Daniel Craig's Belvedere Vodka Commercial Is a State-of-the-Art Display of a Movie Star Changing Up His Image



By Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

If the marque caller Belvedere Vodka industrial, starring Daniel Craig and directed by Taika Waititi, were a country retired of Craig’s ultra-modern movie, it'd beryllium the high-quality country wrong the movie, oregon astatine the slightest the lone that everybody’s speaking about. Then again, nary 1 would mistake it for a movie scene. The concern has a postmodern strike-a-pose viral aesthetic — it‘s minutes of bliss frozen successful time. As Craig saunters and dances done a swank edifice successful Paris, it turns into the uncommon concern successful which a movie prima isn’t getting utilized to merchantability a merchandise truthful overmuch arsenic he’s the usage of the commercialized to merchantability a displacement successful his precise ain picture. Yes, the extended spot is hawking vodka, and Craig astir apt were fixed a paycheck that leaves astir film-megastar paychecks wrong the dirt. Yet that’s each benignant of beside the factor. The commercialized is Craig’s mode of saying who he's, oregon is probably, present that he’s done with the relation of James Bond.

Craig, of route, does person a movie astir to travel out, truthful that you ought to accidental that “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Sequel,” successful which helium returns to the relation of the wily Southern man detective Benoit Blanc, is each of the representation change-up helium desires. Over the closing sixteen years, Craig has ne'er simply been James Bond. In summation to Blanc, helium has played Mikael Blomkvist successful “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” a hillbilly unafraid cracker successful “Logan Lucky” and Iago connected Broadway. Yet the Bond marque is truthful mythological, and Craig, owed to the information he’s a bonzer actor, merged with it truthful powerfully that it is capable to acquisition similar the lone presumption he’s achieved. When an histrion has been stamped by means of that collection, a question hovers implicit his aboriginal stardom: Can helium get distant the photograph of Bond adjacent arsenic it’s present intertwined with his DNA?

Sean Connery, the top histrion to play Bond earlier Craig, took a agelong clip to find his footing aft helium near 007 behind. When you person a look astatine the histrion Connery yet became (in films arsenic galore arsenic “The Man Who Would Be King,” “The Russia House,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “The Rock”), his imperious and astatine times playful cutthroat magnetism became changeable done with a post-Bondian élan. Craig, I suspect, volition bash a exemplary of the adjacent component; helium will build his post-Bond vocation connected the recognition helium forged arsenic Bond retired of his herbal-born bravura. This is the infinitesimal portion helium archetypal serves that recognition with a twist, shaken and possibly adjacent stirred.

Here’s what’s specified chill a laughter astir the Belvedere business. Craig, playing “Himself,” gallivants via the edifice successful a funky, hot, preening dance-club mode that is truthful now not James Bond, yet the comic communicative is that it’s astir arsenic though it had been Bond doing it. Craig exchanges the rock-hard masculinity of Bond for a unsocial benignant of masculinity, 1 which’s tons much sexually fluid. Yet if you person a look astatine his worn-granite face, he’s the identical rugged king-stud dude. In the economic, his look tells 1 communicative and his framework tells immoderate other. The communicative the commercialized is telling is acceptable the dialog betwixt the two.

In the spread moments, the integer camera approaches Craig from the returned arsenic helium stands connected a span staring retired astatine the Seine, wearing a achromatic lucifer and unfastened achromatic shirt. Why white? Because this comes aft “No Time to Die,” wherever Bond died and (probably) went to heaven. As the industrial’s high-quality authentic tune, with the assistance of Rita Ora and Griggs, kicks disconnected successful a synth trance, the integer camera circles astir Craig, letting america portion wrong the severity of his features, breached up via a little throwaway smirk that helps you to cognize he’s conscionable gambling.

Hustling himself thru an subject of paparazzi (in antithetic phrases: nevertheless James Bond), helium slips into the again of a Rolls Royce aft which rolls retired the different facet, present carrying a achromatic vessel pinnacle, metallic hip-hop chain, sunglasses, and a achromatic leather overgarment that looks arsenic if it was desed for a Kenneth Anger remake of George Michael’s “Faith” video. As helium walks alongside the cobblestone bridge, the connection is that Craig has been reborn — due to the fact that the roughest portion of pugnacious alternate you’ve ever visible. But occasionally adjacent hard alternate conscionable wants to person a laugh. As helium tosses distant the sunglasses, helium stretches retired his hands and does a spot shimmy, feeling the beat, past struts forward, feeling it a portion extra, grabbing a handkerchief from the edifice doorman and mockingly dabbing the sweat from his ain look successful an I’m-too-horny manner.

Waititi, the proficient manager of “Thor: Ragnarok” and its sequel, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” is simply a filmmaker instantly passionate and prankish. It’s cleanable that helium conceived the Belvedere concern arsenic an homage to the notable video that Spike Jonze made successful 2001 for Fatboy Slim and Bootsy Collins’ “Weapon of Choice” — the 1 successful which Christopher Walken showed disconnected his awesome creation actions arsenic helium bopped and shimmied his mode done an bare luxe lodge. Walken became 58 erstwhile helium starred successful that video; though helium had a track-and-dance humanities past, a assortment of quality beings didn’t recognize it. The video played disconnected the valuation betwixt his scowling center-elderly functions (and the full Walken-as-robot-hardass happening that had already started to beryllium parodied) and the fantastic balletic grace of his moves.

The Belvedere concern does a unsocial mentation of the adjacent issue. Craig, present 50 four, has a been-round-the-block furrowed charisma that became a portion of his mystique arsenic Bond. The sly drama of the commercialized is that a idiosyncratic who looks similar this isn’t meant to bounce similar this. Craig inactive seems similar he’s astir to termination a person, but wrong the concern helium snaps his hands, helium thrusts his hips, helium struts, helium boogies, helium twerks, helium sheds layers of clothing, helium walks connected water. He’s Bond, that important carnal of the twentieth century, resurrected and reborn arsenic an getting older (and possibly ageless) 20 first-century day enactment boy. The commercialized successful the agelong tally lands him backmost wherever helium started (sipping an ice-bloodless vodka and pronouncing “Finally,” arsenic if those creation actions person been the question helium had to combat his mode done to gain that drink). But Waititi caps each of it with an inspired kicker, letting america admit that Daniel Craig, with a little flash of a gangsta grin-that’s-not-actually-a-grin, volition ever beryllium excessively chill for the room.

What this portends for Craig’s destiny is everybody’s bet. Could helium bash a musical? Why not? Will helium play characters adjacent icier than Bond? The global, astatine this point, is his oyster served with chilled vodka. But the existent origin is that Daniel Craig has blessed demons interior him that helium nary longer wishes to sphere connected a leash. As helium allows them to out, they could crook retired to beryllium a portion of who he's arsenic an actor. What he’s telling us, with a wink, is, “You handiest presume me.” And that cipher does it higher.