"No, Mr. Bond...I expect you to die."

As requested and promised, my thoughts on the latest incarnation of James Bond, portrayed by Daniel Craig. I have less than 25 minutes to whip this thing off and get to the rest of my tremendously boring day, so here goes.

First, let me make a disclaimer that I've never read any of the Ian Fleming novels. My knowledge of the James Bond character is strictly from the films and the various actors who have played 007 over the last several decades. Because you might be wondering, and it's a starting point for this discussion, I will go on record as saying my favorite Bond was indeed Sean Connery. Favorite Bond film: You Only Live Twice.

Now on to Daniel Craig. He's described his portrayal of James Bond as "anti-hero" because after all, he's essentially an assassin with a license to kill. Craig has stated in interviews that he actively portrays Bond's dark side, offering the question to the audience "Is he a good guy, or a bad guy who works for the good guys?"

This is a far more in-depth character exploration than any previous Bond incarnations, and most assuredly one for the Post-911 age of confusing ethics, diabolical schemes and the questioning masses of the Western world. But really, I'd like to think it's not too dissimilar to the world into which Daniel Craig and I were both born into, smack in the middle of the Cold War. The main difference is that back then, the good guys and the bad guys were painted very clearly. These days, we hold more questions in our minds about what is good and bad, as far as motivation, coersion, brainwashing, etc. You need look no farther than the nightly barrage on television to see a pantheon of cops and federal agents with a darker side (Stabler's rage, anyone?) to see that this is what we've come to expect from our good guys. Likewise, many villains have been turned into more human characters, where the audience aallllmost starts to sympathize (but never goes all the way, because after all, the antagonist has to be vanquished by the hero in a traditional story).

Okay, enough philosophizing. Back to Daniel Craig. I think Craig is portraying exactly the kind of James Bond that the majority of film-goers want to see: conflicted, emotional, strong, gritty, but always always on top of things. Gone are the whimsical nuances between Bond and his supporting cast, and gone, too are the misogynist overtones prevalent in previous eras of Bondage. Is this a bad thing? I don't think it's a bad thing, no. I think Craig performs the character with aplomb. I very much enjoy Bond's relationship with M, who of course is played by the incomparable Dame Judi Dench, a deeper, more human expression of the previous M's exasperation and hands-in-the-air approach to Bond's antics. Again, it is realistic, and it is what movie-goers want.

I think the issue here is not a debate about Craig's interpretation of Bond, but rather how the times and audiences have changed since the last outing of James Bond. I can remember very clearly going to see Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan's last Bond film. After the emotional and heart-wrenching rigors of 911, I just wanted to go see a piece of fantasy, something that would take me away for a couple hours. The scene in the first act of that film was of a building blowing sky high from a bomb placed by Zhang Zi Yi. I couldn't even look at the screen. I felt my breath becoming shallow. All I could see were those towers exploding, falling, crushing life after life.

I was ready for a new kind of James Bond movie, and so apparently were the rest of us - especially the core movie going audience (male 18 - 25). A man coming to grips with his personal world in the midst of his professional world. We'd had a taste of this in You Only Live Twice, and earlier in George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

"But Elena, if Daniel Craig is so good and stuff, why do you still like Connery the best?"

The answer is that I'm not a male 18 - 25. I'm female, and I grew up during the Cold War. I "get" those older films, and I understand their social context as well as the nifty sci-fi edge of a mid-century aesthetic. It's nice to have the fantasy where the bad guys are nefarious but stupid, their henchmen completely inept, and the hero is handsome and knows how turn every situation to his advantage. I have a feeling - mark my words - that Mr. Bond will change again, from Craig's gritty, emotionally-damaged spy with a penchant for loneliness, to a star more closely resembling Connery's slick, but not altogether inhuman portrayal.

I'm going to have to call it quits here out of time constraint. I will have to write more later comparing other Bond actors, theme songs, etc. as time permits. In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you all about your musings on the various portrayals of James Bond, your favorite Bond films, etc.