After 15 years as the world's most famous spy, 007: No Time to Die will be Daniel Craig's last film to become James Bond.
Now everyone may be used to his identity, but almost no one was optimistic about this new James Bond at the beginning, let alone bringing 007 back to life.
Now let's go back to where it all started, looking back at Daniel Craig's first 007 movie, 007: Casino Royale, which changed the face of 007.
One of my long-awaited films, 007: No Time to Die. This British super spy spanned the globe, defeating the evil bosses, and some women had been there for nearly sixty years.
Everyone has their own James Bond, whether it's the ultra-sleek gentleman Pierce Brosnan, the pompous and funny Roger Moore, and of course, Sean Connery, who made James Bond on the big screen for the first time.
But Daniel Craig was my first James Bond, and when 007: Casino Royale was released in 2006, I was in the fifth grade, and I've only remembered this 007 ever since.
Although I later went to patch up several classic movies in the old version, it still could not replace Daniel Craig, and the impression left on my mind may be unbelievable now, but when MGM announced Daniel Craig as the new 007, it caused a lot of backlash.
Before taking on this responsibility, he only had supporting roles in other people's films. These include 2002's Tomb Trooper director Matthew Vann's Two-Faced Agent, and 007 Airborne Crisis director Sam Mendes' Road to Destruction.
The characters he plays are somewhat cold, and they are either located in a moral ambiguity or a complete villain, which is completely inconsistent with the average person's imagination of James Bond.
Many also said he looked more like a blue-collar worker than a spy. Of course, there is no disrespect for the workers, I am just quoting the people at that time.
The figure was said to look like a stubby athlete, rather than the tall model figure of the previous 007; the facial features were scolded as too rough
Plus all james bond in history was dark hair, only he was blonde.
Under these factors, even the mainstream media is not optimistic about him.
As it turned out, he was the perfect candidate for 007: Casino Royale, and through those blue eyes, Daniel Craig brought a lot of humanity and vulnerability to the role.
James Bond is no longer just a personable and sleek gentleman, but with a little uncontrollable wildness, but also at a critical moment to convey the pain and anger that no 007 has shown in the past.
In addition, the image of James Bond is no longer a female magnet that all men want to incarnate, it is a flesh and blood body with flaws. You can't easily put aside the actions you witnessed or put down with your own hands, and the tragedies that you can't stop.
However, James Bond's new image is not only the highlight of "007: Vs Casino Royale", all aspects of the entire film have also been reborn.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > the light and shadow</h1>
The first and most noteworthy is photography. No matter which classic 007 movies you like, there's no denying that the cinematography in them is rather boring.
Even with gorgeous scenes and novel props, the most commonly used shot is the most sci-fi fixed-point panoramic lighting, which can only be described as bland. Obviously, in the past, all the plot arrangements were mainly based on people to see the actors and scene design, and there was no comparison between light and shadow.
James Bond should be an elusive, yet inquisitive character. However, you can't reflect this in the presentation of the picture.
And 007: Casino Royale redefines what a 007 movie should look like. The whole film is full of strong light and shadow contrasts in many places, and it uses scene gaps to create a very stylish and natural light.
My personal favorite scene where James Bond is interrogated, where James Bond sits in the warm light and captures his scarred face in close-up, while Lesevere pours out cool light behind him, accentuating the contrast between the two characters.
The two of them seemed to be in the spotlight, letting us clearly see the two sweaty bodies. Just like the game of cards, constantly testing back and forth to suspect the other party's fraud.
Not only lighting, 007: Casino Royale knows how to use camera movement to guide the audience's focus. Not only does it strengthen the tension of the action and the deceit of this spy world, but even amplifies the emotions.
For example, when James Bond rescues Vespa from the water as a first aid, the shot is shot to the end, slowly advancing from the whole body to the close-up, amplifying his inability to return to the sky of despair. We can only watch as Vespa dies at the hands of James Bond.
But of course, this is not to say that the entire film is in motion. This kind of contrast is also a contrast between movement and mirror, conveying information to the subconscious of the audience.
The most obvious is the Texas gamble, the highlight of the whole movie, which is roughly divided into three poker games:
Most of the first game was a still shot, and only the cards and the order of wine were moved, symbolizing that James Bond was in a more relaxed stage of groping for his opponents, not hurrying, quietly observing.
In the second scene, many moving shots were added, not only using pushing and panning, but also close-ups from time to time, showing the anxiety of the players present, and beginning to be impatient.
