The matter of Daniel Craig's Bond’s unknown peak

JohnBond

Here we are. Daniel Craig’s long run as James Bond is about to end soon. I’m sure No Time to Die will give us a couple of quintessential Daniel Craig's Bond moments, but I can’t help going back to that mysterious gap between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall. What some of you here have already described as the "peak" of Daniel Craig's Bond.

I find it so fascinating - and so frustrating as well - that we never had a Bond film to clearly show us how Daniel Craig's Bond's peak as a double 0 agent looked like. I've created this discussion to address this matter, as deeply as possible. I've prepared a list of questions to help us raise our ideas on that unknown part of Daniel Craig's run as 007. We know the beginning of his story. We're about to know its end. What about the events between?


Here are the questions I invite you to answer:


1. Do you agree that there is no Bond film to depict Daniel Craig's Bond's peak?

If you agree, then:

2. Which Daniel Craig's Bond film do you think is the closest to this peak?

3. Does it matter to you that Daniel Craig's Bond's peak remains unknown? Do you think a film is missing?

4. Among all the Bond films - except for Daniel Craig's films obviously - is there one (or several) Bond film(s) that you think would fit perfectly after QoS, to show Daniel Craig Bond's peak?

5. Have you ever imagined what Daniel Craig's Bond was doing during these unknown years? What kind of missions did he go through (remakes of classic missions / original missions) ? What kind of lifestyle did he have between these missions? How did he behave during these years?

QBranch

1/2. SP is perhaps Craig-Bond's peak as an agent. He gets the job done, saves the girls and the villain!

3. It feels like a film is missing, but it doesn't matter to me.

4. A no-nonsense espionage thriller for Craig, maybe a FRWL or TLD.

5. We had Blood Stone in between QOS and SF (2010). The tone was more like QOS, but if memory serves, no focus on him being a r00kie.

ProfJoeButcher

I largely agree with QBranch.

1/2. I agree that Spectre is peak Craig Bond. He's mentally and emotionally fit for the first time, and uses his abilities wisely.

3. I also think a film could be missing between QOS and SF, but really only because of the thematic content of those two movies.

4. TLD would be a good match as a somewhat serious film with the lighter touches that would come in the Mendes era. On the other hand, that film does have a very solid romantic arc which might be ill-fitting, all things considered. So that or For Your Eyes Only.

5. I'm afraid I've never given any thought to this, though it's a fun question....

NickTwentyTwo

Agreed that paradoxically Spectre must be peak Craig Bond (especially after that ludicrous post-torture sequence), despite being post Skyfall “old dog new tricks” Bond.

JohnBond

Thank you for your interesting comments.

I agree that Blood Stone is an interesting glimpse at that unknown period of time right after QoS. It feels like an expanded "QoS style" mission.

I also understand your arguments for SP as Daniel Craig Bond's peak. But, for many reasons, it doesn't feel like his peak to me. One of my problems (beyond the controversial story and the directing) is that I find his Bond performance not energetic enough. Many would say it's effortless, like Sean's in GF, but I find it a bit boring. His voice especially sounds tired to me, in both SF and SP. In CR and QoS, he had such a strong and confident voice, not unlike Sean's.


So, here are my answers to the questions:


1. Do you agree that there is no Bond film to depict Daniel Craig's Bond's peak? > Of course!

2. Which Daniel Craig's Bond film do you think is the closest to this peak? > For a long time, I thought it was SF, because it felt so much like GF. But then, the more I watched it, the more I had problems with the depiction of Bond as an "old dog". So I went back to CR and, for a while, thought that this first one was his peak, but now it's definitely QoS. It has almost everything I expect from a Daniel Craig Bond's peak. It's not too long, not unlike DN or FRWL, it goes straight to the point, it has Bond being sent on a mission at the beginning, it's filmed on location most of the time, it has allies, Bond girls, vilains and even a vilain lair at the end. Plus, it has my favorite Daniel Craig's performance as Bond.

3. Does it matter to you that Daniel Craig's Bond's peak remains unknown? Do you think a film is missing? > I wish it wouldn't, but it does, yes. I believe so much potential has been wasted during these 4 years between QoS and SF. I think we deserved one classic Bond film between these two, in 2010. Unfortunately, we didn't. And it feels a lot like the wasted time between 1989 and 1995 to me. The lost sequel of LTK on one side. The lost sequel of QoS on the other.

4. Among all the Bond films - except for Daniel Craig's films obviously - is there one (or several) Bond film(s) that you think would fit perfectly after QoS, to show Daniel Craig Bond's peak? > IMHO, it should not be a long romantic movie (OHMSS), an unusual revenge movie (LTK) or an "old Bond" movie (DAF, FYEO, OP, AVTAK). It should not be too OTT or humouristic as well, in order to fit with Daniel's Bond. So I will go with DN, FRWL, GF, TB, TLD, GE and TWINE. Out of these, if I had to select 1, I would go for GF or TB. GF I think is a perfect transition into Skyfall, with the DB5 and the grey suit. TB I can totally imagine Craig's Bond in it, based on the Bahama's scenes in CR.

5. Have you ever imagined what Daniel Craig's Bond was doing during these unknown years? What kind of missions did he go through (remakes of classic missions / original missions) ? What kind of lifestyle did he have between these missions? How did he behave during these years? > Not so much, but I'm thinking more and more about it. I imagine something close to the novels, with Craig's Bond having one or two exciting missions in a year. After each mission, he spends some time recovering from his injuries (it's Craig's Bond after all!) and then tries to deal with his boring office worker life. He tries everything to avoid paperwork, he spends his evenings in expensive bars, enjoying Vespers, plays Poker, gambles, drives fast his DB5 around the city, enjoys the company of a girl sometimes, does jogging in Regent's Park… Maybe tries other sports sometimes, like tennis, golf, boxing… In general, I believe he would fight with a chronic depression while not on a mission and would try to do everything intensely. For his behavior, I would say almost like in QoS, but more balanced and detached of course.