There were many complaints regarding the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond. He is too short, he doesn’t have the star power, he is BLONDE! These were some of the many complaints laid against the actor prior to his debut. The website danielcraigisnotbond.com was even created to protest his casting. After the film was released, however, Craig became the proper face for a modern Bond.

Lone Wolf

Daniel Craig has a serious problem with authority. MI6 is most often a barrier to Bond throughout the Insurgent Era; impeding him as he attempts to save the world. Bond even loses his 00-status three times throughout the era, as the government robs our hero of the ability to protect us.

Similar to the Cold Warrior Era, the Insurgent Era’s political climate is tumultuous to say the least. At the time of release for Casino Royale, Americans trust in the government was polling at a staggering twenty-eight percent (Bell). Tony Blair, the current prime minister of the UK had misrepresented the state of affairs in the Middle East stating, “What I believe the assessed intelligence has established beyond doubt is that Saddam has continued to produce chemical and biological weapons.” Both Americans and the British were led by administrations that obfuscated facts and misled their constituents.

The government loyalist of Fleming’s Bond would be a fraudulent portrayal of the current geopolitical landscape. Unlike the Cold War, the enemies of today could not be easily seen in the context of East versus West. The enemies seemed to be all around, even within our own government.

Craig’s Bond personified that sense of disorientation and confusion by removing himself from the bureaucracy of the government. Craig’s Bond was not a government weapon, but a hero for the people. He did not care about procedure, but the lives of the innocent. Craig disregards orders consistently to save the lives of those around him. The opening action sequence of Casino Royale displays Bond’s cavalier attitude towards Government as he storms a Madagascan Embassy in pursuit of a terrorist:

As the Madagascan government official plans to negate the work that Bond has just accomplished, Bond kills the terrorist, retrieves a bomb and, later, saves the day due to his lack of respect towards politics. Bond does not represent the upper echelon of political circles, but the people in need of a hero.

Deadly Assassin

The physicality of Bond has been an inconsistent aspect of the character of the Bond Franchise. Connery’s earlier films exemplified his movement and classic machismo; however, his later films lessened the importance of fight choreography as age affected Connery; Moore did not see physicality as an important characteristic of Bond, preferring to highlight Bond’s charm and sex appeal; Dalton embraced the violence and brutality of the source material, but his tenure as Bond was inevitably cut short; and Brosnan’s physicality was inconsistent, similar to his films.

Craig’s Bond ignores the precedents set by the previous actors and elevated the raw physicality and violence of Bond to the forefront of his character. Martin Campbell, the director of Casino Royale, described Craig’s physicality as, “very Bond, but hopefully a little more realistic than previous Bond films…. I think [the fans] need it (Roman).” This is Craig’s take on the classic Bond intro and gun barrel sequence:

No remorse. No pity. Just execution.

The increase in violence resulted in a decrease to the other key characteristics of Bond. Q is absent from half of the films and, therefore, there is a notable lack of gadgets throughout Insurgent Era Bond films. Craig is also the least successful Bond in bed. The emphasis on womanizing has changed from a notable character trait of Bond to a tool for information. The women Craig seduces are merely roadblocks in the path to his final goal.

Conflicted Hero

Craig also attempts to bring humanity to the heart of the character. Craig’s Bond is often shown contemplating his future with MI6. He considers quitting multiple times during his career. The only other Bond to express this amount of conflict and turmoil was Dalton.

To compensate for his inner strife, Craig’s Bond drinks. A lot. Compared to the other actors portraying Bond, Craig, on average, drinks nearly double the units of alcohol per film (Dean). Bond’s increased predilection for liquor also marked an increase in gin sales in the UK, Bond’s preferred liquor in Casino Royale (Shepard). The drinking in Craig’s films is often used as a means for Bond to forget his violent past.

The result of this drinking is a more human Bond than seen previously. The cinema audiences wanted a character they could relate to and represent their inner conflict. Barabara Broccoli, the producer of Craig’s films, believes that Craig is, “able to convey the inner turmoil and the conflicts.  He’s given Bond his humanity (Radish).” This scene from Casino Royale expresses the attempts made to humanize Bond:

The overall result of Craig’s tenure of Bond has been a return to basics swathed in the political turmoil of the time. Craig is ruthless, yet compassionate; strong, yet vulnerable. He represents a populous that is fed up with the subterfuge of the ruling class, and he embodies the need to see each other as humans in these trying times.