Irish Examiner view: Quantum of solace for Bond fans

Latest 007 comes to big screen after two-year delay

Daniel Craig as James Bond in the new Bond film No Time To Die. 

Covid succeeded where Oddjob could not stop him, nor Nick Nack cut him down to size. But next week James Bond, played by Daniel Craig for the last time, returns to the big screen in Ireland after nearly two years of delay in releasing No Time To Die.

And it is not without controversy. The film’s director has dismissed earlier vintage 007 as “basically” a rapist, while the producer Barbara Broccoli, successor to the franchise started by her father Cubby, says: “I think people are coming around — with some kicking and screaming — to accepting that stuff is no longer acceptable. Thank goodness.”

Bond first appeared in the cinema in 1962. Judi Dench as M, one of the many fearsome women who stride through 60 years of his onscreen life, told him:

I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War.

Craig is credited with creating the most woke Bond in history, perhaps no bad thing and a shrewd move in the #MeToo era, but he is clear, also, that the role should not be played by a woman. 

Craig believes that a more meaningful statement for female empowerment would be to create better and more interesting characters. 

Perhaps though this undervalues what were once known historically as The Bond Girls. 

Ever since Ursula Andress stepped out of the Caribbean carrying a large knife and a taste for revenge on the male of the species, women have had nearly all the best Bond roles. 

Poor old James has usually been more shaken than stirred.