A New Year’s resolution for 007 films

.For Bond 23 make “This time it’s NOT personal!” the film’s unofficial slogan.

Since 1989, Bond films have 007 making his missions personal:

007 goes rogue after Felix Leiter gets his leg chewed off (Licence to Kill); 006 betrays 007 (GoldenEye), 007 seeks revenge; old girlfriend Paris Carver gets killed, 007 seeks revenge (Tomorrow Never Dies); Elektra King betrays 007, 007 seeks revenge (The World Is Not Enough); Miranda Frost betrays 007 and set him up, 007 seeks revenge (Die Another Day); Vesper Lynd betrays 007 (Casino Royale); Bond obsesses over Vesper’s death, becomes killing machine for most of the movie as he seeks revenge (Quantum of Solace).

Enough already. In Ian Fleming’s novels, Bond took Vesper’s death pretty hard at the end of Casino Royale. But by the time of Live And Let Die, the second novel, Bond seems pretty level headed. Vesper rates a passing mention in Goldfinger, the seventh novel, and is referenced in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Still, he didn’t obsess over Vesper for every waking moment (or close to it) as in Quantum of Solace.

OK, there were little moments of getting even in other 007 films (Bond kicking a killer’s car over the cliff in For Your Eyes Only), but they didn’t dominate the plot. Give it a rest, at least for one film.