The camera itself seems to be sitting on the sidelines, unable to wait to see every card played by Lesifor and James Bond.
Constantly moving the camera reflects James Bond's current state of mind, thinking that he has caught Lesevere's handle and began to inflate himself, unable to wait for him to lose to take off his pants.
But then James Bond unexpectedly lost, and the camera stopped moving. Even Lesifor stayed in his neutral position when he left the table, directly bringing the audience into James Bond's speechless shock.
The duel that comes to the third hand game uses a lot of close-up switching between the two. Several times, the crowded over-the-shoulder shots were used to reinforce the suffocating tension of the whole scene. It was as if both had trapped each other in a trap and were engaged in a life-and-death struggle.
Careful lighting design and lens use are enough to show how much change can be made to a series with a long history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > no longer blindly play cool, flesh-and-blood plots</h1>
But the more important change was the first presentation of James Bond's origin story, giving him a truly complete character curve.
In previous movies, James Bond's main feature is that people feel cool, and from time to time there are puns and some meat strips.
There are even films that make people feel like they are directly blinking at the audience tacitly, and then they are dashingly leaving the heroine behind.
In contrast, 007: Casino Royale abandons this interesting setting and makes James Bond's experience more realistic. The black-and-white opening scene alone gives us a direct understanding of the character.
In the grainy picture, we see him becoming the first kill before 007. Brutally wrestling with the target in the toilet, brutally drowning the target in the sink, without the grace of 007 in people's impressions.
The opening scene also seems to be an oath to us, as a new James Bond, a very self-inflicted killer.
The james bond of the past seems to be only the ultimate of the romanticized gentleman's majesty, and no matter what the situation seems to be able to continue to joke without concern; no matter how many deaths are faced, he can maintain sanity and not be controlled by any emotion.
And what "007: Casino Royale" does is to directly dismantle such a big man model, directly point out that the person who has a killing license and can take away his life without scruples is certainly not a complete person, otherwise he would not have chosen to do this line.
And the film immediately moves on to the next scene, giving the audience an introduction to the new James Bond — the haunting parkour scene, of course.
In the process of James Bond's pursuit of the bomber, the film constantly contrasts through his actions, the bomber quickly shuttles through the streets, and James Bond is somewhat incapable of chasing after him.
When he couldn't catch up, he directly drove the construction vehicle and crashed into it, and then he saw that he let a worker fall to the ground to cause an explosion, or let the steel pipe fall during the ascent, of course, he followed the bomber directly to another cantilever and almost fell, and even directly hit the wall when the bomber passed through the gap.
Everything shows the recklessness and brutality of this boy.
James Bond, who had just earned the 007 code name, was resourceful but reckless, a blunt instrument rather than a sharp scalpel.
Throughout the film, his recklessness constantly makes others help clean up the mess, breaking into the embassy to kill british government soldiers; or killing two villains in a hotel and asking others to help clean up the bodies; or losing tens of millions of dollars directly in the poker game, and having to rely on the help of CIA cadres to continue to play.
James Bond's actions in this movie can be said to directly point out many action movies, in order to punish the bad guys and cause more trouble. Of course, such a theme is presented, but also updates this series into a post-911 mentality.
At the time, American cinema in 2006 was still steeped in the kind of patriotic propaganda that people were afraid of. However, 007, as a British film series, can lose the overall situation of the war on terror with a more calm attitude.
It is also a little ironic of the anti-terrorism methods that the United States expected to aid and abett, and in the process of constantly letting James Bond run into trouble, the film directly dismantles the perfect image established over the past few decades.
Each killing deepens james Bond's inner burden, and every scar carries to the next scene
Casino Royal took his toys, took his women, pierced his psyche, and even directly attacked his masculine masculinity in a direct and substantive sense, directly asking: What kind of person is james bond without these?
Perhaps what sustained him was his arrogance and pride, as well as his absolute allegiance to Britain. However, such support will eventually collapse due to excessive expansion.
Beneath his tough surface, James Bond is an insecure soul after all. If he maintains this attitude, all the people and things around him will eventually disappear from his eyes like Vespa.
But it is precisely because of this continuous dismantling and blowing that James Bond has been able to transform, and the sixty-year-long series can also be reborn.
Fifteen years after the release of 007: Casino Royale, the James Bond era that belonged to Daniel Craig is coming to an end.
But no matter what the outcome of "007: No Time to Die" is, no matter which actor will inherit this code name in the future, Daniel Craig will always be the most unforgettable.