The Next Incarnation Of The Bond Franchise Should Take Inspiration From The Roger Moore Era
With the long-delayed release of No Time to Die, Daniel Craig is departing from the role of James Bond. Starting with 2006’s Casino Royale, Craig’s stint as 007 has set itself apart with grittier, more realistic storytelling. After the double whammy of Pierce Brosnan’s movies being panned by critics and the Austin Powers franchise deconstructing all the tired Bond tropes, Casino Royale’s refreshingly visceral thrills saved the series from certain doom.
After Craig leaves the role, the producers could shake things up by going the other way with a lighter, zanier tone. Craig’s movies have evoked the grounded action of the early Sean Connery movies; the next incarnation of the franchise could take influence from Connery’s successor, Roger Moore.
Moore’s movies distanced themselves from Connery’s movies with a goofier, wackier sensibility. The next Bond actor’s movies can use the same trick to distance themselves from Craig’s movies. The capabilities of modern blockbusters – dazzling visual effects, mega-scale set pieces, the ability to create anything with CGI – could be used to give the ludicrous fun of the Moore era a contemporary update.
The Moore-starring The Spy Who Loved Me is arguably the most deliriously entertaining movie in the entire Bond franchise. The opening Union Jack parachute jump is a breathtaking stunt that sets the stage for the rest of the movie’s action, Jaws makes for an unforgettable (and lovable) side villain, and gadgets like a submersible Lotus Esprit pave the way for plenty of unique set pieces. That sense of sheer cinematic joy is what makes the 007 franchise so iconic and beloved, and it should be what the producers strive for in their next movie.
Ever since the success of Batman Begins, darkening the tone of a franchise with a gritty reboot has become commonplace in Hollywood. Casino Royale was one of the first post-Batman Begins gritty reboots to come along, and it was promptly followed by Dredd, Star Trek, The Incredible Hulk, The Amazing Spider-Man – the list goes on. This trend has even extended to properties that work better with a lighter tone, like Superman and the Fantastic Four.
It’s about time the pendulum started swinging the other way. Darker Bond stories can offer a subversive change of pace. From Russia with Love has one of the most hard-hitting fight scenes ever put on film. License to Kill is a grisly revenge thriller in which Bond ignores MI6 protocol to ruthlessly pursue a personal vendetta. But darker Bond movies are only subversive until a dark tone becomes the norm. There are plenty of other ways to tell a story about James Bond.
The Batman franchise has recently gotten stuck in the same rut. Warner Bros. has been hesitant to do anything lighthearted with the Caped Crusader since the vitriolic response to Joel Schumacher’s movies, but the series risks getting stale. The gritty realism of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy saved the Bat’s big-screen adventures from their post-Batman & Robin slump. Since then, Zack Snyder has turned Batman into a murderer and Matt Reeves’ upcoming reboot seems to have the same grim, noir-like tone that the franchise has settled into. The best way to shake it up might be to return to the goofiness of the Adam West era.
Just like it’s possible to make Batman movies too dark, it’s possible to make Bond movies too dark. Above all, these films need to be fun spy adventures. Spectre got too bogged down in building conspiracies and forcing serialization to succeed on that front. When the Bond producers go back to the drawing board for the next batch of movies, they should consider a major tonal shift back into the fun territory.
The screwball sensibility of the Moore movies occasionally took things a step too far. Bond disguises himself as a clown in Octopussy, runs across the backs of crocodiles in Live and Let Die, and goes to outer space in Moonraker. The slapstick bent of the movies was a great idea in theory, but it resulted in a lot of set pieces that were too weird or cartoonish to resonate with audiences. The next chapter of the Bond franchise is the producers’ opportunity to fine-tune this offbeat style. It wasn’t 100% successful with Moore, but they can learn from their mistakes with the next guy.
The Bond producers have confirmed that they won’t even start thinking about who will succeed Craig in the role of 007 until 2022. But they need to start discussing the series’ creative direction right away. After 25 movies, it’s getting more and more difficult to keep things fresh. The producers have thrived in the past by thinking outside the box.
A sillier, more overtly comedic take on the Bond mythos might sound like a radical change after the Craig movies settled into a semi-realistic, pseudo-Bourne style. But radical ideas are the only reason this series has managed to survive for so many years.
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