Friday Five: Daniel Craig's Bond

I have seen the latest Bond. I have thoughts and some issues. But before I saw it, I refreshed myself by watching the previous Daniel Craig Bond films, beginning with Casino Royale, which is 15 years old. It took a few days, obviously, and I had a martini or two, but with gin - you know; the proper way. The following contains spoilers.

1. Casino Royale (2006) - rebooting Bond with Daniel Craig was utterly inspired. A little darker and more serious - less spoof and more spy - than previous outings in the Bond franchise, the third screen version of this Ian Fleming novel relied more on practical stuntwork than the CGI placements of former films. The torture scene is both excruciating and disturbingly erotic. The scene in the stationary vehicle was more thrilling and dramatic than when they are chasing each other through picturesque landscapes in high octane pursuits. We are also introduced to the DBS, which has the potential to steal the show. The acting is stellar as you would expect from folk more used to theatre; Judi Dench as M sparks off DC with the direct current those initials suggest, and Mads Mikkelsen does a great turn as the baddie, Le Chiffre. Sadly, the 'Bond girl' trope still puts pouting over substance, and Eva Green as Vesper Lynd is insubstantial. As these things demand, however (if Bond falls in love, the object of his affection must be elminated to give him motivation), she dies at the end - shutting herself into a lift in a derelict Venetian palace that crumbles into the Grand Canal.





2. Quantum of Solace (2008) - generally panned when it was released, I think this film has a lot more to offer than many suggested. Daniel Craig (or his stunt double) rides a motorbike, runs over rooftops, flies a plane, pushes bodies off buildings and through windows, walks across deserts, steers a boat, hangs off dodgy-looking scaffolding in building structures, executes dangerous overtaking manoeuvres on narrow twisting roads, and wears sunglasses like a boss. You want more? The Bond girl is actually good! Olga Kurylenko plays Camille Montes as a Bolivian agent who actually does something interesting. Mathieu Amalric is the main villain, Dominic Greene, who claimed to model his perfomance on 'the smile of Tony Blair and the craziness of Sarkozy'. We also get to see Rory Kinnear, Phil Ritter and Gemma Arterton (always a bonus) and the opening salvo by Jack White and Alicia Keys is pretty good too, although a departure from the popular Bond-ballad style of theme tune usually preferred. 

3. Skyfall (2012) - many people's favourite, and for very good reason. The opening sequence is worth the price of admission alone, as Bond fights a baddie atop a moving train and M instructs Moneypenny to 'take the damn shot'. As she does so, she accidentally shoots Bond who falls into a river and is presumed dead. Of course he isn't, although he takes advantage of the presumption for early retirement, only returning to service in London when the MI6 computers are hacked and their building blown up. There's some shennangians in Shanghai with a thrilling casino scene and even more palpitations in the London Underground - 'Health and safety; carry on.' Ben Wishaw pops up as Q, Naomie Harris is Moneypenny, Javier Bardem is top-notch fabulous villain, Raoul Silva, and Adele cashes in with the theme song. We see a softer side to Bond as he returns to his ancestral home in the Scottish highlands and Ralph Fiennes succeeds Judi Dench as M in a heartbreaking and brilliant handover.  

4. Spectre (2015) - Bond is once again sidelined due to unauthorised action, and M (Ralph Fiennes) is in a power struggle with Max Denbigh dubbed C (played with unctuous indifference by Andrew Scott). We have scenes in Mexico City (Day of the Dead), Rome (The Forum), Austria (snow), and London (helicopters crashing into bridges), and some decent stunts. Unfortunately the insipid Bond girl returns (Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann), and Bond falls for her and makes ridiculous choices. On the plus side we get Christophe Waltz as big daddy baddy Blofeld, Monica Bellucci providing an age-appropriate dalliance, and a throwback to an exploding gadget. We also get to see M take down the duplicitous C and say, 'And now we know what C stands for' - supposedly it's 'careless', after he hasn't checked the bullets in the gun, but I think we all know differently.

5. No Time To Die (2021) - There were all the spoilers in the world for this film. Mainly the connections to Jason Bourne - there was never just one. Daniel Craig is still superb and the supporting cast of M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Wishaw), Moneypenny (Naomi Harris), Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) are all delightful. The new agents are a revelation. Lashana Lynch as the new 007 has gravitas, and the CIA agent, Paloma (played by Ana de Armas), is admirably engaging. Less so the charisma-free Lea Seydoux who returns to her Yoko Ono-esque role to mess up the Bond we know and love. The ending has way too much mawkish sentimentality and, with its sledgehammer points about the importance of parenthood, it made me nostalgic for the old sign-offs of double entendres and smutty humour.

