Each time someone talks about a secret service agent or someone who fights for justice, your brain immediately pictures Daniel Craig. It is hard to find someone who can replace Craig as James Bond. James Bond has officially been the most famous franchise, and no man has aced the role with such grace and charisma as Craig. So, when he announced his retirement from Bond movies, he left not only fans but also critics wondering about his replacements. Chronologically, Bond was played by timeless actors like Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and from 2006 to 2021, Daniel Craig. Well, among all these men, the audience chose Craig to be the most suitable Bond.
Craig’s charisma and his screen presence have enchanted the audience for so long that Bond and Craig now seem to be synonymous. Bond is an epic character, he is both charming and intimidating, witty yet firm and professional, and he never seems to back down from cracking a joke. Undoubtedly, Craig had gracefully adopted all these and given us his insight into Bond, making him irresistible for the role. So, not seeing him as Bond any longer is deeply affecting the audience. While the world was looking for another suitable Bond, Craig stepped into the new role of Benoit Blanc.
Everything You Need To Know About Benoit Blanc
Benoit Blanc is a marvelous detective who is determined, surprisingly witty, and morally unbiased. “The Knives Out” presented us with Blanc, another detective who won the hearts of several audiences. It does not matter if you are a Sherlock Holmes fan; Blanc’s clever mind, ready wit, and meticulous nature are bound to win you over. In Knives Out, a wealthy family’s life goes topsy-turvy when they find Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), their father, a crime novelist, dead. He was found dead in his house a day after celebrating his 85th birthday. An anonymous person, who could not settle for accepting the death as suicide, hires detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to investigate. Blanc had to swim through the woven web of lies and whitebait of the highly dysfunctional Thrombey family to find out the truth. The precision with which Blanc investigates the case is highly appreciated.
In the new “Knives Out” movie, “Glass Onion,” Benoit has taken over a completely new case. The case takes him to Greece, and this case is nothing like what happened to the Thrombey family. This case is about a billionaire who throws a reunion party where a bunch of his escalated friends turn up. Unfortunately, one of them drops dead, and Blanc again tries to solve the mystery.
Why Compare Bond And Blanc?
Well, professionally, Bond and Blanc have different job roles. Bond is a spy thriller, and Blanc is the story of an enigmatic detective. However, their common workplace hazard is the web of lies, which they must both wipe out to reach the truth. They both fight for justice. Bond prevents the British Government from falling prey to villains, and Blanc prevents families from falling prey to someone’s murderous traps.Along with it, Bond and Blanc both have a few similar characteristics. Furthermore, Craig has aced Bond and is now stealing the show as Blanc. So, as the audiences are trying to swallow the hard pill of not having Craig as Bond any longer, they are going gaga over Blanc. However, we cannot deny we were surprised to hear Blanc’s southern, nasal voice over Bond’s smooth yet heavily accented British tone, which we were used to.
Bond Vs. Blanc
It will not be wrong to say that Blanc is a refined view of 007. While in Bond, we had evil villains planning to capture and rule the world, we have more human, multi-dimensional characters in “Knives Out.” Undoubtedly, Bond was straight out of novels with very little connection to practicality, while Blanc seems to be more personal and pragmatic. Bond films are action-packed with romance and visual spectacles that focus on political or government-level conflicts—issues that we are mostly unaware of. Knives out, on the other hand, create a maze of conflicts with high-end drama that, in turn, intellectually challenges the viewers.
Has Bond Overshadowed Blanc?
It is true that most of the time, we have not viewed Craig in any other role than Bond. The generation of viewers who began watching Bond after Craig started playing it might find it difficult to accept him in any other character. However, if instead of putting out the strong Bond, we have Bond and watch Craig perform Blanc, we would see the sorcery he performs. Daniel Craig is a phenomenal actor who has been typecast as Bond for the majority of his career. But his performance as Blanc is nothing like Bond as fundamentally, they are two different characters from two different film genres. At the same time, growing up with Bond movies, it is difficult to picture Craig as any other hero than Bond. It is us, the audience, who finds too hard to accept Craig as any other character, although the actor is not to be blamed. Craig has equally aced the character of Blanc, and if you have already watched “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” on Netflix, you might just have a favorite detective.
