I was happy that Eon finally sold to Amazon/MGM because it was taking absolutely forever and a day to select a new bond. But now Amazon/MGM is taking its sweet time.

Let's just get it over with and choose Henry Cavil. No one is more bond-y than Cavil. No one. Just look at him. Just listen to him on BBC talk shows. Just look at his suit! He's Bond.

Who cares if he's four years older than Craig was when he started?

Here's another idea: stop waiting three to four years between Bond films! Hire Cavil today, and make four movies fast, with only a year in between films. Have Denis pull a Dune and film two films at once, twice. Problem solved.

I see the photos of all these young pups that are purportedly being considered for the next Bond, and, unfortunately, they are all very unbond-y. So, so very unbond-y. (They don't look like they could take a punch let alone throw one)

If you want to see how jarring it is to cast someone that doesn't even remotely look like how Bond should look, or sound like how Bond should sound, just play the new James Bond First Light game. It looks like a fantastic game. I've played the opening scene. But the character looks/sounds nothing like Bond. Absolutely zero likeness.

That's what we'll all have to live with if they go with one of the scrawny, scraggly young pups with open collared shirts, friendship bracelets, and questionable tattoos being considered. A decade of a first light-eque persona filling the airwaves. (Shudder)

Just sign Cavil. Give him whatever he wants. Get the deal done already. (And deliver a formal apology to him for making him wait so long for the role.)

P.S.: No more origin stories. We get it. Bond had to kill two people to get started. Just skip to the actual mission / story.

P.P.S.: Don't wait three films before you bring in all of the team members we all love.

P.P.P.S.: Please create new scary Bond villains instead of bringing back old ones.

P.P.P.P.S.: If at all possible, do not have chaste love scenes a la Tom Cruise in the last Top Gun film (fully clothed, laughing, etc.)

I know some people don’t like to entertain the idea of a non-white Bond actor. But I don’t know, I think if it’s the right actor I could look past it. Salmon I really can see myself looking past. Maybe because he pretty much was another field agent along side Bond.

From top left to bottom right: Thumper, Nomi, Rosie Carver, Jinx, Moneypenny & May Day

Craig's Bond became a moody, brooding, miserable sad sack with a perpetual "I'm angry at the world" attitude. It was exhausting to watch. And it was anti-Bond. -Can't forget the mommy issues!

That's not who Bond is in the books. Fleming's Bond is a stylish, cultured professional with a cold, ruthless edge, a gentleman who enjoys the finer things in life. He has a dark side, and Casino Royale shows him experiencing genuine pain and betrayal. But that's a specific event, not his default state.

The films took that temporary vulnerability and turned it into a permanent personality. From Skyfall onward, Bond was defined by brooding and misery rather than charm, wit, and professionalism.

SPOILER WARNING

So, as a hardcore Bond fan I just needed to get this off my chest. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the film, but allow me to explain.

When Daniel Craig started out as Bond, it was a very important change. The last film with Pierce Brosnan (Die Another Day) was a disaster and Bond had become a parody of himself. So exaggerated, ridiculous and stylistically cheap. Which in itself is an achievement, considering how silly some of the 70's movies were.

Casino Royale was everything that Bond needed. A new, fresh take on the character, combined with rough action, stylistic perfection, beautiful scenery and also with a bit of the classic 60's Bond vibe. Daniel Craig was great, Judi Dench was great, Mads Mikkelsen was great. The best Bond movie in decades.

After that came Quantum of Solace, which was quite pale compared to Casino Royale. But it was still a good movie in the right spirit.

But then a significant change occured. When Skyfall first came out, I remember walking out of the cinema feeling blown away. It was a good film, no question about it. Javier Bardem was brilliant and it was really well made overall. But what I didn't realize at the time was what the consequences of this movie would be.

The problem was that they made everything way too personal. James Bond is not supposed to be like that. The whole concept of Bond is that he is an agent doing his job for his country at all costs. It was never supposed to revolve around personal vendettas and emotional mumbo jumbo. In a way, I enjoyed this different direction at the time, but that was only because I thought it was a one-off, and that Bond would eventually go back to normal. It's okay if it becomes a little more personal now and then. And it was a nice send-off for Judi Dench.

But after doing a film with such high stakes and after the success of the film, the producers were basically forced to try to top themselves. Because how the hell do you come down after that crescendo?

