Jose Martin Alvarez

“James Bond will return.” Will he really? Quick review: A close to the Bond story, or at least Craig’s tenure as Bond. If this was “The Bourne Legacy”, or other spy movie I’d give it a 4.5 stars, but this being a James Bond movie, it was too dramatic, too complex and somewhat boring at times. But I guess the aim was closing the Bond story in a fitting manner for a millennial focused world. I wonder what all time Bond fans think, not the casual moviegoers. Going deeper (spoiler alert): The tenure of Craig has been filled with ups and downs. From an unconventional retelling of Bond’s origins in Casino Royale, and a deeper exploration of Bond’s past in Skyfall, to complex quite slow dramas like Quantum of Solace and Specter, so I guess it’s fitting that the fifth and final incarnation of Bond by Craig reflected that ferris wheel 🎡 of emotions. The first half of the movie is very epic, revisiting Bond’s biggest regret and reprising Craig’s Bond desire for retirement - this Bond tried to retire from service 4 times in 5 movies - and bringing some old characters to reprise their roles one more time. The scenes in Cuba with Ana de Armas were just great, and it is a shame she has very little screen time, Ana’s beauty and wit makes her perfect for a “traditional” main Bond girl. The movie aims at being a total closure to the James Bond story, killing allies, wiping out Specter and his main nemesis, and transforming the traditional carefree Bond in anguish father, trying to save his daughter and her mother, and sacrificing himself not because he couldn’t save himself, in a maybe quite last minute Hail Mary Bond’s style, but because he could never be close to the woman he loves and his daughter. If this had been a Connery, Moore, Brosnan or maybe even Dalton type of James Bond, he could have gone and save himself sacrifice been with his family. But no this is Craig’s Bond, buoy for a post 9/11 world, and he had to ultimately die in the screen. So what now? Other generations watched and accepted a transition of the Bond character from one actor to the next one. In Craig’s case we saw and accepted a “reboot” of Bond. Bond had been a traditional male hero and fantasy role. The wise guy, who got the women, the cars, the gadgets and ultimately scaled death defeating the bad guys. Bond at his core was a flawed creature, a functional alcoholic and remorseless killer, created in a Cold War era. But in a world where many accused this character of chauvinism, and bad male fantasy, maybe the aim is to finally destroy James Bond. The movie spent a lot of effort telling us 007 y just a number, and towards the end at credits, we can read the traditional “James Bond will return”. But what kind of 007? Will the audience accept (male/female) a character far removed from what James Bond has been?