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The Bond Theme is generally used for three reasons:
1. A quiet action scene without any big fighting or stunts
2. A loud action scene with big stunts or a big fight (like in TSLWM when the parachute comes up). Could be during the stunt/fight, or could bookend a stunt/fight with a hint of 3.
3. A scene where Bond comes off as cool; (to sort of certify the Bondness of a moment)
Generally people enjoy 2; because the loud moments are kind of what makes Bond Bond. Quantum of Solace has 4 action scenes (car chase, boat chase, plane chase, hotel fight) and they don't generally use the Bond theme that much*.
*Time to Get Out opens and closes with the 4 notes, and the boat chase ends with a pretty bomabstic rendition of the Bond theme.
However, Quantum not more reserved, but more quiet with the Bond theme. There's where he seduces Fields, which sounds like it could come out of Thunderball. The there's obviously when he sees Fields is dead and escapes from the MI6 men, which probably stands out as the film's most memorable. The theme plays when Greene's left in the desert, and also when Bond walks off into the snow.
Now obviously QoS uses motifs based on the main theme that require a bit more of a searching ear to discover, but all the more obvious uses are in quieter and less bombastic moments. I don't think some Barry films would outstrip QoS's 4/5 obvious and elsewise silent Bond theme uses.
In terms of the other Craig films, the Bond theme is used, but in a repetitive sense. The same arrangement is reused quite a bit between Skyfall and Spectre. I think QoS (and NTTD) thus stand unique in this sense; a lot of the Bond theme used originally, albeit in more quiet moments.
I don't disagree with that, which may sound a bit tepid but let me elaborate ;)
I think CR has one of the best finales in the series. It's a superb action scene in a gorgeous location, suitably having Bond sneaking up behind enemies with his silenecd gun instead of mowing down everyone in sight with a machine gun.
I have always been in the minority that prefers CR's last third over the the first one, since I am not the biggest fan of the Bond Begins-angle. I also like Bond a lot better in the final part of the film than his overconfident persona of the beginning.
I do think Vesper's demise is bordering on the overdramatic, though it just restrains itself enough for me to not put that label on it. Something I think NTTD doesn't quite succeed in (but that's another discussion).
There's something else I really want to say on this thread, actually. I often see Dalton and Craig being cited as the coldest, scariest Bonds, but I think it's actually Connery by a long shot. You don't want to get on Dalton and Craig's bad side, of course, but they still show significantly more vulnerability and human sides to them than Connery ever does. It's struck me more and more watching these films over the years that Connery's Bond is particularly the most ruthless and emotionally detached of them all. There are very, very few times he is relatable in a warmer sense; a couple that come to mind are him admitting to Honey he is scared in DN and saying "how can a friend be in debt?" to Kerim Bey in FRWL, but there's really not much else I can think of. He lacks the level of warmth we see all the other Bonds have with some of the women they're with, and his nasty side is arguably scarier than all the others.
Connery used to have good chemistry with actresses, so I don't think it's a problem of coldness either. The spark was there.
You could say that his bond enjoyed women. He likes being with them even if he doesn't treat them particularly well.
The chemistry was there, absolutely. When I said cold, I mean he enjoys them for simple pleasure and at a surface level more than as meaningful partners, as you kind of put it. I’d argue all the other 5 Bonds seemed to form more serious attachments to a few of the women they were with and seemed to care about them as people more frequently.
Yeah, he's immensely charismatic and cool of course, but Connery's is probably the least human Bond, I tend to think. He has, I feel, the least emotional depth of any of them.
And when you say he's scary, I think that's probably strongest in Dr No, where he's actually quite an abrasive and humourless person, and really quite cold as you say. I actually think they decided to tone that down a little for FRWL.
With FRWL there's much more a sense he doesn't know how the whole thing is going to pan out. He seems to have genuine affection for Tanya, and there's much more a sense that he's in danger with Grant gaining the upper hand on him. So I agree, I think he's noticeably more human in FRWL.