2. Finally, A Grittier Bond
If you look hard enough on the web you can find a rare video from the Los Angeles, CA premiere of License to Kill where actor Anthony Zerbe, who played Milton Krest in License to Kill, is discussing the darker grittiness Dalton had begun to establish with the character of James Bond by the end of the 80s. He went onto say he could see Timothy being a Bond of the 90s in which 007 maintains that rich, darker feel throughout. My oh my did that train ever come off the tracks by the late 90s. Oh what could have been. Had Dalton been able to play Bond for a third time, one can assume the same flavor he had translated from the literary novels to the silver screen would have continued. I realize there were some definite naysayers at the time who felt he wasn't having enough fun in the role, i.e. not enough jokes or winking at the camera like his predecessor did. Well, that's not the point here. Audiences needed time to warm up to his version of Bond, not to mention the idea of a James Bond who isn't necessarily about the one-liners or just bedding women all the time. Instead, by leaving the part about a year before GoldenEye commenced shooting, it derailed any opportunity for the iconic character of 007 to continue that gritty feel for the remainder of the 90s. Little by little the Brosnan's Bond films became less serious and more hokey by default. Some if it you can certainly blame on poor scripts, but I also think if you want a serious, brooding, believable James Bond, then the actor playing the role needs to have that kind of acting range in their repertoire. Case in point, Dalton had that zeal and Brosnan did not. It's taken Daniel Craig's popularity as 007 for many to look back on Dalton's short time-frame as James Bond with much higher praise. Imagine a parallel universe where Dalton had the role until 2002, and then Craig took over with a series reboot in 2006? Something to think about, indeed. Which leads me to my final reason GoldenEye could have been better with Dalton in the role....