With Daniel Craig’s tenure as the British super-spy coming to a close with the 25th entry in the film franchise, what better time to re-visit the franchise’s previous entries? On re-watching, you might notice that every actor that’s tackled the character in the past has a different approach. These approaches are so different, it might tempt an individual to allocate Moral Alignments to each interpretation.
Some might say, James Bond, a serial womanizer, and badass secret agent, donning a Dungeon Masters robes over his tuxedo and getting ready to roll some dice, is an amusing image. And it is, so instead let’s imagine each interpretation as a player character and do exactly what the article title suggests, let’s assign some moral alignments.
Sean Connery - Chaotic Good
The first actor to take on the role of 007, his interpretation of the super spy differed with the character presented in the original books. In an interview with Oriana Fallaci in 1965, Connery admitted his one problem with the original, saying “there was no humor about him” and going on to explain that his one condition in accepting the role was that the studio would let him play Bond as more tongue-in-cheek.
The differences made from the source material by Connery have shaped the movie version of the character into the icon of cinema it is now, and made a ripple effect on the character’s actions throughout his era of the films. Connery’s Bond is promiscuous and cold-blooded, he has an amoral attitude to carrying out his missions and seems to thrive in conflict. He’s the original action-over-planning version of Bond, a total Chaotic Good.
David Niven - Lawful Good
Interestingly enough, David Niven was Ian Flemming’s choice to portray James Bond over Sean Connery. Flemming had a vision of a suave actor playing the role, and when Connery was cast by Eon Pictures, Columbia Pictures cast Flemming’s reflection of the character in David Niven. He only played the character named Sir James Bond once in 1967’s Casino Royal and very much stuck to Flemming’s vision for the character.
Aged 56 when he took on the role, Niven played Bond as a Victoria Cross winning father close to retirement and far more traditional that his Connery counterpart. The film even implies that the name James Bond and the designation 007 were passed down to another agent after Niven’s version, supporting a popular internet fan theory. Niven’s Bond is a patriot following orders without question, clearly Lawful Good.
George Lazenby - Lawful Neutral
Another actor who only got one chance at being 007, George Lazenby starred in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. When Lazenby was brought into Eon Pictures for a screen test, he accidentally punched the stunt coordinator, who also happened to be a professional wrestler, in the face. This impressed producer Albert R. Broccoli with what he perceived as a talent for aggression, who cast him on the spot.
Lazenby never signed a contract due to negotiations overlapping with the production of his first and only outing and his decision to leave the role due to the fear that Bond wouldn’t be accepted in the culturally emancipated 1970s. Lazenby’s Bond was excepted as being a more no-nonsense, and less sexy-sinister Bond than Connery, and actually succeeded in preparing the character for the coming era, embracing the Lawful Neutral.
Roger Moore - Neutral Good
Playing Bond from 1972 to 1985, Roger Moore was initially discussed as a replacement for Connery in 1969 but was ultimately unavailable. He had previously played charming playboys similar to Bond during his career on television, after seeing Moore’s previous work Tom Mankiewicz, screenwriter of Live and Let Die, reworked the script to accommodate Moore’s wittier take on the character.
Moore’s Bond had a Clint Eastwood-esque Smith and Wesson 44. Magnum in his holster and a flair for innuendo designed to offset the inherent ridiculousness of a spy that everyone knew was a spy. This went to almost satirical lengths as Moore’s tenure went on, making his films a verge on the goofy side, and presenting his Bond as more of a Neutral Good.
Timothy Dalton - True Neutral
When Roger Moore finally retired the hunt was on for a new Bond with many throwing their hat in the ring including Jurassic Park’s own Sam Neill and Pierce Brosnan. When Broccoli dismissed Sam Neill, and Brosnan’s schedule crossed him out, the producers settled on Timothy Dalton. As a classically trained Shakespearean actor, Dalton had a desire to portray his version of the character as close to that of the books as possible.
Wanting to be so close he had even turned the role down a few years earlier because he believed himself to young. The result was a darker Bond, stern and ruthless, he omitted the sense of humor created by other actors and toned down the promiscuity. Dalton’s Bond took his job seriously and understood the ramifications of his actions, something that wasn’t always popular with audiences, and lands his Bond as a True Neutral.
Pierce Brosnan - Chaotic Good
Brosnan didn’t have much opposition when it became his turn to audition for the role, due to his previous attempt being thwarted by contract obligations for Remington Steele. This worked in Brosnan’s favor, however, as while playing Steele he displayed many of the characteristics previous actors had made synonymous with Bond. It also helped that Brosnan’s wife, Cassandra Harris, was playing a role in For Your Eyes Only, and a set visit resulted in Brosnan having many lunches with producer, Brocolli.
The audience’s attitudes had changed, and so too did James Bond. In 1995’s Goldeneye, Brosnan’s first outing, M scolds Bond for being a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War” and the resulting more entertainment-value orientated Bond saw Brosnan as what many consider the quintessential Bond. He was also the first Bond not to smoke by Brosnan’s request. He brought back the humor and relished a little more in the spectacle, making this Bond another Chaotic Good.
Daniel Craig - Chaotic Neutral
Arguably the most chaotic of the Bonds, definitely the bloodiest, and at times a little hard to describe as the “good-guy.” Daniel Graig was cast in 2005, arriving at a producers press conference in a tuxedo aboard a Royal Navy speedboat. Most likely chosen for the role because of his previous work in action films such as Layer Cake, Craig was a Bond for the 21st century being grittier and more violent, even depicting James Bond bleeding for the first time in the series.
Craig’s version of Bond is more of a sensationalist brawler, depicted as though he got into the job for the kicks violence gave him and excelled because he was good at it clearly caring less about the ends and more about the means, something that frustrates his M, played by Dame Judi Dench. While a side effect of Graig’s Bond is a perceived patriotism, really he’s just waiting for someone to give him a reason to kick-off as a true Chaotic Neutral should.
