Bond, James Bond

I went to see Quantum Of Solace last night with the current girl. The reviews I had read implied it was an OK movie but not as good as Daniel Craig's first go as Bond, Casino Royale. CR spent a little more time building the characters including a way, way too long amount of time with Bond and Vespa jawing on a train. QOS doesn't spend a lot of time on character development. It is a little more Borne Identity than Bond. It was a pretty damn good movie.

Both my parents were James Bond fans. Obviously they were Connery people. I grew up with Roger Moore. With the popularity of VHS rentals in the 1980s though I had seen all the Connery films when Moore was still Bond. I loved them. Looking back on them they are campy by today's standards.

Timothy Dalton was a bad Bond and I wanted Pierce Brosnan to get the roll. Then Brosnan replaced Dalton and the movies were a great disappointment. The movies were more Rambo like. Running around with assault rifles fighting dozens of similarly armed men.

When CR came out I didn't go see it. I had been too disappointed with Bond films of late. I thought I wouldn't like any more of them. On a lark though I bought the DVD. It was a great flick. Daniel Craig plays a great Bond and I liked what the writers were doing with the character. He's no longer a campy character or a near superhero with a gun. Craig's Bond can be a charming, elegant man when he wants to be but he's ultimately a cold blooded killer. He's an antihero. And the films are more reality based now. Bond doesn't run down a hall with hundreds of bullets missing him. He's not escaping from a prison tower with the help of a lazer watch a steel cable hidden in his belt.

If you're expecting Connery you're not going to get it. I know this is Bond Heresy but Craig is better. For me he's become the best Bond because of the story lines. Go see Quantum Of Solace. It's a good film.