Sky Atlantic
The second instalment of Fleming goes all out Bond this week as Dominic Cooper appears to be doing an hour long audition to replace Daniel Craig when his tenure as 007 ends.
Exciting though Fleming’s life undoubtedly was, you can’t help wondering how much they’ve pimped it up to bring it up to par with his most famous creation. This episode has all the hallmarks of a classic Bond film in the first few minutes. An exotic location, a high stakes card game, sex and murder.
Where do we go from here? Well Fleming must fight his way through some incredibly shonky CGI to rescue some important documents before the Nazi’s seize France. Somehow, it’s all a bit boring until Fleming returns back to Blighty and we discover the basis for another Bond archetype. The Bond Girl. Muriel ‘Moo’ Wright is caught up in a Nazi air raid and is found by Fleming, just as Bond will find Bond girl after Bond girl in novels to come.
Perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of this episode if is Fleming’s inability to deal with Moo’s death in a healthy way. Instead, taking his violent sexual urges out on Ann O’Neill in scenes that are less erotic as they are a tragic glimpse into the fractured psyche of Fleming. James Bond certainly swept a lot of women off their feet but it was always consensual.
No Comments