Even before No Time To Die, the Daniel Craig was probably my least favorite, but there wasn’t a huge gap. Skyfall is very well made, and I understand why most everyone likes it, but it’s never really clicked with me. I think it’s due to his Bond not having fun in the film like he did in Casino Royale and previously. But after NTTD, I just can’t get excited about the Craig era other than CR.
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As for the thread’s title, Henry Cavill is still my number one choice, but it does look like that ship has sailed. My number two choice would be Callum Turner. I think after Cavill, he’s the best of the lot and checks the most boxes.
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They had Craig bulk down making him leaner so I guess Cavill could too…
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He probably could up to a point - the difference here being Craig is closer to wiry by his natural bone structure - but why should Cavill? He’s found that particular pigeon hole of bulky-beefy roles that suits him perfectly. If the Highlander and Warhammer projects come through that’s likewise not a handicap for him. Why should he chase a role he’s not going to be a comfortable fit for when there are several he’s perfect for?
Plus, losing weight is always a tough job and he cannot just let his muscles go to lard and expect to still look good as Bond. Few people have such a favourable physique as Connery and Moore did in their day.
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I would agree that the Cuba sequence is the only really good part of the movie, although the set detracts from its greatness considerably. It gets a lot of props for really leaning into the absurd with them parading the prosthetic eyeball around so that Bloferhauser can see what is going on at the party, and Ana de Armas absolutely steals the entire film in her brief appearance here, but at the same time, the fact that the action that is supposedly taking place out on the streets of Cuba is so clearly and painfully filmed on an indoor set really takes me out of it in places. It’s not even a good set, which is something that Bond films are often renowned for.
The rest of the film is just, quite frankly, bad. It really has nothing to do with Bond dying, although those that support the film often like to boil it down to being the sole reason that people didn’t like it. It’s HOW he died, especially coming at the hands of the weakest villain this franchise has ever seen. It’s the equivalent of nearing the finishing line of a marathon where you’ve spent the entire time being chased by a variety of man-eating animals only to meet your end by slipping on a banana peel five feet from the finish line.
I figured that Bond would die in the film. I mean, the title No Time to Die isn’t particularly subtle. But, having him go by essentially being sucker punched by the franchise’s weakest villain in order to essentially save M from being locked up for crimes against humanity is not how James Bond should go out. So, I knew all along he would probably die, but it was frustrating to reach the end of the film and see that everything since CR was leading to that.
The entire film just feels clumsy and is extremely overlong for a film in which not a whole lot happens. And the scene at Belmarsh is just absurd. If that was the best take that they had for the exchange between Bond and Blofeld, I would be absolutely shocked.
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The “for me” is the key point that many of us forget to add when it comes to assessing Bond films as well as other entertainment.
There are some films/tv shows that are objectively bad (i.e., it’s filmed poorly, the dialogue is clearly horrible, there are endless consistency errors, acting is horrible etc.) but these are few and far between. There are some that are objectively great usually due to influence and innnovations (e.g., Citizen Kane) but those are pretty rare too.
For me, TSWLM and MR are the absolutely the worst of the series and LK has some significant problems. For others on here, they are rated very highly (especially TSWLM and LK).
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This was one thing I would agree was lacking during the Craig era. I like the Bond in the Flemining novels and particular the ones that play up the struggle he has with 1) not liking much of what he has to do in his job (especially killing in cold blood) and 2) very much liking his exciting life that comes with the job. I think the Craig movies could have done a better job on the latter and also add a little more fun here and there. I am hoping Bond 7 does a balance of those things.
That said, I love the Craig run of films as Bond. In fact they are my favourite run of films in the series. For me, Connery will always be the best as he set the template so perfectly. My favourite Bond is Dalton with Craig a very close second.
