be top-notch and yet he was fooled rather easily. Yeah, he was in love and all that, but his agency sure didn’t take any measures against that.
It still did wonders for the chemistry between Bond and his love interest; something which was completely absent in the dreadful “In Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. At the same time, it had a negative effect on the villains. The thing that was making big bads and henchmen memorable in previous movies was the crazy gadgets they were using or the one-dimensional evil personality they had. In the Craig movies, the villains look and behave like every day people and that doesn’t make them memorable at all.
But, again, I understand what they were going for. The third act was supposed to be a subversion. The movie doesn’t end with him killing the bad guy and having sex with a babe. It ends with him being mentally traumatized and betrayed by a secret organization that was using him all this time. Ingenious on paper, but it made the movie not end when it was supposed to, thus making it frustrating for those who were already not into it to begin with.
Also, without the spy gadgets there wasn’t much cool factor and that made the movie to feel even more slow and dull. But since it was supposed to be a reboot of the franchise I was willing to accept the low-tech Bond was using. I even got to enjoy it after the spectacle creep that was “Die Another Day”. The absurd levels of action in the previous movie had exhausted me, and not in a positive way. “Casino Royale” went back to the style of “Dr. No” the very first in the franchise, when Bond was more of a detective than a spy.
As a whole Casino Royale is a mixed bag. Every change it did to the formula had an equally positive and negative effect. I was half-engaged with it, so I can’t give it more than a 5/10.
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#23: Quantum Solace (2008)
Whatever good impressions Casino Royale left you with, were completely ruined by Quantum Solace. It was filmed during the infamous writer strike, when most series and movies were suddenly left without a script and had to improvise. The result was an unfocused mess of ideas which was leaving you confused and angry. For example, the main villain was another evil ecologist with zero personality and a convoluted plan to control a country. You were given no reason to give a damn. Holy smokes, who would have guessed the script is more important than the pretty colors; the thing I’ve been telling you about all these years. This is easily the second worst movie in the whole franchise, but still not as bad as “In Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. That movie was consciously made to be like that, unlike Quantum Solace which was sabotaged and was not supposed to come out the way it did.
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#24: Skyfall (2012)
After this most unfortunate movie, came Skyfall which is basically the Dark Knight. Bond is Batman, and Silva, the main villain, is Joker. The pacing is slow to the most part, but man, Silva is hands down the best main villain in the franchise. Not only he’s exactly like Janus from Golden Eye, not only he challenges Bond all the time, but also completely ridicules the spy agency and even kills vital characters, all of which were done over a decades old grudge. If you remember what I said about the problem in “The World is not Enough”, that villain had done just as much damage to the good guys, but there was no chemistry to make you give a damn. Silva has a connection to the agency and gives you all the reason in the world to make you care.
Obviously, his plan doesn’t make much sense if you think about it logically, but neither did Joker’s. Those probabilities were impossible to calculate. It’s fun seeing them trolling everyone and not because it made any sense. Nevertheless, the trolling and the personal vendetta were more than enough to make this movie worthwhile. The pacing was the only problem with it, so I give it a generous 7/10.
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#25: Specter (2015)
And with that we reach Specter, the latest movie which reintroduces the classic evil organization and its leader, Blofeld. And it was shit. You are supposed to accept the past three movies were all connected and were all a punishment for Bond. Why? Because daddy issues. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing; they made a soap opera with a convoluted plot. Despite also seeking revenge, Blofeld was missing the charisma of Silva, his plan made no sense, and he wasn’t killing Bond despite constantly saying he wants to. So he kept toying with him until predictably it backfired. For a supposed mastermind he was dumber than all his lieutenants. Why wasn’t Silva the leader of Specter?
This movie was terrible. It was insulting your intelligence with how it was constantly pretending to be smart. Even the opening song is terrible. It’s some homosexual dude singing a crappy love song while showing hentai tentacles. What is this light novel garbage? You ruined the franchise, you stupid modern progressive Hollywood. Capable women is one thing, gay tentacles and family relations used as plot twists is another. 2/10 and I lost interest in watching future Bond movies.