The name’s Bond: An ode to the Daniel Craig era

By Akarsha Weerasooriya

Agent 007, the quintessential spy. We all know him; some of us probably want(ed) to be him. Whatever he does, whether it be drinking a vodka martini, caught in the midst of combat, or trying to get ‘information’ from the antagonist’s wife, he does it with such flare and charisma, that leaves you wondering, “Heck, I wish I could do that”.  I am a big fan of Mr. Bond, my favourite actors who have taken the role being Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig.

When I was about eight years old I saw my first Bond movie (Casino Royal) and as any small boy would be, I was beyond words. Britain’s finest secret agent, with all the spy filled galore you could imagine. Daniel Craig’s debut as Bond wasn’t well received by some, he took some time to get used to but he brought out the ruthless and realistic side of Bond, which most audiences weren’t used to seeing.

His creator, Ian Fleming, served in the Naval Intelligence Division during World War II. According to Ian, Bond was a compound of all the secret agents and commando types he met during the war, James himself being a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Fleming got the name ‘James Bond’ during his stay in the Caribbean, it was the name of an author of a bird book (Field Guide: Birds of the West Indies). He says that he chose the name because he wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name he could find.

James lead an interesting lifestyle, he was well dressed, Oxford educated, master gambler, good with women, and even better with guns. Q, or Quartermaster, always supplied Bond with gadgets to suit every occasion. He always had fancy cars, which could drive themselves, they had bulletproof windows, well equipped with military grade weapons and so on. He had the craziest gadgets you could think of, a dagger in his shoe, Deadly Rolex’s and Omega wristwatches, belts with grapple hooks, and ‘Smart Phones’ before they even existed.

Bond himself was quite the man. If you’ve ever watched the older movies, you’d see that he rarely gets hurt, and never gets too extreme in fighting. You’d probably never see a human side to him either. That’s what I really liked about Craig coming into the series. He brings about the raw character, without any icing on top. For once Bond’s car isn’t equipped with unrealistic gadgets, it is very much penetrable. He himself only carries a smartphone and his signature Walther PPK pistol.

Casino Royale was his debut novel, and in it is Bond’s first field mission after having acquired his ‘double o’ (007) status. As the story follows, Bond, like all humans, falls in love with somebody, Vesper Lynd, to the point where he hands over his resignation to M, and they both settle down in Venice. Bond met Vesper as part of his mission. But to his dismay she betrays him at the end, and as she can’t deal with the guilt, Vesper commits suicide, leaving Bond heartbroken. Well he is human too, and is susceptible to all the feelings that come with being human, and after Vesper, he has resorted to only having casual flings with the women he meets. 

I prefer following the new (modern) Bond universe rather than the old one. In the old one Bond does get married and unfortunately his wife dies during their honeymoon drive, as depicted in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ 1969 with George Lazenby.

When Pierce or Sean engaged in a fight or anything of the sort, it always stayed clean and Bond doesn’t get too hurt. But with Daniel, you get to see the emotions of Bond, what this so-called super spy goes through, the struggles and the problems. He isn’t invincible, he makes Bond more rational, as he does get hurt (very much), he does bleed and the fights get very violent. 

The last movie Skyfall, which came out in 2012, also marked the 50th Anniversary of Bond. Daniel reprises his role as Bond and somehow loses his shooting skills, and ends up failing both his physical and psychological examinations. And towards the end you see the final face-off at his family estate ‘Skyfall’, in Scotland. Bond, M and Kincade (the Skyfall gamekeeper) face off against Silva and his men, using just booby traps, one or two hunting rifles, and brains.

James Bond is a universally loved hero. He’s an artefact from the Cold War (as said by M), master of all traits, lover and a fighter, and he has evolved to fit the modern era without succumbing to being politically correct. Bond epitomizes everything awesome. This super spy has been portrayed by 7 actors on the big screen, all of whom have added their unique style to the character and in my opinion the best being Daniel Craig’s. With the release of ‘Spectre’, I’m looking forward to seeing the British spy whom we all love back in action. Coming to theatres worldwide on November 6.

Personally I still wouldn’t mind being a spy, hear that Mi6?

(The writer can be reached via [email protected]. Twitter: @akarshaw)