Friday Five: More TV

I haven't done this for a while, which means there is a whole lot to catch up on. So without further ado...

Five TV Shows I've Watched Since the Last Time I Did This, in Alphabetical Order:

1. Death in Paradise (ABC iView, BINGE, Foxtel) - I love this utterly preposterous series. It is total comfort TV, of the 'cosy murders' trope, and I, along with many others I'm sure, binge-watched it through COVID lockdowns. There are limited characters on a small Caribbean island and a murder an episode (there are twelve seasons, with another two in the works) doesn't stop the visitors piling in. Mind you, as an actor, it would be hard to say no to a two-week stint in a tropical paradise. In a Calypso-Christie homage the half dozen or so suspects are rounded up at the end of each episode where the seemingly impossible crime is explained and the perpetrator is led away with a shake of the head and a sorrowful expression. And it all begins again next week. The detectives change every few seasons - we started with Ben Miller in 2011, through Kris Marshall (2014-2017), Ardal O'Hanlon (2017-2020) and latest incumbent Ralph Little (2020-current) - as do their sergeants and other officers. The two characters who have remained throughout are the bar/ restaurant owner Catherine Bordey, played by Elizabeth Bourgine, and the highlight of the show, Police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson played by the inimitable Don Warrington. There's also a CGI lizard called Harry, who has his own fan-following. Yes, it's that kind of show.
2. Fisk, Season Two (ABC iView, Netflix) - This has more of the same gloriously understated humour that was so enjoyable in the first season. Kitty Flanagan continues to write, direct and star as the not-quite-so-flash lawyer, dealing with obnoxious workmates and an overbearing father, This time round guest cameos come from Denise Scott, Harley Breen, Stephen Curry, Geraldine Hickey, Glenn Robins, Anne Edmonds, Rob Sitch, and Colin Lane, amongst others. Entertaining half-hour-long episodes make for perfect mid-evening viewing.
3. The Good Fight, Season 6 (SBS VICELAND, SBS On Demand, Stan, Paramount +) - If you want proof that the U.S. can do sharp, surreal, political, satire, look no further than The Good Fight. The final season sees the lawyers of Reddick & Associates trying and failing to ignore the collapse of their society, where white supremacists gather around the building, bombs are intermittently exploded, and Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) undergoes therapy with the bloke from Madman (John Slattery). She is prescribed a mild hallucinogen which helps her to see the funny side of barely futuristic news headlines in an only slightly altered reality. There are in-house leadership struggles, snappy suits and even-snappier spectacles, power plays and explorations of moral values which border on Boston Legal territory but without the obvious schmaltz. Charmaine Bingwa as Carmen Moyo is a great replacement for the much-missed Cush Jumbo as the up-and-coming focus character, while Marissa (Sarah Steele) and Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) continue their eye-on-the-ball down-with-the-kids schtick.

4. Mare of Easttown (HBO; Foxtel) - Kate Winslet won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actress as Mare Sheehan in a fine example of the 'going over there and taking their jobs' phenomenon as she plays a detective investigating a murder in a small town outside Philadelphia. She vapes, fights with her 'mom' and struggles to raise her daughter while doing her job with as much integrity as she can muster. The series won critical acclaim for its honest portrayal of women desperately trying to balance work and care duties. While failing to live up to societal standards of a good wife, mother, daughter and employee, she actually excels at all of the above to all who matter, and winds up exhausted and under-recognised. Despite multiple awards (Hollywood Critics Association; Primetime Emmy; Golden Globes: Critics Choice; Screen Actors' Guild; Writers' Guild) and box-office smashes (highest viewership for a linear series and one of only two series to see consecutive growth week-to-week for HBO), it still hasn't been commissioned for a second series. Maybe the predominantly male executive producers are still not ready to see women be real women. 
5. This is Going to Hurt (BBC & AMC) - In this stellar adaptation of Adam Kay's best-selling breakthrough memoir, Ben Wishaw and Ambika Mod epitomise the highs and lows of the medical profession, presenting their stories with comedic and dramatic tones. As junior doctors on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward in a National Health Service hospital, they work through the ranks of hospital hierarchy, breaking the fourth wall and addressing viewers directly with dialogue. Apparently you can save people's lives, have babies named after you, provide an exceptionally high level of care in agonisingly difficult circumstances, and be reviled, underpaid, underappreciated and criminalised at the same time. And sleep-deprived. Don't ever forget sleep-deprived. While I don't understand why anyone would undertake the ludicrously difficult position of Junior Doctor, I am forever grateful that there are people who do. And Nigel Lockhart, the Chief Consultant (played with scene-stealing panache by Alex Jennings) is an absolute c*nt.