Yes, its that hoary old gnarler again, just which of the 007's was the finest - well, here's the answer. The best Bond was (drum-roll), steady, wait for it, (fanfare); without any possibility of doubt... the one you saw in the role first. I guess. O.K., perhaps not official as such - but this is subjective at best... Lets review the usual suspects...
DAVID NIVEN
Actually not as unlikely as it seems, during WWII he was an officer with Phantom, the shadowy British reconnaissance outfit, cloak and dagger stuff for real.
GEORGE LAZENBY
Despite the man's recent personal problems, his turn at the throat of Blofeld was , in my opinion, a quirky freshener for the series - but not the Bond for me.
SIR.ROGER MOORE
Now we are Bonding!, one of the very best; a wry, dry 007 with a suave line in
quips and a sauvants taste for the very best. Taking over from Connery at the
age of forty-five, our man from Stockwell proved the most durable of agents,
his seventies escapades among the very top for some stylish nostalgia.
(Moonraker was the first Bond I saw at the flicks, so perhaps I'm biased.)
PIERCE BROSNAN
Reviving the franchise with one of the most jaw-dropping stunts seen since
Rick Sylvester ski-jumped from Mt.Asgard (The Spy Who Loved Me), Brosnan
brought the Secret Service into the Nineties with Goldeneye, a tale of
betrayal and retribution served with old-style panache and new thinking; a female 'M' being just part of the cobweb-sweeping.
SIR.SEAN CONNERY
Most people I have spoken to rate the first movie Bond as best (We won't be bothering with any earlier TV Bonds. Because I said so.). Sheer animal magnetism, physical presence and a Scots burr that sparks envy in men and blows fuses in women, add to the mix those oft-imitated one-liners and a healthy disrepect for both lungs and liver... well, its James Bond, the sixties spy who lives for the moment, taking his pleasure in the turn of a card or the fall of a lady...
Very possibly the best - but there's more to consider...
TIMOTHY DALTON
The Marmite Bond; you either like him or you've never heard of him...
The reign of Roger came to an end mid-eighties with the unworthy View to a Kill, the producers needed a replacement for the well-liked Moore, coming up with the Welshman son of a Captain in the SOE (The British equivalent of the OSS for you Trans-atlantic types). Originally approached to star in OHMSS, Dalton finally collected the tux and Aston Martin keys for The Living Daylights, the well-deserved 1987 smash that had myself and many others on the edge of our seats in the cinema. Even the take-it-or-leave-it Licence to Kill couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for this harder-edged Bond.
DANIEL CRAIG
Lets get one thing out of the way. Daniel Craig is a big wuss and he broke his nose signing the contract and actually, it wasn't his nose it was his teeth, they fell out at the tailor's he's so soft he can't be Bond 'cos blondies are all soft...
O.K. Fine, but if you can't take an actor seriously because his hair isn't black, please go log on to www.Ihaveproblemsthattherapyalonewillneversolve.com and don't bother coming back. Ta-ta.
DANIEL CRAIG (AHEM)
Yep, THIS is the best Bond. Why?. Well, because he's the current Bond. Let me explain; James Bond is, to many, an icon of sixties cool, like the Jaguar E-type and Carnaby Street, but only after fifty or so years. Bond was written as current, today;the man of the moment. The films have always reflected
this; think how many gadgets got their first airing on Roger Moore's wrist, how many real-world concerns found their way into the plots, from nuclear devastation to the energy crisis to international terrorism. Bond being Bond he lives for the here and the now, never looking forward and rarely back.
So, my official(ish) Best Bond is Mr.Craig, but if that alone is not enough, consider the audacity of the producers in virtually erasing the back-catalogue of films, to start afresh with Casino Royale - a towering Coup de Main of a movie, with Craig as a muscular, vital, brooding brute, (as animal as the young Connery, easily) a Bond who (gasp!) makes mistakes, even to the extent of failing to spot all the bad guys. A flawed Bond - whoah!. Craig throws out the most physical energy of any Bond. The fact that his performance is so strong that the usual gadgetry is reduced to little more than a (just when he needs it) de-fibrilator and an Atropine combi-pen doesn't escape notice either.
Oh, the girl is smoking hot too - Eva Green providing the damaged goods love-interest that launches us on a revenge trip in the follow-on Quantum of Solace (Surely the most vilified of the series, even with the laughable Die another Day to choose from).
O.K. So this is just so much puff - the opinings of some geezer on the Interweb. O.k. then - who do YOU rate as the top 007?...
No comments:
Post a Comment