The Bond films have been around for decades, and have been consistently popular throughout their time on our screens. Over the years we have seen five different portrayals of Bond, each actor bringing his own personal take on the character. With the recent release of the 22nd film in the series and the 2nd featuring Daniel Craig as Bond, I can’t help but feel that something has changed, both in the film as whole, and in the all important main character.

It’s evident that Bond has evolved over time, as we creep into an ever more modern age of special effects and complicated camerawork, his character must also adapt to the contemporary surroundings. It’s in the name of survival after all. But the last two Bond films Casino Royale and the latest Quantum of Solace have brought a whole new concept to the name Bond. They claim to turn back the clock on our protagonist and display him as a ‘Baby Bond’, fresh out of spy school, ready to jump, head-first into any situation.

The advantage of this approach is that Bond can now be viewed as clean slate, free of the burdens of past memories, unaltered by mistakes, foolishly young and naive. But, where we might expect an enthusiastic, chirpy new spy, we are actually met with a Bond who is over-emotional, ultra tough, and has a brooding personality that may be intended as mysterious, but which actually comes across as rather wooden. How can this be?

It would be cruel to place the entire blame on Craig for this new, super tough-guy portrayal. As, although he is supposed to be a prequel of the other Bonds, Craig inhabits a cinematic world that has had to evolve to live-up to modern consumer expectations. Edits are insanely fast (in the first sequence of Quantum of Solace, where there is a car chase inside a tunnel, there are 87 different shots in just over a minute! That’s a lot of shots!), the stunts are technically astounding and unnaturally cringing, fight scenes are achingly long and drawn out, with infinite detail to realistic injury, not to mention the spectacular explosions. The Bond franchise is no longer an entity in itself, but a part of a huge surge of popular action movies, which must all promise to surpass the wow factor of any other filmic opponent. On top of this, the recent trend of popular super hero movies may have also pressured the brains behind Bond to create a ‘superhero’ to match such films as The Hulk, Spiderman, Superman, and Hellboy. In other words Bond must be bigger, tougher and less human.
It’s true that Craig does appear unusually big for a Bond, he is also mechanically smooth- try and not be put off by that unvarying pout! He doesn’t eat or sleep, and only seems to drink. There is no playfulness, only over-exaggerated coolness.

It can be argued, however that he is coming to terms with the awful pressure put upon him by his burgeoning career, after all he has barely earnt his 00 status. For example in Casino Royale Craig battles with separating his first love (the smouldering Vespa) from work, and ultimately fails. This bad feeling is carried over into Quantum of Solace, and we witness something that is never featured in any other Bond film, his plight for revenge. Suddenly Bond is becoming personal. Whereas in previous films, he’d meet a girl, whether she be a villain or alliance, have is way with her, and move on. Never before has the memory of a past woman been carried over, and used as a part of the main plot line, it’s practically unheard of! So why the sudden interest in Bond’s personal life now? Do we feel as an audience that we really need to know and understand a character to be able to relate to them? I was quite happy to accept Bond as he was because it was familiar, you knew what to expect from him. But now it seems there is a bizarre need to add a new dimension to Bond, perhaps running alongside the need to create ever more awe-inspiring aesthetic wonders.

I must admit, Quantum of Solace was seat-grippingly entertaining. There was barely a dull moment, nor, sadly an inclination of a plot. Or maybe there was, but all I can seem to recollect is a perilous fight scene atop very high scaffolding.
It seems that by concentrating on ‘improving’ elements such as Bond’s emotional journey, or making the latest chase scene the longest and most spectacular to date, the true spirit of the Bond genre is lost.

By stripping him of what makes him a truly definitive character: his charm, charisma, mystery, even the spy gadgets, Bond becomes a cardboard cut out of himself, which then needs to be compensated with high-budget special effects.

Because of the technical feats that can now be achieved in film, and are expected to be achieved, Bond will never quintessentially be the same again.

It’s a sad thing when the aesthetics of a Bond film overrides the main thing makes this franchise so great; Bond himself.