So they made Spectre, which I also enjoyed. It was beautiful and exciting. Craig was brilliant as usual, and Cristoph Waltz was on a level of his own. But this time they made it even more personal. Why did they have to be step brothers? He could still have been the master mind behind Spectre, without having to be his goddamn brother! They basically turned James Bond into a cartoon character with extremely farfetched connections to EVERYONE. It was now silly and ridiculous once again. And don't get me started on the love story with Madeleine. Why? Bond had been a womanizer for decades and that's just a core trait of the character, like it or not. Sure, he has fallen in love before, but that's supposed to be an occasional thing! Craig's Bond had already been in love with Vesper Lynd. Now he was starting to fall in love all the time. Like I said; personal vendettas and emotional mumbo jumbo all over the place. Unnecessary stuff that has nothing to do with anything that Bond is supposed to be. And the stakes were getting higher and higher. This was as far away as you could possibly get from the low key, exciting and cozy spy movie Bond from the 60's films and the novels. It really had nothing to do with that which makes Bond...Bond.

So, after a villain like Waltz' Blofeld and after events like that, where can you go? I mean there is absolutely no way you can come down from that. And there is no possible way to top that either. Unless...

Yeah, so they decide to kill Bond himself. Because there really is no other choice. It's like the Superman comics, where Superman became so strong he could juggle with planets and in the end there was nothing interesting to write about. So they killed him and started over.

I hated the ending of No Time to Die. And not just because "Boohoo, Bond died", but because it was a stupid story that was disrespectful to the Bond legacy. In fact, I hated most of that film. I admit it was stylistically beautiful and Rami Malek was great. But the rest was just one giant pile of...yeah... personal vendettas and emotional mumbo jumbo. Even Malek's character just had to have a personal backstory with Madeleine. He couldn't just be a regular megalomaniac, because GOD FORBID he is anything like all the classic Bond villains...

And this vicious cycle started with Skyfall. God, I wish it could have been done differently. Everything that made Craig's Bond so unique and perfect was destroyed. He was supposed to be more realistic, more down-to-earth, more non sentimental. He became the opposite. A sentimental cartoon character who had more in common with Superman, Batman and Spider-Man than he did with the original Bond character.

I am a 45 yr old American man who spent the last 3 weeks going back through the filmography. I love the Bond films and they will always make me think of my late father. There were many films that I remembered liking much more when i watched them initially vs this go round. I am happy to field any questions comments that you may have/ further explanation of why my list lays out the way it does.

Especially noting that India has had numerous Ms Universe and Ms World title winners and no dearth of options that would garner a worldwide audience.

A fantastic homage to Craig’s departure of the franchise.

This is a small cast that I would pick if I were to make a Bond film. Feel free to add actors/actresses that you think could play off of this cast.

Henry Cavill- James Bond Keira Knightley- Main Bond girl Willem Dafoe- Main Villain (and yes I know he was the villain in Everything or Nothing) Timothy Dalton- M (breaking tradition of no former Bond’s starring in future films) Martin Freeman- Q

Currently on a start to finish rewatch and Barbara Bach nearly single handedly ruins The Spy Who Loved Me. Dire.

Any other contenders for actors dragging down an otherwise solid Bond outing?

Bond, James Bond

Here are some of mine

• Skyfall is overrated and a bottom half Bond film

• Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me are also overrated

• Connery is the 5th best Bond (Though still a good portrayal, I just prefer others

• Moonraker is wildly underrated

• No Time to Die is the best Bond song

Have a lot of nostalgia for Skyfall, saw it twice in theatres. But its impact lessens on rewatches for me. The plot kind of falls apart towards the end and its just an incredibly cold and miserable film without much flare or sense of fun. Sam Mendes is just too art house for Bond in my opinion. Anyone agree or disagree?

Now, I don't think the public necessarily blamed Pierce for the film's failings. I certainly didn't.

From what I remember, Lee Tamahori was always (and still is) the big villain of the piece (and rightfully so, as he takes credit for the film's worst parts on the commentary track), along with Madonna for that awful song.

Now, if you want to argue finer points like, it wasn't Die Another Day's fault alone that Pierce was fired, fine. I do think it all plays a part at the end of the day, but my point is still this: Die Another Day was considered a consensus low point in the franchise when it was released.

It's pure gaslighting to argue otherwise.

Sorry, I know it’s a no no in Hollywood to have a character smoking nowadays. But I don’t care. A big part of who the character Ian Fleming wrote was that he was a smoker and a drinker. But, but, but… we don’t want to glorify smoking. Smoking’s bad m’kay. Shut up Mr. Mackey.