I think Daniel Craig is the only worthy successor to Sean Connery. All
the others, every single one, were just pretenders. I had always thought
Connery could never be approached, and then I saw Craig in Casino
Royale. He changed my mind.
On the other hand, while I have admired the new movies with Craig, they
never dazzled me like the first three Connery movies did. Well, I was a
teenager.
As you indicated, Thunderball was a huge disappointment. Even with the
later Connery Bonds there was a vast empty James Bond desert until
Craig's Casino Royale. I thought the Craig movies successfully brought
James Bond into the 21st century. The old chain-smoking heavy drinking
chauvinist James Bond is now an antique, someone to be admired but not
of this day. I like what the producers did with the Bond mythos. They
gave him a backstory and even at the end an actual family. Nice, even
necessary, I guess. What were they supposed to do, keep making the same
stupid movie over and over again?
I admired or at least tolerated No Time To Die. It was fine. I think
people who prefer the antique James Bond just may be antiques
themselves. Like me.
--
Bill Anderson
I am the Mighty Favog