To fully appreciate how much the Daniel Craig era rocked the Bond franchise to its core, one must watch (or at least skim some YouTube clips from) 2002’s “Die Another Day,” considered by many fans to be the nadir of the series. A live-action cartoon that plays more like the parodies that Bond inspired rather than a Bond movie itself, the film was a hit but also a dead end. It couldn’t go on like this.

The only option: a reboot. A clean slate. A new Bond actor, and a new tone, one that borrowed from other recent hits like “The Bourne Identity” and “Batman Begins.” The result is a series of films that is often remarkable, sometimes frustrating, and entirely worth of study. Character-driven. Down-to-earth. Hard-hitting. Often deeply tragic. The Daniel Craig Bond Era:

• “Casino Royale” (2006)
• “Quantum of Solace” (2008)
• “Skyfall” (2012)
• “Spectre” (2015)
• “No Time to Die” (2021)

And beyond the tonal shift, and the more human Bond, there’s one thing that truly separates this era from the runs captained by Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan.