Welcome to our community! I look forward to your contributions on here. As for your questions, I’m a big Craig and Dalton fan. My personal favourites are Casino Royale, The Living Daylights, Skyfall, For Your Eyes Only, No Time to Die, Goldeneye, and the first 3 Connery movies. I love some aspects of License to Kill. Like you, I have very much enjoyed the turn to realism (though as others have noted it’s still not that realistic) and I have also liked the more serious tone of the movies during the Craig and Dalton eras.
It will be interesting to see where the films will go from here and when they will begin again. I would like to see the films retain the seriousness of the Craig/Dalton eras but with a little more levity and Bond enjoying the life he has chosen (he can still question it and not like parts of the job (e.g., killing in cold blood). I think there is a near consensus among fans on the board that they would like to see films where it’s not personal (i.e., Bond is given a mission and completes that mission with no personal angle).
A recent topic on the board has been Bond enjoying a luxurious lifestyle. That is not as central for me. I think Bond should look cool, dress well, and enjoy good food, drink and sports cars. But I think there needs to be some limits to this. When he’s out in the field it should not suggest he brought 5 suitcases of clothes, nor should he look like he is living a life similar to a trust fund playboy. Bond, in the novels, also puts limits on indulging too much. If remember correctly, in Goldfinger he refuses a cigar and Cognac.
My biggest wish is probably a film on a smaller scale - not necessarily in terms of number of countries visited but in terms of the scale of the plot. I don’t think Bond should be literally saving the world every film. I would like to see real threats on a smaller scale . If I had my wish, make the next movie focused around something like SMERSH under modern day Russia. Major plot issues not to touch upon: moles, the threat of a nuclear weapons and crazed billionaires with an outrageous plot (e.g., Powerful man likes fish…. Let’s destroy the world). Another issue to avoid,- super hero Bond. Bond should be extraordinary but still a man. He should not know everything or perform actions that are physically impossible.
The Craig era touched upon a lot of previous films. Some on here disliked that immensely. I enjoyed it but would scale it back significantly. Any references to previous films should be very, very subtle easter eggs IMHO.
Finally, there are two personal angles I would like to see touched upon in the next series of films.1) Show us where Bond lives and a little of his relations ship with his housekeeper May (I think her character would need updating but retaining a motherly affection for Bond). 2) The films have never really explored Bond’s relationship with Tanner who, in the novels, is Bond’s best friend (correct me if I have this wrong as it’s been a while since I read Fleming). It would be great if they could delve in this area of Bond’s life as it was only hinted at in Skyfall. Both of these personal areas would need to fit into the film. No sense trying to force them in.
Some of my thoughts. Welcome to the board. I look forward to reading your posts.