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Credit: Inside the MagicWait, someone doesn’t like Daniel Craig’s James Bond?
Daniel Craig’s portrayal of 007 agent James Bond is widely considered to be the best by many fans and critics. His gritty, rough-around-the-edges depiction of the iconic character rivals that of even Timothy Dalton. But it’s also the fact that he has a bunch of great modern-era Bond films under his belt that has worked in his favor.
Craig is the seventh actor to have played James Bond, following Roger Moore, George Lazenby, David Niven, Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan, and appeared in five films: Casino Royale (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time To Die (2021), which was his final outing as the 007 agent.
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Despite many delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film went on to gross over $774 million worldwide, and was very well-received by fans and critics. Some, however, continue to criticize the decision to kill off James Bond in the film, among many other things.
Either way, Daniel Craig has officially hung up the tux, bowtie, and PPK. But while the back-and-forth on who the next Bond actor will be continues, many still have a bone to pick with No Time to Die, and not necessarily because it’s the only film to actually put the titular super-spy on the chopping block, but because of how he’s portrayed throughout.
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One of those people is Charlie Higson, author of the official “young James Bond” novels, who has now written his first “adult James Bond” installment, “On His Majesty’s Secret Service”, which actually takes place during King Charles III’s Coronation, an event that’s due to take place in the United Kingdom this coming weekend.
Higson believes the age-old “Bond formula” has been lost in the Daniel Craig films, particularly with the latest installment. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he said, “Guns, cars, a supervillain, and a woman, M, Q, Moneypenny,” are some of the main ingredients that go into making Bond who he is, before adding, “007 is a fantasy figure who solves things with a fist and doesn’t overthink.”
Talking about how Craig’s portrayal in No Time to Die was the most emotional so far, Higson gave a very thorny review of the film, saying:
“I think that was wrong. I went to see No Time to Die with my oldest boy, Frank, who is 30, and he said, ‘That felt like a Bond film made by people who are embarrassed to make a Bond film.’ You had to watch two films in advance to know who such and such is and you think, ‘Oh, f*** off with that.’ Make it a new mission each episode and let him be Bond. They overcomplicate him. The best ‘Bond films’ now are the Mission: Impossible [films]. There is no inner life, it’s just, ‘Woah! Look at that building – I’d love to climb it and blow things up.'”
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According to The Sunday Times article, Higson’s version of Bond is often accused of being “woke”, however, the author said, “It doesn’t bother me if someone says he’s a bit woke. Younger people tend to be. There is nothing wrong with being woke.”
But last year, in an interview with The Guardian, Higson said that No Time to Die has “given us woke 007, who’s tender, cries and gets into the shower in his tuxedo to comfort a woman”. Make your mind up.
As for his idea of Bond, “Guns, cars, a supervillain, and a woman” doesn’t sound very woke to us. And as for Craig’s version, we don’t think there’s anything wrong with James Bond falling in love, or being emotional, or being killed off at the end!
Following the release of the film in 2021, Craig told The Radio Times, “There are certain things attached to Bond of which we would say: ‘No, you can’t do that anymore. We’re very conscious of what’s going on in the world at the moment, but we’re still storytellers, we’re still trying to entertain an audience.”
Maybe Higson will get what he wants soon enough, seeing as Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said last year that Bond will be “re-invented” in the next film. But before you go thinking that Bond will be female, No Time To Die star Ana de Armas said that, despite there being a call from a number of fans for James Bond to be re-invented as a female, that he should “remain male”.
No Time To Die is the latest film in the Bond franchise. It stars Daniel Craig (James Bond), Lashana Lynch (Nomi), Rami Malek (Lyutsifer Safin), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter), Ralph Fiennes (M), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Ben Whishaw (Q), Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), Mathilde Swann (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), and Ana de Armas (Paloma).
On His Majesty’s Secret Service will be published on May 4, 2023.
What did you think of Bond in No Time to Die? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!