In a culture of "silly" it is interesting to watch the Bond movies, from "Dr. No" to the current "Quantum of Solace" and see the degeneration of not just the character, but the idea of James Bond. Casino Royale brought back the "spirit" of Bond that Fleming idealized in his books, but then some of that was lost on Solace. The third movie in this trilogy will be interesting to see, and to see what direction the writers take Bond in this third "adventure". Although on Casino Royale M suggests Bond is a "blunt instrument". In the novels he is anything but a "blunt instrument". What is shameful is Hollywood's bastardizing of the Bond character that Ian Fleming gave us, but what is more appalling is that most of the public does not realize there is a Bond that lies outside the confines of those awful films, the worst of which I think had Roger Moore playing Bond. The literary Bond, the one that most people know nothing of, is the individual that anyone would want on their side when their ideals of "virtue" would be threatened. He's the "agent" that most of us never hear of on the news, never have any idea exists, and most people would shudder at what it is he does, but secretly are thankful that there is someone out there with the juevos to get the job done. In a world of willing-to-do-anything terrorists, and willing-to-do-nothing-politicians, I think we can only hope there are individuals out there such as James Bond looking out for our interests. O43
