James Bond at the Beginning--and Possible End--of the Age of the Action Movie

Few these days seem to remember why the James Bond movies became a fixture of the pop cultural landscape. This was not because they invented the cinematic spy. (What they did in that regard was already so overfamiliar that some watching the first Bond movies thought they were parodies.) Rather it was the Bond films' invention of the high-concept action-adventure franchise film--the series pioneering the way such films are put together, and marketed.

Of course, others learned to do those things in time (very slowly, as George Lucas' difficulties selling the studio bosses on Star Wars show), and the form has since become ubiquitous. The result is that the Bond films that had been a model of how to "put together an action movie, put together a franchise" became a model of how to "keep pointless sequels coming after the franchise has stopped being relevant," with others paying more attention as the imitators aged (as one is reminded looking at what Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy has had to say about the franchise she runs).

Still, it seems to me that that game might be approaching its end in these days when we can hear above the din of the ever-present claquing the cry "Superhero fatigue!" that is itself part of the broader "Action movie fatigue!" and "Franchise fatigue!" all too evident over the summer of 2023, in which "Spy-fi fatigue!" has been a significant element. (Just look at how, besides the declining salience of James Bond for the young, the Fast and Furious and Mission: Impossible franchises both had flops this past half-year.)

It is thus a rather inauspicious time to think about "making more Bond movies"--one reason why the producers are apparently taking their time, though I think another way of thinking about the issue would be to say Bond 26 is stuck in development hell, and people will realize it as the years continue to go by without any new film. Already we have hints that the next Bond film might not arrive until 2027 or 2028--and I think there is a good chance that in 2028 people will still wonder if there is ever going to be a new movie. After all, the idea is not just to create something new, but something that will be appealing to the public, and that in a way that will once more enable a routine output of colossal hits--in a moment in which the era of the kind of film the Bond movies pioneered has passed.

Fundamental reinvention that would give the series sustained, blockbuster-level success a second time is probably too much to ask of any franchise in even the best of times--and these show every evidence of being far from that.