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Damn, until that paragraph I loved you post 
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Good points. As I have pointed out in another thread, James Bond is a simple yet complicated man who is full of dichotomies:
He’s a government-trained assassin who doesn’t like to kill but will willingly do so if he has to, who loves women but is also a womanizer, who enjoys the finer things in life but can’t stand the aristocracy, who feels most alive when his job pushes him to his limits and yet that same job causes incessant boredom when he’s stuck in the office, and who often wonders if all his efforts are worth the trouble and yet will still lay down his life if need be for king and country.
That is James Bond and is a large part of why we all love him (as well as the cinematic stunts, gadgets, and humor). 
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Excellent post and very well thought out!
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I still enjoy the ones I don’t rate highly.There are always some great elements in every Bond movie! But I am starting to develop an affection for TSWLM as a result of your posts exuding your love for it! I still have my toy submarine Lotus from when I was 10ish.
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I guess I have to send you my Corgi Drax Space shuttle, too!
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That would definitely bring back some memories of 1979 (cue the Smashing Pumpkins song)! I was supposed to go to see Moonraker with a friend on a Friday night. We were both around 11 years old. My friend could not go and I went with my father instead. I am fairly certain it was the only movie he and I went to see in a theatre together. He was a good dad but going to the movies wasn’t his thing. We bought a $1 dollar box of popcorn which my dad proceeded to completely eat before the movie started. I kept saying save some for the movie. When the box was done, he gave me the money to go get another one. My hunch is that was the first movie popcorn he had gotten since I was born. I loved Moonraker and my 11 year old self was some stirred by the final scene - “Take me around the world one more time”! The next day, my friend called and went with him to see Moonraker a second time in two days. Still surprised my parents let me go as there was not a lot of money when I was growing up.
I still love the scene with “You missed Mr. Bond…. Did I?”
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Not sure if it’s just old age or if maybe kids today are touched in a similar manner by whatever they watch as young teens. But these examples show MONNRAKER’s - and other films’ of that era - hidden dimension: they are hinting at some other/deeper meaning, something the audience is aware of without it being voiced in expletives and profanity. A rare quality today when even some prominent figures barely pass a day without resorting to foul mouthed rhetoric and hate preaching.
Mind you, language in films is never ‘authentic’ no matter how many %^*#s and #%^*ers they use; dialogue is ultimately a function of the story. But it feels as if some elegant - for lack of a better word - quality of language has been lost during those last 50 years.
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I saw MR with my family at a theatre located on the grounds of the Garden State Plaza (New Jersey’s first mall). It was opening weekend, so I received a miniature MR movie poster that hung in my basement for years.
One year earlier, my dad and I had seen a double bill of TSWLM and TMWTGG there. It was also the theatre where I saw APOCALYPSE NOW (also with my dad).
It is the dearth/death of wit. In the pursuit of authenticity, the expressive shaping of language as an aesthetic tool has been cast aside. Language is reduced to transactional purposes. All communication exists on the level of “Pass the salt.”
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As George Lucas once said, if you can get 10 year olds on your side, you’ll have fans for the next 30 years. As goofy as MR gets it’s still a fun ride.
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As I read what you wrote, “And Sir Roger is in on the joke” popped into my mind.
MR is meta, but in a quiet way all its own.
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“A woman!!”
“Your powers of observation do you credit Mr. Bond”
The exagerating a common thing in Bond so they can make fun of it was something Moonraker did very well.
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Almost a guiding principle, e.g., punching Jaws in the mouth; and
Miss Moneypenny: Why are you so late, James?
James Bond: I fell out of an airplane without a parachute. Who’s in there?
Miss Moneypenny: Q and the Minister of Defense.
James Bond: You don’t believe me do you?
Miss Moneypenny: No.
FYEO is a retrenchment in more ways than one.
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Statements of fact that sound fanciful to people who live desk bound lives away from the Moore spy experience. “James! You look as though you’ve fallen off a mountain.” To Moneypenny that’s a sarcastic figure of speech. But to Moore it’s an everyday reality. “Funny you should say that. As a matter of fact, I was in a cable car and…never mind.”
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