Finding the Humor in Daniel Craig’s James Bond Films
By David Pegram
It makes sense that Daniel Craig would announce his return as James Bond in front of a comedian. Craig’s sense of humor — and sense of comedic timing — has been undervalued during his tenure as James Bond. So undervalued, in fact, that after Skyfall, John Cleese criticized the Bond franchise for becoming too serious and lacking humor.
But Craig’s Bond films haven’t lacked humor at all. Many may find it missing because it is usually subtle and doesn’t rely on gags, like animals doing double-takes. So what are Craig’s funniest moments? Let’s investigate the films and find out.
Casino Royale
Craig’s first film was thought of as a grittier version of Bond than seen before. This doesn’t mean it
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was humorless. Casino Royale contains two underrated little bits of humor. The first occurs after Bond stabs Demetrios at the Bodyworks exhibit in Miami. Bond not only sets him upright in a chair, he gives him a nice little “night-night” pat on the cheek.
The other moment takes place after Bond is poisoned by LeChiffre. He staggers to his car, on the verge of going into cardiac arrest. After contacting headquarters, Bond is told to do exactly as told. Bond replies, “I’m all ears,” a reference to his rather large, elf-like ears (something Craig has admitted to being self-conscious about). See the clip below.
Of course, the moment that stands out is the torture scene, and Bond’s ability to poke fun at LeChiffre in the midst of having (how shall we put it?) his manhood crushed. At one point, Bond says, “I have a little itch. Down there. Do you mind?” He then instructs LeChiffre, “To the right! To the right!” And after LeChiffre acts on these instructions, Bond laughs and says, “Now the whole world’s gonna know that you died scratching my balls!” The lines are pure comic relief.
Quantum of Solace
Even grittier than Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace definitely pulled back even further on the humor. But this does not mean that it is absent altogether.
Case in point: one of the funnier moments during Craig’s tenure takes place at the Greene Planet fundraiser, when Fields trips Dominic Greene’s henchman, Elvis, down a flight of stairs. When Elvis lands at the bottom, his toupee flies off, in a surprising, tension-breaking moment.
Bond also makes a joke about M. While piloting a plane, he has a conversation with Camille about the nature of their need for revenge against Greene.
“Amongst other things,” Bond says, “he tried to kill a friend of mine”
“A woman?” Camille asks.
“Yes. But it’s not what you think.”
“Your mother?”
Bond replies, “She likes to think so.”
It’s worth at least a couple of chuckles.
Skyfall
When Sam Mendes came on board, there was a bump in the humor. Skyfall let Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem show off their ability to produce funny moments without saying a word.
In one of the more underrated scenes of Craig’s tenure, Bond meets Q in the National Gallery. However, Bond has arrived first and has no idea who Q is. When Q (played brilliantly by Ben Whishaw) takes the seat next him, the look of dismay on Bond’s face is measurable. Bond thinks a complete stranger, some young punk, has just invaded his personal space. And when Q more or less identifies himself, Bond becomes exasperated. “You must be joking,” he says.
Later in the film, Craig gets to display outright fascination and horror, with pure hilarity, as he catches sight of a komodo dragon, while being carried upside down by own of Severine’s “bodyguards.” To add to the moment, Bond even points to the creature, as it comes toward them. Clip provided below.
As Silva, Bardem has his moments, too. After telling Bond, “Mommy’s been very bad,” he nods and adds, “Mmmm?” It’s a moment that demonstrates Silva’s mental state, while also giving the audience a laugh. And in the film’s final act, when Bond and a Silva henchman go toppling into a frozen lake, Silva lets out a humorous sigh of, “You have to be kidding me.”
Of course, the film’s funniest moment comes during the first encounter between Bond and Silva, soon after Silva’s delivery of “Mmmm?” Bond makes the comment that, “She (M) never tied me to a chair,” and Silva makes a not-so-subtle sexual advance, while feeling his thighs.
“Well, first time for everything,” Silva says.
Bond replies, without skipping a beat, “Who said it’s my first time?”
Spectre
Cleese made his comment about the lack of humor when Spectre was in pre-production. There is no telling if this caused EON, the screenwriters, Mendes, or even Craig, to add more phsyical elements of humor to the story. But we certainly see them. Craig falls to a couch in the pre-title sequence. An airbag deploys, unexpectedly, on an old man who got caught in the middle of the Hinx-Bond car chase through Rome. And in a nice touch, Bond gives Lucia’s bodyguards a little nod and wave at the end of the funeral, a silent and humorous way of saying, “Yes, hello, I know you’re here, and I don’t care.”
Even Madeleine Swann gets in on the humor. As soon as she and Bond dispatch of Hinx, on board the train, she turns to Bondand says, “What should we do now?” Mendes immediately cuts to them, kissing, with Thomas Newman’s instrumental arrangement of “Writing’s on the Wall” blasting, in a rather tongue-in-cheek nod to romantic films of the past.
But the film’s best moments belong to Q, early in the film, when Bond has arrived to receive his smart blood injection. Upon arrival, Bond is given a new Omega watch. Bond asks Q, “Does it do anything?” Q says, “It tells the time.”And to top this, just moments later, Bond sees the DB5 that had been destroyed at Skyfall. Q’s response is perhaps the funniest bits during Craig’s tenure: “I believe I said to bring it back in one piece, not bring back one piece.”
Yes, indeed, humor is alive and well, even during the Craig era.