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As Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007 comes to an end with No Time to Die, it’s unfortunate that his entire run only saw one traditional James Bond movie.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for No Time to Die, now in theaters.
Daniel Craig’s celebrated five-film run as iconic secret agent James Bond has completely reinvigorated the franchise, redefining what 007 can be in the 21st century while including plenty of hallmarks to the twenty films that preceded 2006’s Casino Royale. One of the things that made Craig’s Bond so particularly effective is that many of his films subverted the established narrative formula with a healthy dose of self-awareness of its legacy and how it juxtaposed with more modern sensibilities. And while all of Craig’s Bond films are laudable in their own respective right and are fantastic additions to the film series — yes, even Quantum of Solace — there is only one film from his run where he really got to lean into the more traditional tropes of the franchise, albeit in his own wry way: 2015’s Spectre.
Following up from the tremendously successful Skyfall, Spectre saw Bond investigate the shadowy organization that had been orchestrating terrorist activities worldwide from behind-the-scenes ever since he attained his 00 status within MI6. Discovering the organization Spectre was headed up by his adoptive brother Franz Oberhauser — now referring to himself as Ernst Stavro Blofeld — Bond battled Spectre all over the globe as he and his MI6 associates scrambled to stop the terrorist syndicate from launching a global surveillance system that would effectively give it eyes across the entire world.
By Spectre, all the familiar hallmarks of the Bond film series were firmly established: Moneypenny and Q had both been reintroduced for Craig’s Bond and the gadgets and humor were steadily making their way back into the movies, if perhaps less audaciously than they had been before. While Bond goes rogue for an extended period after an unsanctioned mission in Mexico City to open the 2015 film, he continues working closely with Moneypenny and Q throughout the film as he moves to save the world from Spectre and Blofeld.
By contrast, Craig’s debut in the role in Casino Royale more than shook up the franchise by introducing a new Bond but was a film that effectively rebooted the narrative continuity and saw him on his first mission after being promoted as a 00 operative. 2008’s Quantum of Solace would similarly subvert the usual formula by serving as a direct sequel to Casino Royale, taking place immediately after its predecessor, as opposed to the standalone nature of the preceding films in the franchise.
2012’s Skyfall served as a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the film series but also defied expectations by having Bond fake his death for a prolonged period and attempt to prove himself worthy of being a 00 agent and, by extension, relevant in the 21st century. Perhaps more shockingly, Skyfall technically ends with Bond failing to protect M from the evil Raoul Silva, a move that would haunt the character into Spectre. And then, of course, there’s No Time to Die, which opens with a retired Bond before ultimately killing off the character entirely by its ending.
Craig’s era as James Bond has catapulted the venerable franchise to new heights and proved that the British secret agent still has plenty of surprises and thrills up his sleeve. Spectre is perhaps the Bond film of Craig’s tenure that played it the safest, and the one that featured the most expected mainstays of his run and one of only two films of his that open with the iconic gun barrel sequence into the prologue. And while Craig will certainly be missed in the role, it was good that he got at least one film to really lean into the franchise tropes that were absent in his earlier installments.
To see Daniel Craig’s tackle James Bond one last time, No Time to Die is in theaters now.
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