Reply #40: You know, I just figured out the difference. It's who they deliver the lines to.

[jobycom]

I read your comments and thought "that's weird, Craig was hilarious as Bond." Not just one liners, but even just the way he held a glance, like the scene where he catches Le Chifre bluffing and Le Chifre tosses the cards on the table, or the way he laughed at the Swiss banker's overreaction to his joke about chocolates.

Then it occured to me. Craig is the first Bond, except maybe Dalton, who only jokes within the context of the story. Every other Bond tells their jokes and one-liners for the camera, for the audience, even when they say them to another character. Craig's Bond never breaks character, and only delivers his one-liners and jokes in the context of the story. They aren't scene-closers, either. Brosnan tells jokes over dead bodies, then walks away. Craig tells jokes to another character, and the scene continues. "That last hand almost killed me," "Do I look like I give a damn?" "No, a little more to the right," "Now everyone will know you died scratching my balls..." These were all classic Bond one-liners, but Craig doesn't wink at the camera when he says them, and they don't always close out the scene. One of them turns sour as Le Chifre makes him realize that they won't kill him even if he kills Bond.

Just thought that was interesting.