Kristian Mercer

Heroes, Revisited

This afternoon Mr. Mercer treated me to the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale. Now I was a bit skeptical about the new 007, Daniel Craig. I was a huge fan of Pierce Brosnan in his Remington Steele days, and when he was finally promoted to Bond, I thought the casting was finally perfect.

But I have to admit, I was totally won over by Craig's interpretation. Oh, his Bond played by the character handbook: he was cool under fire, and determined to bring down the bad guy, and - of course - he got the girl(s). But there was something more to this 007. There was something real to his intensity, something gritty. Something (with apologies to Pierce Brosnan) far more believable about Daniel Craig.

And - warning, spoiler here! - when this Bond promised to give up his career as a spy because he had fallen in love, because he wanted to give what remained of his soul to this one woman, there wasn't anything slick or rehearsed about it. You didn't think, yeah, whatever, he'll be on to the next girl tomorrow. You thought - yeah, he really means it.

What is it about these dangerous men?

Perhaps it's simply the fact that they are dangerous. There are several excellent essays devoted to this topic in Jayne Ann Krentz's Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, among them Anne Stuart's "Legends of Seductive Elegance." Stuart writes:

"Deep in my heart I want more than just a man. I want a fallen angel, someone who would rather reign in hell than serve in heaven, a creature of light and darkness, good and evil, love and hate. A creature of life and death."

That pretty much sums up Daniel Craig's Bond. And it strikes to the heart of the fantasy: this is the ultimate alpha hero, the rake reformed, the bad boy brought to heel by the love of a good woman. This is the hero who has his roots in Jane Eyre's Rochester, in Catherine's Heathcliff, even - as Stuart referenced above - in Lucifer from Milton's Paradise Lost. At his very darkest, this is the vampire - the lover that brings death. His danger is his appeal - that's what makes him so attractive.

Oooooh. Even now it makes me shiver - and not in a bad way.