Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig

Huzzah! Sam Mendes Officially Directing Daniel Craig in 'Bond 23' for 2012.

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Around the time of Casino Royale I read a fascinating little book called The Man Who Saved Britain, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in James Bond and/or the history of England. Not just an inquiry into who Ian Fleming was and what forces positioned him to create his astonishingly successful little spy novels; not just a howlingly funny memoir of the author's own fevered adolescent Bond obsession; but a comprehensive analysis of the cultural and historical context of post-WWII England that Bond fits into.

Put simply, 1950's England was in the grip of an existential crisis. Their long period of world dominance was coming to a swift, shocking end, their military might was exhausted and their economy was terrifyingly circling the drain. Sound familiar?

Simon Winder argues that Fleming's creation caught on because it created a persuasive alternate reality, a secret unseen world in which the British still dominated the course of world events, when in reality they increasingly found themselves without even a seat at the table. He further argues that Bond gave the British a vessel in which to keep their sense of national identity out of disgrace as they slogged through the tough times and eventually rebounded.

Reading this history of the fall of another recent world empire gave me a few gut-churning moments, I don't mind telling you. But it goes to show why the Bond of Casino and Quantum is the Bond for our time, aside from the brutality and the more contemporary subject matter. Like his post-9/11 American counterpart, Jack Bauer, he offers us a reassuring suggestion that there is something inherently worthwhile in the Western character; a courageous, resourceful spark that will somehow see us through in a world that no longer makes sense. It might be the purest bullshit, but it might be all we've got to go on right now.

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One thing I appreciate about the new-jack Craig Bond is that the filmmakers seem to understand that the 'gadget' motif has exhausted itself. We live in a gadget world now, and our fascination with clever little doo-dads has been fed in no small part by the Bond films themselves. But we're now living in science fiction and it doesn't make you unique or special to be carrying around a spy cam, or enough computer power to command an army. In the 60's your iPhone would have made you a superhero, but today it makes you one of the sheep. 

In a consumer world focused more and more on comfort, security and luxury, what sets a man apart is the ability to disregard all that. What distinguishes Craig's Bond is simply his raw ability to mix it up. Sad to say, what's science fiction in today's world is that a man can actually be a man.

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I dearly loved Casino Royale, so much so that it make me rethink my opinion of the rest of the series. I think I'm now willing to throw out the entire original Bond canon except for the first six. When I finally getting around to buying the DVDs, it'll be just the first five Connerys plus my previous favorite, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I consider Diamonds are Forever to be a Roger Moore film.

I'm hearing extremely mixed things about Quantum of Solace, but as long as they haven't completely reverted to the old formula I'm probably going to like it. As long as it doesn't start off with Bond pretending to flirt with an aging Moneypenny, and end with a shootout in some big mad scientist lab with army guys and ninjas, and then ten seconds later he's somehow in a boat humping some girl over the end credits, as long as they don't do that I'll probably go home happy.