The new James Bond movie needs cool gadgets like GoldenEye again

Now that we’re approaching two years since the Daniel Craig era of James Bond definitively ended in You have no choice but to live., it likely won’t be long before fervent conversations about his replacement begin in earnest. I reply: No one cares. They’ll probably pick someone good, like Bad Bunny. They might pick someone who is good, such as Bad Bunny. Or they could choose one of the Impractical Jokers. Right now, I just want one thing for Bond, something that Craig’s Bond was never really able to enjoy: sick gadgets.

This was sparked by the recent rerelease of the Nintendo 64 classic game GoldenEye 007Recently, I rewatched Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond movies and was struck by how many gadgets Bond had. Bond would get a few cool gadgets at key moments.

GoldenEye, the laser watch steals the show (and is great fun in the game), and an exploding pen is practically a character in the film’s climax. This is In Tomorrow Never DiesBond receives a phone with both a stun gun, and remote control for the car. Bond gets a cell phone that is both a stun gun and a remote control for his car. The World is Not Enough There’s a cane gun and explosive glasses. And, hilariously, there’s a suit to survive avalanches, which inflates into an ephemeral dome. The more you learn about these gadgets, the better. Die Another Day, the better — if you haven’t seen the film, they’re some of the goofiest surprises in Bond history.

The Craig era of Bond has been a rather serious one — not without wit, but definitely more reflexive. Each film was made by people who felt the need to somehow comment on Bond’s very relevance, with severe plots to match their existential angst. With concerns like these, it’s hard to make a case for belt grappling hooks or bagpipe flamethrowers, the target of a joke in Skyfall when Q (Ben Whishaw, ironically an excellent choice for the franchise’s master of gizmos) says they’re not really in the exploding pen business these days.

Why not? While Bond films don’t really Not required gadgets to engage with the franchIt ise’s recurring theme of an empire’s dying grasp at relevance in the guise of arguably the most patriarchal hero in pop culture, their frivolity does add something. Because Bond, in any serious, modern consideration, is a silly idea — a super-spy to whom access to anything (luxury, government secrets, sex) is never denied, with entitlement as his superpower.

Give that man absurd means of accomplishing that mission — exploding accessories, comic-book grappling hooks, silly vehicles — and that absurdity seeps into the character’s mystique. Because Bond isIt is a fantasy world, so the only concession that the character needs to be successful in future eras is acknowledging it in the text. It is preferable to use gadgets.

Also, they’re just fun as hell to watch.