Last weekend saw the release of Matthew Vaughn’s latest film Kingsman: The Secret Service. I was in love with this film for many reasons – it’s a Matthew Vaughn film, Colin Firth is kicking ass, Samuel L. Jackson has a lisp, the action was jaw-dropping at its best and exciting at its most formulaic, I admired the meta commentary on the state of the spy film, and I fantasize about my life becoming the plot of this film on a regular basis – but one thing that’s always intrigued me is that with this film, it’s like Matthew Vaughn is simply saying, “You don’t want me to direct a Bond film? Fine! I’ll make my own!” That’s happened a few other times in film history, so here is a roundup of some great non-Bond Bond films.
Inception (2010)
Much of the plot of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster takes place in a dream within a dream within a dream, but a friend of mine jokes that the film is a Bond film within a Bond film within a Bond film. Nolan has often talked about how much he loves the Bond films, and it shows with Inception. This film implemented several Bond film elements into itself with the exotic and varied locales, sharp suits and flashy dresses, gigantic action setpieces and secret espionage, this film was really a giant love letter to the Bond films signed by Nolan.
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) and OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009)
Before Jean Dujardin and Michel Hazanavicius won Oscars for their spirited take on the silent film with The Artist, they were bringing the same heartfelt enthusiasm and inventiveness to the Bond films with their sendups. One of the great things about the original Sean Connery Bond films is that most of them are absolutely ridiculous, and these films ride off that ludicrous energy. What elevates these parodies from the numerous crapholes that America gets each year like the Scary Movie franchise is that these films have nothing but love for the films they are riffing on, as opposed to contempt. While these films are making fun of the classic Bond films, they’re also really good examples of those films and I sincerely hope they make more.
Layer Cake (2004)
This film (also by Matthew Vaughn!) doesn’t bare the similarities to the other films on this list in that it doesn’t have a clear inspiration from the Bond films. What does make it belong here is that it was essentially one giant audition for the part of James Bond for its star Daniel Craig. Craig’s unnamed character was cool, collected and badass and Craig sold it the whole way through. When he dons a suit you found yourself going, “Yeah, this guy could easily do Bond.” This role went very far in establishing Craig as someone who could take on the Bond mantle.
xXx (2002)
This entire movie was designed to be an American Bond film in the hopes of replacing Bond as cinema’s most definitive superspy, so much so that they even have a suave English secret agent get killed in the first scene in an effort to establish that Bond cannot survive in this world. Call in Vin Diesel as extreme badass Xander Cage, he’s the only man who for the job! This movie did not achieve the desired effect despite this scene actually existing, as this supposed franchise killed itself with a crappy Ice Cube sequel. It turns out that Bond, like Duffman, can never die – only the actors who play him.
