For a long time, I thought Connery was the best Bond. Despite not being the first person to play Bond (Barry Nelson played him in 1954 in a TV adaptation of Casino Royale), he basically invented the role. After that, I thought Timothy Dalton was quite good despite very poorly written movies. Then Pierce Brosnan was kind of fun despite increasingly silly scripts. I never cared much for Roger Moore or George Lazenby. And let's not mention David Niven (who was Ian Fleming's original pick to play the role) or Woody Allen (as his nephew, Jimmy Bond) in the first theatrical version of Casino Royale.
Unfortunately, Jason Bourne upset the Bond applecart for me. The films with Matt Damon were electrifying and made the Bond movies look just plain silly in comparison. In response to this, they reinvented Bond and Daniel Craig just knocked it out of the park. In my book, he as bumped Connery off the top of the heap. I look forward to seeing his next outing in the role, even though I know it will be his last.
|