For me, the tenure started with disappointment.
Yes, I confess: I loved Brosnan as Bond. When the "impasse" passed and it was announced that he would not come back I was sad. I was even confused why this Daniel Craig dude who looked nothing like James Bond was chosen as a replacement. Getting "Casino Royale" finally on the screen (not as a parody) interested me. Since I mainly wanted a new Bond film I decided to wait and see.
I went to a pre-screening in the night before the official release. The cinema was packed. I enjoyed the film a lot - although its stop-and-go pacing, especially after the torture scene, left the whole enterprise as choppy in my memory.
I watched it again with my nephews - and funnily enough, one of them actually thought the film was ending when Bond and Vesper frolicked on the beach.
I returned to the film a few times when it was out on DVD, and each time I admire parts of it, yet I could not get around Craig as Bond completely. He was intense, yes, and the arrogance was there, and I loved how he played the reaction to Vesper´s death. But there was still this... drum roll for a word play... spectre of Pierce Brosnan in my mind.
Then came QOS. And I don´t exactly recall why - but I watched the movie during its first screening in my town and I loved everything about it. Even Daniel Craig. He completely sold the film to me. I even think that he is photographed so much better in this film than in CR. He finally became Bond for me, and I never had any big problems with the film itself. I think that CR could have been improved by compressing it - and QOS by enlarging it - but still, I consider QOS a better film.
The long(er) wait for SKYFALL amped up my need for another Bond fix - and when I got the chance to watch it at an early press screening in a very beautiful and comfortable cinema, I was ready for something spectacular. And quite frankly, it was one of the best cinema experiences I ever had. I really loved every second of it... up to the finale which I still consider a great idea (reversing the usual attack on the villain´s lair) but it did slow down too much, for my taste, when the "Home Alone"-montage preparing for Silva started and it became clear that the whole assault will "only" destroy the building - but the real finale takes place in the chapel.
Still, SKYFALL, for me, is one of the most satisfying Bond films and it cemented Craig in the role. Which raised my expectations for SPECTRE sky high, unfortunately. Again I was able to see the film in a pre-screening for the press, and I foolishly thought: this will probably even top SKYFALL. And after the car chase my spirits sank, and I thought again and again: nooo, nooo, nooooooo, please! I had not read any of the SONY leaked documents before, I had only watched the trailers and had constructed a film that already was better than the actual one. My expectations were different, and the film naturally was crushed underneath them.
I gave it a second chance a few weeks later - and still, the great bits (and there are those!) stood out, and the bad bits still irked me tremendously. SPECTRE seemed to have the potential to be the best Craig film yet - and it became the worst for me.
And then, a few months later, I watched it on blu ray. And... I enjoyed it so much more. Maybe because my expectations weren´t so high anymore, maybe because I knew now what the film wasn´t, maybe just because I wanted to like it and I got the feeling that this is the last chance for many years to see a new Bond film... so I better get used to this one.
But with passing time it still has its flaws. Things I just can´t rationalize. And Craig´s performance, while wonderfully relaxed back at times, becomes "business as usual" in the disappointing second half of the film. With the ending as it is laid out and even confirmed by Craig recently as "Bond thinks he is leaving the service", I just cannot imagine right now how the next film will be able to offer us and Craig the chance of something new and different. I was okay with him leaving the role. It seems he is contemplating coming back, however.
Maybe he still has one all-around entertaining film in him. I just hope that he will not end his tenure by going through the motions again. That would taint his work much more than leaving now, IMO.
