The Name's Bond!

Even if not for the flashy-and-fast cars, the resourceful and beautiful women, the other-worldly stunt sequences and those enviable gadgets (and a dear soul smiles), for the typical British aura and perfect accents, the suave demeanour, the three-piece suits, the signature music score, Judy Dench's M(asterful) dialogue deliveries and characterisation, the former Q - a cute, adorable and impatient grandfatherly genius - and the signature musical score, I love the James Bond flicks.
I am far from trained at the artistic or linguistic side of film reviews, so let me leave that to my more talented blogs friend and professionals. This post is about whom I have relished seeing most in the guise of Ian Fleming's romantic spy.
Is it Sir Sean Connery with those sharp facial features, tall and lean frame and a professional though not always serious mien? Well, I will not talk about his voice because I will fall in love with the English Language all over again to hear sir Sean Connery speak!
Is it Roger Moore, the second Bond of the Octopussy-fame (and I mention that film because Vijay Amritraj played an autorickshaw driver there and major portions of the film were shot in Rajasthan), with those gleaming greyish eyes, a reasonable build and a sense of purpose no less than Connery's? Yet with Moore, I always got the impression that he was always less serious about his business compared to Connery. Perhaps, Roger Moore brought more of a comical element into Bond the spy without obviously doing it.
Timothy Dalton reminds me of Saif Ali Khan or should it be the other way around? I have watched his License To Kill which co-stars Cary Lowell - Richard Gere's wife - and have not, The Living Daylights. Timothy's voice is a lot graver than both Connery's and Roger Moore's and when one looks at the genealogy of Bond films, it appears as if Timothy Dalton was meant to be a temporary arrangement. Dalton loses someone dear in License to Kill and as ever Bond the ruthless individual is juxtaposed versus Bond the intelligent spy. Perhaps, that is partly the reason for his unplayful and vengeful stares.
Pierce Brosnan though was the image of Bond for me, WAS. Probably because I grew up watching Pierce play the British Secret Agent for much of my teens in four consecutive agents, I appreciated his performances more. It is like seeing Dravid bat live and watching a footage from Vengsarkar's batting of yore. Some may blame it on him but with Brosnan you get the feeling that playing the secret agent is like going on a honeymoon. Though not as handsome as Sir Connery nor as good-looking as Roger Moore (of course, these judgments can sway one way or other as they are intensely subjective!), Brosnan brought a playfulness to his role that I relished. Though his sense of humour seemed to pick out the most shocking (read 'inopportune') moments, I wonder if the design was deliberate and was to befit Brosnan in some way. And yet, and I am biased here, what distinguishes Pierce Brosnan for me from the rest is his teasing and tantalizing Irish voice, which dissolves into your ears like snowflakes would under the sun. Sometimes, this meant that one had to listen to him extra-carefully but the wit and underlying sense of humour was worth it.
And just when I thought Pierce Brosnan would remain my best - and when I saw Daniel Craig on posters, I frankly thought twice before watching Casino Royale - bond, in came Daniel Craig. Though Daniel Craig sometimes gives you the impression that he is staring blank into the camera - a flaw, which may be with my eyes - I believe he has got everything. He may not be as nonchalantly challenging as Pierce Brosnan, as formidable as Sir Sean Connery or as mischievous as Roger Moore, but Craig brings one element to James Bond we thought was not possible - a sense of being human. He even resigns from his post as Commanded Bond and relinquishes his 00 for his girlfriend in Casino Royale. Like the Bonds before him, he has his own way of using his voice, gadgets, cars and those lightning-like eyes he has. But in combining a hardened sense of professionalism with the sense of being human (admittedly, his two scripts have demanded that) Daniel Craig has indeed become my favourite 007.
And I was almost out of my seat in disappointment when Casino Royale came to a close for not having heard those simple words without which no Bond film is complete. Then, it came. Pointing his revolver at a bad guy he Daniel Craig says, "The name's bond. James Bond."
Indeed, perhaps Ian Fleming himself would have seen a bit of James Bond there.



PS: This is an opinion piece and for a change I wanted to write about entertainment even if the post is not entertaining!