Daniel Craig’s James Bond famously used fewer gadgets and gizmos during his era of 007, but at least the devices he used were fiercely practical.
Daniel Craig famously used few gadgets during his James Bond tenure, but they were nothing if not practical. The first few Bond movie adventures starring Sean Connery set a specific formula for the series; each outing would feature exotic locations, outlandish villains and huge action sequences. Another trope were the gadgets Q branch would supply 007 before he embarked on a given mission. This quickly evolved from somewhat grounded gizmos like bug detectors before Bond was being given jetpacks or exploding wrist darts.
These became such a feature that by the Roger Moore Bond era, he was being given spy cameras embossed with his own code number. Easily the most infamous gadget was Pierce Brosnan’s invisible car from Die Another Day, which also made the series feel badly outdated. The Daniel Craig Bond films acted as a tonal reset of the property, and thus got rid of the sillier elements, including the gadgets. That’s not to say he shunned them, though Craig’s gizmos always served a more realistic purpose.
Portable Defibrillator (Casino Royale)
Perfectly emphasizing the practicality of Craig’s run, one of the only gadgets the spy is given in Casino Royale is a small, portable defibrillator in his Aston Martin. After he’s poisoned by Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre during their card game at the titular casino, Bond has to race back to his car for a medical emergency. He passes out before being able to hook up the defibrillator, though luckily for him, Eva Green’s Vesper finds him in time and restarts his heart with the device.
Sony Ericsson C902 (Quantum Of Solace)
Sony has never been above a little product placement, with the Sony Ericsson C902 in the misunderstood Bond Quantum Of Solace being an excellent example. In addition to the typical uses for a mobile phone, 007’s version came with a facial recognition scanner tied directly to MI6. So when he takes photos of various members of Quantum during an opera performance, their identities and details are almost instantly available to MI6. While it may have had more fun features in the Brosnan era like a taser or hacking device, Quantum Of Solace doesn’t do much else with it.
Walther PPK With Palm-Printer Scanner (Skyfall)
Skyfall was the first Craig film to introduce Q, with Ben Whishaw inheriting the part. Q and Bond get off to something of a frosty start, though a grudging mutual respect later forms between them. In their first meeting at The National Portrait Gallery, Q hands Bond his signature Walter PPK, but with an upgrade. This version comes with a palm print scanner, making 007 the only one capable of firing it. This comes in useful when a henchman tries and fails to fire on him with the pistol, though Bond himself never ends up shooting it either.
Radio Transmitter (Skyfall)
Bond famously laments the lack of decent gadgets Q hands over in Skyfall, dismissing them with the quip “A gun and a radio. It’s not exactly Christmas, is it?” While Q makes a crack about “exploding pens,” it’s true that both his devices come in very useful. The palm print scanner saves 007’s life, while the radio is able to lead MI6 to Silva’s (Javier Bardem) lair.
Exploding Omega Watch (Spectre)
Watches with laser beams or cutting tools used to be common during Moore’s run, with Spectre from 2015 adding a few Moore-inspired flourishes to Craig’s Bond. This includes his Omega wristwatch, which comes with a small explosive inside. Again, this saves his skin whilst being tortured by Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld, with the watch blowing up a console.
EMP Wristwatch (No Time To Die)
Another wristwatch gadget for Bond in No Time To Die, which dispenses an electromagnetic pulse that disables electric devices. It comes in particularly useful during the finale, where Craig’s 007 gets into a brutal fight with henchman Primo. The latter has a bionic eye, so as a killing move, Bond activates the EMP and fries the eye, killing Primo by – as 007 puts it to Q – “blowing” his mind.
Daniel Craig’s Favorite James Bond Gadget
In an almost hilariously curt video with GQ, Craig ran through some fan questions, including one asking what his favorite James Bond gadget was. Craig claimed to “love” the gizmos, but that they had to make sense from a story perspective. He also claimed Connery’s Safe Cracking device from You Only Live Twice – which changed the novel – was his personal favorite, as it wasn’t exactly clear how it worked but it was good for opening doors or “blowing things up.”
