Daniel Craig’s Bond is completely different to the one we were used to expecting with Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. From flawless, refined, charismatic and seductive, the reboot of the series starting in 2006 with “Casino Royale” saw Ian Fleming’s agent 007 undergo a radical transformation to become dark, violent, raw and at the same time deeply in touch with a suffering and fragile humanity, stripped of his invincibility and able to leave the job behind for the women he loves.
Hiring a blonde full-blooded English male with a sculpted physique triggered a real insurrection, as well as the birth of the Daniel Craig Bond site, which translated into today’s social language, would be a hashtag trending on Twitter.
For everything to remain the same, everything must change. And behold, the double zero agents landed in an opaque universe dominated by the shadows of the 21st century. A courageous choice to cause disruption that begins with the gun barrel sequence, contextualised for the first time by a shooting in a public bathroom, just before the opening credits start to roll. Open shirt and a total disregard for his signature Vodka Martini marked by a brutal “Do I look like I give a damn?” aimed at the barman of the Montenegro Casino who dares to ask if he prefers it shaken or stirred.
And it continues. A tormented soul, imprisoned by his own demons, he is paired up with the “Quantum of Solace” (2008) Bond Girl for a tale of revenge, pain, and despair, but not physical attraction. In the box-office hit “Skyfall” (2012), cadenced by Adele’s Oscar-winning song of the same name, Bond-Craig is out of shape to the point of not passing the psychophysical tests to be readmitted to the secret services, faces his demons in a confrontation reminiscent of the relationship between Batman and Joker, falls from grace and redeems himself. In “Spectre” (2015), the historic criminal organisation, he is a spy consumed by life, a kite dancing in a hurricane, as the character of the Pale King defines him.
And with “No Time To Die”, Daniel Craig has decided to hang up his tuxedo. The twenty-five instalment of the series produced by Barbara Broccoli is expected in cinemas for spring 2021 after twelve months of waiting due to a pandemic that seems to give no respite. Bond has turned to a quiet life in Jamaica after leaving the service when his peace is interrupted by a CIA agent (Jeffrey Wright) who wants him to track down a mysterious villain (Rami Malek), armed with deadly new technology.
Daring pursuits in the driving seat of the irreplaceable Aston Martin, a trademark since 1964 with Goldfinger, are set against the stunning Italian landscape of beautiful Matera and its Sassi stone districts.
We are what we are: heroic hearts made weak by time and fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. The words of the poet Alfred Tennyson quoted by M describe the essence of the new Bond.
Article edit by Claudia Chiari