Idris Elba has long been the popular choice for the next 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:James Bond. Personally, I think that ship has sailed. Had Daniel Craig walked away after Skyfall, or even Spectre, as he had alluded to - after Spectre he said he'd rather cut himself with broken glass than play Bond again, then the window might have been open. But Elba is 51, and with Craig considering himself too old at 53 when he finally stepped down after No Time To Die, he doesn't suit the fresh new direction the producers have talked up repeatedly.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson, Richard Madden, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Daniel Kaluyya, or Damson Idris (no relation, despite some British newspapers making that mistake) feel like much better picks. But if you're curious what Elba's take on Bond might have been like, look no further than 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
When I first met Solomon Reed, Elba's character in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077, I was unmoved. I had become used to Keanu Reeves' over-the-top, balls to the wall portrayal of Johnny Silverhand, where every line was barked with tenacity and dialled up to 11. Elba's take on Reed is slower, gritty, more understated. It could have easily just been Luther again, beaten down and weary but filled with righteous anger. That would fit Reed's story and the tone of the game, but instead Elba takes it somewhere fresh, and it might have been where he took Bond, given the chance.
It's a dirtier portrayal than we may be used to from Craig's and certainly Brosnan's Bond. It's closer to Connery's original interpretation. Many commentators said Elba would have been a more 'urban' Bond, which seemed to be unsubtle code for 'he's too Black'. Damson Idris will likely have to weather similar naysayers if he becomes a serious front-runner. But undoubtedly Elba's gravel tones and the fact he is rarely spotted without his stubble would suggest he would have been a grittier, tougher Bond than the smooth talk of Craig or the pretty boy charm of Brosnan. Elba would have been tough, impenetrable, always two steps ahead but happy to break doors or noses to get that third step.
Reed is an undercover agent in Phantom Liberty, one who has been treated poorly by the country he has loyally served. Betrayed and left to rot, Reed is pulled back in first by personal pride and a desire to help his friend - but once he is back in the saddle his horse is spurred on not by justice, loyalty, or anything else so soft and objective. Only the cold hard steel of duty. You take out the 'chooms' and the 'gonks' and swap the talk of cybernetic implants for service in the war or covert operations in Hungary, and Reed could be mistaken for Bond. He's an agent going it alone, called in when the situation requires extreme solutions but never fully trusted.
There's a scratch to Reed's lines that channel the exact sort of Bond Elba would have been. His curse was that he was at his peak at the wrong time - Craig's Bond began life as a natural continuation of Brosnan's as a well to do scoundrel, but as the films went on, driven by both the sensibilities of modern audiences and Craig's increasing public disdain for the role, Bond became more grounded, tougher - less a skilful, stealthy lone wolf and more a feral dog fighting for his life.
The bulk and punch Elba would have brought to the role would have been perfect after Brosnan, but feels too similar to Craig. The foppishness of Dickinson or the more relaxed charisma of Kaluuya would mark a new Bond, rather than 'Craig quit but we still wrote this movie for him and just recast the part'.
No Time To Die marked a definitive ending for Craig's Bond and, probably, that style of character. Modern trends dictated we wanted gritty in the late '00s, but in the early '20s, Bond will likely to go heavy on the choreography a la 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:John Wick 🌠or belatedly embrace superhero cinema and gi🐲ve us a younger, quippy iteration. The window for Elba has closed.
But for Elba fans, well, you were probably going to get Phantom Liberty anyway if you consider yourself an Idris Elba fan and also read a website called TheGamer in your spare time. But when you're playing it, pay especially close attention to Reed's story arc and his delivery. It's probably the closest you'll get to Idris Elba as James Bond.