Universal Exports: The James Bond Rewatch
Launching another ongoing project in which I revisit the cinematic exploits of my favorite British secret agent.
One of my great passions or interests or concerns in culture is the James Bond franchise. The Bond movies were something I grew up watching and contributed to my appreciation more broadly for action/espionage stories, my enjoyment of a great cocktail, and my love of men’s fashion. I think the way a lot of my peers feel about hard-boiled detective narratives (or specifically the Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe stories) is how I feel about these narratives of spy craft, especially James Bond. I’ve read just about all of the Ian Fleming novels too, so it’s not just about the movies, and that’s led me to be interested in other works about secret agents. While I certainly enjoy a good private eye movie or piece of pulp fiction or film noir, those worlds did not interest me as much as the narratives of Fleming and John Le Carré and the like.
The Bond franchise has come up in my writing here as I’ve covered the films in a couple of pieces:
I’ve been thinking about the whole franchise of late, for some reason. Perhaps it’s because of the exciting news that Denis Villeneuve has been named as the next director of the 26th Bond film. Having someone like Villeneuve. who was about as good of a pick to helm the next entry of the franchise as you could imagine (short of Christopher Nolan), makes the potential for Bond seem quite exciting in a way that it hadn’t felt since immediately after Skyfall (a film that is, in addition to being my favorite Bond films, one of my all-time favorites). Villeneuve’s track record (with a franchise like Dune, with an action thriller like Sicario, and with something more challenging like Arrival) makes him, in my mind, a really ideal choice to helm the next Bond movie. Edward Berger, who directed 2024’s Conclave, was an intriguing potential choice, but getting Villeneuve was remarkable and shows there’s still some importance derived from the Bond franchise.
I’ve been re-reading (or re-listening, since they’re audiobooks) those Fleming novels. As I revisit the Bond films, I thought it might be fun to turn that into another ongoing series here (rather than, you know, finishing my Mad Men re-watch, which I will be picking up again soon). On Letterboxd, I made a list in which I ranked the Bond films (starting with Skyfall and then making my way throughout the rest of the franchise).
Thus, I’m officially launching Universal Exports: The James Bond Rewatch. I’ll be going in chronological order starting with Dr. No, which I’ll be writing about soon. Just assorted thoughts, things I noticed or particularly enjoyed or thought were worth noting, I’m not really going for the same degree of strict structure as I did with the Mad Men rewatch.
So be on the lookout for that first piece covering Dr. No, as it should be coming up soon (and I’ll be getting back into my Mad Men series as well). Let me know in the comments if there are particular things you’d like me to focus on or address in my posts on each film—I don’t have a specific, determined idea as to what this will look like, so I’m happy to have guidance and suggestions as to what you all would like to see!