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Comments
Craig’s always struck me as more a screen actor (although I’ve heard he’s great on stage). You can tell what his Bond is thinking with a little change in expression or look, particularly in CR and SF.
I think Craig has more natural charisma. Honestly, I’d say he’s the better actor of the two, but both are clearly respected figures. I think Craig also understood the element of irony that goes along with Bond. Dalton was never quite as comfortable cracking a joke or playing along with things.
LTK I can also see Craig's Bond in, but with some differences. He'd be less likely to resign when confronted and just go on the revenge spree straight away/just claim he's on holiday to MI6. Story direction obviously dictates this all to some extent, and LTK has a very particular set up of Bond having to think on his feet which is great.
Simply put: it'd be a slightly different film with a different Bond, and I think that's true of any Bond actor. Good idea for a thread though - how would a Bond film go if a different Bond were in it? Or perhaps @thedove a good what if for one of yours if it's not been done ;)
I must admit, trying to imagine Craig in LTK does kind of highlight how I think LTK feels a bit off with regards to Bond's character for me: I just don't know if I fully buy him going fully rogue and running off from M for the sake of revenge. In a similar situation in QoS, Craig's Bond stays loyal and does his job, even though he's clearly feeling anger over Vesper's death. And maybe the former is closer to thoughts Fleming's Bond expressed, I can't really remember now, but the latter is much more interesting to me.
In terms of nuanced performances though, it's Craig who I always find the most impressive. Not least he's playing a character who remains impassive most of the time because of his job, and yet somehow through microexpressions or something manages to communicate to the audience what Bond is thinking. I find that very impressive. And yes, more charismatic: he's more of a movie star.
I mean, Bond goes on revenge tangents in Fleming. But they're in keeping with his job. The most he goes off piste from what I remember is in YOLT where he withholds knowing Blofeld is Dr. Shatterhand. It's still within the parameters of his job, but it's an opportunity for him.
Craig's films I suppose reinterpreted the 'blunt instrument' of the books for their time. He's a headstrong man who does what's necessary to get the job done, often in the face of superiors who aren't on his level. It's not quite like a Bourne or Jack Bauer in the sense that it wasn't purely personal or needed purely out of necessity (even in in QOS, despite Bond's determination after Vesper's death, he has nothing to personally gain from continuing except to figure out what's going on out of duty. Bond in the novels goes through a similar 'wind' in tackling SMERSH after Vesper's death). I can agree that Dalton's Bond in LTK feels weirdly Un-Fleming esque in that way ironically, where Craig's Bond feels more like a valid reinterpretation of these ideas. I love LTK incidentally. But obviously all of this is subjective.
And yes, I think Craig's charisma and ability to communicate so much with so little is impressive. Another reason I associate him with Connery in my mind as Bond (the latter didn't get quite as much opportunity in terms of Bond's character, but he had this ability to communicate what he was thinking with the slightest expression at his best, and he had that unconventional but distinct charisma. I feel most of the other Bond actors have been much more expressive in their performances, amazing as they've been).
That is very well put, my friend. A tornado of intensity indeed. And I too loved that particular energy. Let's hope they keep it in some way or form, although, as you so aptly put it, it all depends on the actor, and Craig was full of it :)
Thank you, @Univex. What I love about Craig's Bond is what I love about Bale's Batman: a fire burning inside them. The screen radiates when they are on.