Despite reports yesterday suggesting Barbara Broccoli wants him to stick around beyond the as-yet-untitled James Bond 25, Craig indicated back when he confirmed his comeback that the upcoming film would be his last in the role. This means the pressure is on: as highlighted by a fan on Reddit, he’s up against the odds to create a film that sends him out on a high.
Historically, a Bond actor’s final movie is the worst-received one of their entire run.
Sean Connery initially bowed out with You Only Live Twice in 1967; which has an average critics’ score on Metacritic of 61 out of 100 – lower than all the film’s predecessors.
When he returned post-George Lazenby for his actual final Bond film, Diamonds are Forever, he fared even worse: that movie has a 59 score on Metacritic.
Roger Moore was no different: A View To A Kill is actually the worst-reviewed film of the entire 24-movie franchise; with a lowly 40 out of 100.
Timothy Dalton’s two outings fared fairly similarly, but the later one – Licence To Kill – was the worst-reviewed of the two – averaging 58 on Metacritic.
For Pierce Brosnan, Die Another Day isn’t quite the lowest-scoring film, though it is close: it has 56, marginally higher than Tomorrow Never Dies’ 52. But it’s still a relatively low score.
To date, Daniel Craig’s films have had mixed fortunes: Casino Royale scored 80, Quantum of Solace had 58, Skyfall 81 and Spectre 60.
So given his one-hit-one-miss pattern, does this mean the next movie is more likely to be a smash, and break the tradition?
It was Reddit user Ernst_Stavr0_Blofeld who pointed out the so-called curse; writing: “The Bond actors that have made four or more films generally don’t go out with a bang.
“I know that there are plenty of fans out there who love Connery, Moore, and Brosnan’s final films, but there’s no arguing that they are not considered gems of the series.
“Objectively, they are admittedly poor-to-average films that are at most a kinda fun way to kill a couple of hours.
“Will Daniel Craig break this curse and go out on a high? Personally, I think he will.”
They added: “I loved Spectre, but I don’t think it was too popular with mainstream audiences or half of the fandom.
“I’m sure the producers are aware of this, and will wind up continuing the pattern of odd numbered Craig films being hugely popular and even numbered entries gaining mixed reviews.”
We have another year to wait to find out how the movie goes down – it starts filming in March and will be in cinemas early next year.
Bond 25 is out on February 14, 2020.