Ended up rewatching the first three Daniel Craig James Bond films this week (since I picked two of them up on 4K).
Can't get over how good Skyfall was, even if still being kind of "toned back" in terms of crazy tech and set pieces, maybe the biggest set piece (aside from the battle at Skyfall) is the opening chase sequence. But it's really more of a character piece. I love that the dialogue between M and Bond is never overwritten, and M has always held her thoughts and emotions close to chest anyway -- but both actors are good enough that you can read them regardless. There's almost a mother/son bond between them, esp with our knowledge that Bond was orphaned. It also manages to really dig into the dangers of tech and how what looks like an advantage can also be a huge weakness depending on who you're dealing with. Meanwhile, there's a ton of moral ambiguity, about who Bond is and what he serves, the demands that M places on her staff, and what makes one side "good" and another "bad." It might be the most thoughtful Bond picture, really serving both as action/thriller AND a drama character study of a man who might be past his prime but out of loyalty comes back and tries to keep pace with a changing world. Bardem is great too, we haven't quite seen his like in a Bond film before.
Obviously Casino Royale is my other fave Craig pic as Bond, starting with the parkour chase which is not just exciting to watch but also an expose on Bond's approach to life (I love that he doesn't mirror the approach of the runner, he plays instead to his own strengths to overcome obstacles in the way). And again, there's a lot of characterization unfolding throughout the film, Craig and Green really interact well together. (That scene of them sitting in the shower together is unexpectedly touching.)
I was typically indifferent to Quantum of Solace. One problem is the editing for the action sequences (not only are they super-fast cuts, but the actual camerawork bobbles and jerks around so it's hard for the eye to "lock in" -- I mean, maybe that describes the chaos of a fast fight, but it makes the whole mess indiscernible to the eye and can even trigger motion sickness..... for me it often felt incoherent). Another is the lowered stakes... Bond goes to Bolivia following a trail that at times is hard to comprehend and ends up uncovering a plan to
The film is really honed down too... might be the shortest Bond film. I think there was more of an emotional through-path in the film, but the directing didn't really bring it out well. I think the other ex-agent's story is tied to Bond's and supposed to mirror what can happen when one is focused on revenge, and Bond finds some kind of solace in learning to step past what happened with him and Vesper. But the directing doesn't really coax that emotional journey out as well, so a lot of the time there's a bunch of plot unfolding but it's not clear what Bond's overall goal is, what the point of it all is. Only in the final few minutes do you really get a sense of where this was going and what closure for Bond will be (as well as M's feelings towards him). Again, it's all the various accents (some lines are hard to understand), a lack of support from the directing, and the pell-mell pace, so I had to watch the film a few times to piece together all the things going on. The thing is, some of the writers have worked on ALL the Craig films, so it shouldn't feel that different and the plotting/script should be pretty consistent... but doesn't feel that way across films, all of which had a different director.
I feel bad dissing on the film, because there's some decent moments in the film, but a large part feels incoherent / mindless, and I didn't feel much when watching it, like I did with the other two, although it's supposed to be an end piece to Casino Royale. Still, Craig is leaner and maybe even meaner. I think I read it is the most "violent" Bond film in terms of counted acts of violence throughout, Bond does seem to kill an awful lot of people without planning to. One thing I liked about the Craig run is that Bond actually feels dangerous. Connery's Bond feels reserved and totally in control, Moore's kind of campy and an inamorato, Brosnan's Bond was classy (in the style of Remington Steele), but Craig's bond is raw, direct, and deadly without any kind of gloss, he's not a pretty boy but a roughly hewn and deadly weapon... even if he also manages to tap into the deep-seated things that might be driving him. I'll miss this version when it's gone.
EDIT: Oh yeah, weird QoS factoid -- that's freaking David Harbour as Felix Leiter's CIA buddy. Of course I had no idea who he was when the film came out, but now he's a "big deal" from his run on Stranger Things.
