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Original poster

To be weirdly depressed about the end of the Craig Bond era? (no spoilers)

39 replies

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 12/10/2021 18:10

Not so much as AIBU as I know IBU, but...

Completely unexpectedly, I'm really upset. I'm not any kind of Bond or Daniel Craig super-fan - I've only actually liked 3 of his 5 Bond films, and I'm not big into Bond generally. I think I'm feeling this way because I'm almost the same age as Daniel Craig.

When he started as Bond, he was young and fit and so was I (relatively speaking to now, I mean - I'm no Eva Green 😉). This is not a spoiler, as it's been in a lot of the film publicity but, in No Time To Die, there are many references to him being old and his career nearing its end, and DC does look old in it. It's really brought home to me that I am ageing and that my own working life is in its last decade.

I know this is totally ridiculous. I'm an HCP and work with older and ill people all the time, so it's not like ageing comes as a big surprise. And I deal with people who are ill and dying every day at work, and cope with it. Yet for some reason, a fictional spy getting older has made me feel really down. I need to get a grip of my Gen X angst, don't I?

OP posts:
Skysblue · 12/10/2021 21:44

Yanbu. I was a bit shocked when I saw how old he looks now. And then looked in mirror and saw how little of ‘me’ is there these days.

Ugh.

RaskolnikovsGarret · 12/10/2021 21:47

I was very disappointed to note that I still fancied him though.

OnTheNatureOfDaylight · 12/10/2021 21:48

Took me a few days to get over the ending.
I really felt sad. 😳

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MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 13/10/2021 20:40

And then looked in mirror and saw how little of ‘me’ is there these days

Yup🙁

I guess we have to adjust to a new version of ‘me’ - older me. But it isn’t easy.

Thanks for the supportive replies.

OP posts:
CityMumma78 · 13/10/2021 21:13

YANBU as I felt exactly the same and felt weird lead for a few days after watching the film! Thank you for posting this as I feel a bit more normal now Smile

WarmSausageTea · 13/10/2021 21:17

I saw the film this lunchtime and have been feeling quite subdued since. I know he couldn’t keep playing Bond forever, and I know it was time to stop, but still I’m sad that it’s ended.

Oblomov21 · 13/10/2021 21:49

Old? Isn't it funny how we can't recall how long someone's been doing something?

Casino 2006
Quantum 2008
Skyfall 2012
Spectre 2015
No Time 2021

He's 53 now. He was announced as Bond 14th October 2005. That's 16 years ago.

I look rough as heck now. 16 years ago I looked like a 30 year old.

Oblomov21 · 13/10/2021 21:50

Announced

To be weirdly depressed about the end of the Craig Bond era? (no spoilers)
Oblomov21 · 13/10/2021 22:34

I loved him with the Queen for Olympics opening.

BrilloPaddy · 13/10/2021 22:54

I adored Daniel Craig - he was my favourite Bond, followed by Timothy Dalton. Both actors made Bond grittier and more real........ less schmaltzy. I couldn't bear Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore.

But I do think Craig was right to say enough. It's like Liam Neeson still making films where he trounces all the baddies while looking old enough to draw a pension..... He did an amazing job, but I'm now looking forward now to a new era and new actor in situ. I think they really blew the boat of the water with Casino Royale and I hope that happens again.

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MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 14/10/2021 11:11

@BrilloPaddy

I adored Daniel Craig - he was my favourite Bond, followed by Timothy Dalton. Both actors made Bond grittier and more real........ less schmaltzy. I couldn't bear Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore.

But I do think Craig was right to say enough. It's like Liam Neeson still making films where he trounces all the baddies while looking old enough to draw a pension..... He did an amazing job, but I'm now looking forward now to a new era and new actor in situ. I think they really blew the boat of the water with Casino Royale and I hope that happens again.

I don't disagree @BrilloPaddy. It was time for DC to step down, but my sadness is more about identifying with him, as Bond, ageing.

When Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore called it a day, I gave it no thought because they were so much older than me. I didn't think, "One day, it will be my generation that's over the hill". But now, it is.

