*Massive Spoilers

I’ve watched every single 007 movie to date and with Daniel Craig hanging it up forever, I can definitely say he was the best of the James Bonds. Mainly, because Craig’s Bond was a series and the others were just separate movies with no ties to each other. Craig’s Bond carries the heartache he experienced in Casino Royale and into No Time To Die.

The previous series were fun, but I never felt like I was on a journey. You can put on a Bond movie at random and not be confused at all of what’s going on. They aren’t the most complicated of movies. Villain with an over-the-top plan, cool gadgets, hot woman and happily ever after. Not saying they’re bad in any sense, just copy and paste. I never felt the emotional toll of Bond and what he did previously carry over into the other movies.

Pierce Brosnan’s version of Bond showed him having to kill a woman he was falling for in Elektra King. Bond had no choice but to kill her and before Bond left the room he kissed her hard on the cheek feeling the weight of what he just did. And then the next movie he was cracking jokes and sleeping with Halle Berry like nothing happened.

In Craig’s version, Bond felt the emotion weight of seeing Vesper die well into the sequels. And when Bond falls for Madeleine, he is scared to lose her. When Bond meets his ultimate end he does it  because he wants to save Madeleine and his daughter. I wouldn’t have felt that Brosnan, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and others making the same sacrifice. Yes, they all put their lives on the line for God and country in every movie, but Craig’s was an emotional sacrifice that couldn’t have been replicated with the other Bond’s because their sequels never felt like they were connected.

Craig’s Bond was probably the least cool early on. He didn’t crack as many jokes as he predecessors. This Bond was more of a stone-cold killer who once in a while said something that made audiences smile. In No Time To Die the writers really made up for that. In one of my favorite scenes, Bond guns down bad guy after bad guy, then pours himself a drink and casually clinks glasses with another agent, walks outside and continues to mow bad guys down.

This Bond wasn’t perfect, but he was real. The stories that were told in his universe weren’t too outrageous. There was no outrunning a heat laser and then a massive tidal wave. His stories were more grounded and seemed more realistic.

It reminds me of the Christian Bale Batman movies. Before Bale, the Batman villains were

Mr. Freeze, who was a man in suit keeping his body at freezing temperatures, powered by diamonds, who wanted to freeze the whole world.

Poison Ivy, who can communicate with plants and wanted to cover the world in man eating plants.

The Riddler, who wanted to put a cable box in every home in America so he can suck the secrets from their minds.

The Penguin who was a small man who…..yea he was just weird.

Craig main storylines were

Winning a game of poker to stop international terrorism

Stopping a guy from controlling the water supply overseas.  

Stopping a rogue agent on quest for revenge

Stopping a group of terrorists

And finally stopping a madman from killing millions with a virus.

The final movie had the most world ending stakes and felt like a homage to the previous Bonds, but still remained in the realm of realism. And that’s why I love Daniel Craig as James Bond. He was a real person, dealing with trauma that stayed with him throughout the franchise, you cans see the age with the wear and tear on his body after so many years of doing this. And his ultimate end was the most poetic of the Bonds.

So let me know what you think of my favorite James Bond series.

Simptastic Joe