No Time to Die is Daniel Craig’s latest and final outing as James Bond. And looking back to the journey of Craig’s Bond, the movies are distinctly different than previous movies. Rather than being a stand-alone movie, Craig’s Bond had a longer story arc allowing his character to grow.
Why the Bond Movie Making Changed?
This change in making Bond movies came after the changing nature of audiences. Now the audiences appreciated long-form storytelling which made it necessary for the production studio to change how Bond movies were made. 2008’s Quantum of Solace begins just after 1 hour of Casino Royale events. Similarly, all the other Bond movies for Craig were meant to be. And this long-form story arc needed a lynchpin who would stand against James Bond in the movies.
The initial narrative lynchpin of Craig’s Bond was Quantum which is quite different from the historic and literary nemesis SPECTRE. The reason behind it was that the production studio didn’t have the legal rights to use SPECTRE. And thus, the initial movies go to great lengths to establish Quantum as the major syndicate that Craig’s Bond is fighting against.
What happened after SPECTRE legal rights were obtained?
However, in 2013, the production studio was able to settle the legal rights for SPECTRE and obtain them to be used in the movies. This prospect was tantalizing enough for the production studio to bring this crime syndicate into the story arc. Thus, SPECTRE was released in 2015.
In the movie, Quantum was quickly forgotten and was shown as just a minor subsidiary of the SPECTRE. This completely ruined the story arc for Craig’s Bond. If the rights weren’t settled at the time, Craigs’s Bond story would have been different.
Moreover, including Blofeld in the movies and showing him as the jealous brother of Bond who is out for revenge, didn’t help the storyline any further. This just reduced the impact of previous villains and their actions.
As Daniel Craig’s arc as Bond comes to an end, the complete set-up for Quantum feels like a dead end.
Source: ScreenRant
