Napoleon Solo, on the other hand, is essentially inhuman in his absolute detachment from the world. If you read the reviews for the early Bond novels and films, critics were scandalized at how amoral and nihilistic and sadistic James Bond was. That's largely what made the movies popular, of course: It just felt more adult and "real" that a professional killer would be emotionally cold and unburdened by the weight of conscience.
Over the years, they've lost that aspect of Bond, though they try sometimes to reclaim it. Sure, Bond says "The bitch is dead" at the end of Casino Royale, but we also had this embarrassing exchange in Goldeneye:
GIRL: So there you are in your armor again.
BOND: It's what keeps me alive.
GIRL: It's what keeps you alone.
In fact, they returned to this armor metaphor in Casino Royale, having Bond tell Vesper that all his armor was now gone, and that he was absolutely naked to her and ready to fall in love.
Well, that didn't last long.
But anyway, while James Bond is often said to be amoral, the movies actually do spend a lot of time trying to "humanize" him. I suppose they have to. Hell, it's been 22 movies; you can't spend all that time with a total sociopath.
Hrm. Not entirely sure that even the Connery Dr. No Bond, thumping that extra bullet into an already-dying Professor Dent, was ever quite as much an heroic sociopath as Napoleon Solo was presented in UNCLE, but anyway. That got me thinking about my usual James Bond formulation, how Connery, Moore, and Brosnan all play Boring Invincible Superagent 007 and Lazenby, Dalton, and Craig play Actual Human Being James Bond, and actually what a total crock that theory is.
Because even in the Lazenby and Dalton films, Bond's humanity was presented as a weakness: in OHMSS, Bond is captured because he spends more time chasing tail than he does trying to figure out what Blofeld's up to. And then he falls in love For Realz and takes his eye off the ball and that causes him no end of emotional grief - or would have, if Lazenby and/or his agent hadn't been so short-sighted. The entire final act of The Living Daylights only happens because Bond gets too close to the girl he's supposed to be, ahem, pumping for information. And of course Licence to Kill is a case study in just how bad revenge and obsession can be, as Bond bolloxes up the plans of not one but two allied foreign intelligence services.
But since then, we've had eight films in a row where we've tortured Bond's psyche for the audience's entertainment, starting with making his friend and comrade the villain in GoldenEye and ending with making his friend and adopted brother the villain in Spectre. Bond's Feelz have suddenly become sources of Drama, not Weaknesses That Must Be Suppressed.
Anyway, back to the title of this post:
GoldenEye and Skyfall: the villain, a blond ex-MI6 agent, was betrayed by Britain in the past and wants revenge, which he shall achieve via The Power Of Hacking. Bond's relevance in the modern world is questioned at length, the answer ultimately being "yes, because $."
Tomorrow Never Dies and Quantum of Solace: Bond in mourning. Bond Out For Revenge. The most "pure" action film of the lot. Bond Girl murdered and left on a hotel bed. Villain is physically weak but politically well-connected. The only one of the era that withstands repeated viewings, sadly overlooked in favor of its flashier siblings.
The World is Not Enough and Casino Royale: references to OHMSS. Bond develops Genuine Feelings for the girl with the most screen time, but she turns out to be evil and ends up dying.
Die Another Day and Spectre: Retro nostalgia tour. Over-the-top villainy. Bond brutally tortured, shrugs it off, demonstrates heretofore unmentioned ability to stop and restart his heart/ignore severe brain damage. Gets in a car chase where his Aston's special features malfunction.
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