The Evolution Of James Bond

BY ALEX BARNARD

Since he first appeared as the main character of Ian Fleming’s spy novel Casino Royale in 1953, special agent 007, James Bond, has developed into a cultural icon.  Despite several franchise reboots and actor changes, many factors of bond have remained constant.  James Bond, for the most part, always has been a quick-witted, physically empowered, good humored, and sharp dressed man of mystery.  He’s shown to have a strong passion for cars, gadgets, and women.  Each James Bond movie, regardless of the actor playing Bond, typically centers itself around a woman in danger, who drives the plot forward, in addition to a brilliantly twisted villain creating suspense with plans of mass chaos.

In the first few movies (those from Eon Productions) James Bond was played by the, at the time, largely unheard of Sean Connery.  Connery wasn’t the first choice for playing 007, in fact even James Bond series creator, Ian Fleming, voiced distain for the actor calling him an “overgrown stunt man” prior to the film’s release.  From his first role in Dr. No, Connery played Bond as a smart, flirty, and occasionally comical agent whose genuine charm came from onscreen wit.  After the successful reception of Dr. No, Fleming changed his mind about Connery, going as far as incorporating the characteristics Connery brought to the table in future James Bond books.

Sean Connery continued to play a sharp witted and resourceful Bond in From Russia With Love and arguably his best film Goldfinger.  Goldfinger pairs Bond with an equally brilliant villain, leading to some of Connery’s strongest moments playing 007.  The latter Connery-Bond movies Thunderball and You Only Live Twice slowly shied away from an agent with massive ingenuity and became heavily reliant on unrealistic gadgets to deal with the increasingly implausible plots.  While the later movies maintained their wit, the character of Bond was becoming less of a focus as villains began to steal the show.

Once Connery retired from playing Bond, the role was taken over by the Australian, George Lazenby for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  Lazenby’s portrayal of 007 relied less on the special gadgets, which had diverted focus away from the character of Bond in Connery’s latter movies, and instead Lazenby turned Bond more of an emotional character.  Throughout the movie Lazenby plays 007 as an agent who’s still developing internally.  It’s rather unfortunate that Lazenby’s minimal acting experience is noticeable on film when some of his most crucial one-liners feel forced.  Lazenby added in much needed emotional depth to the character of Bond, and had the potential to drive the franchise forward into more of a dramatic series with an everyman kind of agent.  He might’ve been more successful in doing this, however, if he had some more experience.

After another brief outing of Connery playing James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, Roger Moore took over the role.  Moore played Bond in more main series movies than any other actor, but he took the character in a completely opposite direction that Lazenby had started going in.  With Moore’s first 007 film Live and Let Die the ridiculous gadgets were back and Bond was much more of comedic character in dealing with farfetched villains.  The worst of which Mr. Big, villain of Live and Let Die, planned on taking over the Western world by addicting everyone to heroin.  While they weren’t all bad movies, the Moore-Bond films led to an association of Bond with total ridiculousness.  Although the original Connery movies were far from realistic, nothing came close to the levels of strangeness Moore dealt with in the movie Moonraker (007 in Outer Space).  In the middle of Moore’s strange career was The Spy Who Loved Me, which was significantly more grounded in reality than his other outings, as Moore used some sly wit found in the Connery films.  While Connery managed to play a James Bond men desired to be, Moore’s rich playboy characterization was something difficult to personally resonate in large audiences, and it led to his portrayal seeming as an over exaggerated satire of those who came before him.

Replacing Roger Moore as Bond was Timothy Dalton.  Dalton took Bond back away from the ludicrous gadgets, however he also got rid of a lot of the famous 007 charms. Dalton had little to work with; a plot almost too grounded in reality and current events, as villains lacked much of the wit that the earlier Bonds squared off against.  While the dry portrayal worked with the story of The Living Daylights and License to Kill in terms of fitting in a plot, it turned Bond into a serious character dealing with many grim realities.

Turning Bond into a modern blockbuster star was Pierce Brosnan.  Brosnan’s first 007 movie, GoldenEye turned the character of James Bond into a strong action hero and featured witty banter, unparalleled since the time of Connery.  While Brosnan’s later Bond movies brought in gadgets and villains that might as well been from sci-fi flicks, his charming demeanor and daring spirit marked the return of a Bond that charmed the audience.  In Brosnan’s movies, the character of 007 was moved out of the Cold War time period, a change that would lead to Bond’s role changing from simply spying on Russians to once again dealing with devious criminals.

Daniel Craig took over the role of James Bond when the franchise took things back to the beginning with Casino Royale.  Casino Royale was based on Ian Flemming’s first 007 novel of the same name, and once again, this movie removed many obscene gadgets and replacing them with a quick thinking and often more directly confrontational James Bond.  Craig’s character is more of a brute than previously portrayed Bonds, but the dialogue-heavy sequences of Casino Royale filled in Bond as an emotionally vulnerable character.   Quantum of Solace took 007 in the in a new direction in which Bond developed little as a character and the movie was played out mostly by action sequences that seemed indistinguishable from the fast paced Bourne movies.  The latest 007 film, Skyfall, gave Craig another chance.  In Skyfall, Craig’s sharp wit is comparable to that of Connery’s in the first few Bond films, and the brilliant yet mentally disturbed villain, Mr. Silver helps bring out character growth of Craig’s Bond.  In Skyfall, James Bond changed into man of both intuition and depth.

While the character of James Bond has faced many distinct changes over the years, Skyfall is the closest blend of 007 as both an interesting, still-developing character and a charming man of ingenuity.  By relying less on flashy gadgets and instead making Bond a witty, strong, and charismatic character, Daniel Craig keeps the franchise focused on the things that had made it unique in the first place.