Daniel Craig's Pierce Brosnan's time as 007. Part of the allure behind any self-respecting spy story is the protagonist having access to all manner of far-fetched gadgets and technologically advanced gimmicks. This has been true ever since tales of espionage first slipped into the cultural consciousness, and is especially accurate in the case of a certain 007. Bond's big screen gadgets began relatively inconspicuously in From Russia With Love, which featured a lethal briefcase, a watch with garrote wire stashed inside and shoes that eject blades out of the toe. These gadgets remained largely grounded in reality, but Goldfinger began a shift into increasingly outlandish territory.
Throughout the Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton James Bond eras, 007's arsenal went from the sublime to the ridiculous. There was a rocket launcher disguised as a boombox, a crocodile diving suit and a sofa that ate people. Nice to see Q branch was putting British taxpayer money to good use. James Bond fans love the movies' gadgets, and Q's inventions have always been a key tenet of the franchise. However, there's a thin line between exciting fantasy tech and silly ideas that take viewers out of the action.
The Pierce Brosnan Bond movies went deeper down that comedic path. The World Is Not Enough had X-Ray glasses and if the remote control car wasn't bad enough, Die Another Day featured the now-infamous invisible Austin Powers had turned James Bond into a parody during the Pierce Brosnan era, and the more 007 leaned into its own silliness, the less relevant the character became to a modern audience.
Bond needed a hard reset and that change came with the ing of the torch from Casino Royale in 2005, the Craig movies took Bond into darker and vastly more realistic territory. This was evident across the board - the tone, the dialogue, the cinematography - but the change that summed up Bond's modernization was the gadgetry. Recognizing Q's work had got a little out of hand during the 1990s and early 2000s, the craziest device Daniel Craig's Bond gets to play with is a tracking device, making clear the direction the franchise was heading.
This change of approach is referenced directly in Ben Whishaw's Q informs Bond, "what were you expecting, an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that anymore." This meta line acknowledges that James Bond has consciously moved away from dreamed-up technology to focus on the action, characters and story, and it's an approach that served 007 well. Daniel Craig's stint in the tuxedo has revolutionized the Bond movies and heralded an era of financial and critical success, Quantum of Solace aside. The grittier approach and stripped-back gadgets played a massive role in changing the public perception of James Bond from an outdated caricature to cinema's biggest action hero once again.
While most would agree that James Bond definitely needed to reign itself in after the invisible car debacle, some might suggest Daniel Craig's movies have taken Bond too far in the opposite direction, removing a feature of the series that was widely loved once upon a time. Maybe Q will afford Craig's successor more than just a gun and a radio, and strike a balance of fun inventions without the cartoonish novelty toys.