As I said in my OP, I'm well aware that it's daft to be more upset by a fictional character ageing than by the real-life ageing I see all around me but, somehow, I am. It has really hit me. I'm very grateful for the sympathetic responses (including yours).

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TellySavalashairbrush · 14/10/2021 11:30

The living Daylights was Roger Moore's last film as Bond and he was really looking his age by then, I think it's very similar with Daniel Craig, anymore films and he would not have been as believable.
I too was very subdued after watching the film (life long Bond fan) and am fearful of what the plans will be for the next film. I think the days of Bond as we all know him are sadly over.

TellySavalashairbrush · 14/10/2021 11:31

Sorry I meant View to a Kill not Living Daylights!!!

Fraine · 14/10/2021 11:34

Craig Bond Grin

YABU because Daniel Craig seems to be having a great non-Bond time.

He was great in Knives Out and I hear a sequel is planned!

Disclaimer: I'm not a massive Bond fan

Fraine · 14/10/2021 11:35

Fearful?! Grin It's Bond not armageddon!

Anguauberwaldironfoundersson · 14/10/2021 11:41

@TellySavalashairbrush

Sorry I meant View to a Kill not Living Daylights!!!
That was an outing too far. It used to be one of my favourites but he just looks so old in it.
Footprintsonthemoon1 · 14/10/2021 11:43

I loved pierce brosnan as bond and didn't imagine I'd love DC but I do. I feel like it's a definite end of an era, particularly as I feel the films are going to change in a big way now. I remember my mum saying connery was her bond and always would be, I didn't understand it at all but now I do. The next (fingers crossed its a man) man to take on the role will probably my dcs bond

16 years ago I was very young and DC was a hot older man, now he's still (obvs) much older then me and he's still a hot older man, I've always liked older men but now they're grey

LittleGwyneth · 14/10/2021 11:47

I know what you mean - it his the passing of time home, doesn't it? I saw his first one with my best friend and her parents, they drove us to the cinema. I saw the last one with my husband, pregnant.

Barwell76 · 14/10/2021 11:48

I know what you mean OP its all linked back to how you can sense your own life going by when you measure it to other things.

Im no royalist but I do remember that at the time of Kate and Wills wedding I was 38 and I remember thinking that I would be about 68 at the next heir to the throne wedding and that made me really sad for some reason that I would be that old.

Miri13 · 14/10/2021 12:23

@WarmSausageTea I felt exactly the same as you when I watched it at the weekend. Had a lump in my throat in the cinema 🙁

WarmSausageTea · 14/10/2021 17:55

@Miri13 it’s strange, isn’t it? Maybe it’s a sign of the strange time.

I thought NTTD had a different feel from the get-go, and I enjoyed it, but with a sense of how it would end. I think Bond 26 is going to have a very different feel, and not just with the new lead actor… in some ways it felt like the ending was a precursor to bigger changes.

OnTheNatureOfDaylight · 14/10/2021 18:01

it definitely felt less misogynistic

butterflyze · 14/10/2021 18:06

I never liked him as Bond anyway. It's all been far too angst-ridden over the last few films. Much preferred the cheesy, lighthearted tongue-in-cheek earlier ones - Moore / Brosnan.

Robin233 · 14/10/2021 18:31

I think DC gets sexier with age, but I've always liked older men.
DC was awesome in 'tomb raider' - that's when I first noticed him.
He is married to a beautiful woman, they are very happy and he's got lots of money. Don't think he's worried.
My mum and were the same after Sean Connery too.
However I can relate to the ageing thing.
At one time in films a I could relate to the adult younger / parent /.
Iife full of promise and hope. Rising from the ashes of any mistakes to have a better life than ever.
Everything still possible.
Suddenly I'm watching the film and my character is the old geezer , about to meet their maker and struggling with a heap of problems and regret, the best years behind them.
I think it's called a 'mid life crisis'
BUT after the shock I came to realise that for everything there is a season.
All ages give us challenges.
I've made it this far so onwards and upwards.
(And I hope they pick Tom Hardy )

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MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 14/10/2021 19:42

I think DC gets sexier with age

He might, but, sadly, I don't 😉

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