Spoilers No Time to Die - Grading & Discussion

Craig: Bad oyster!

 

I didn't have much interest in seeing No Time to Die, even though I liked Spectre more than most (and certainly preferred it to Skyfall, which was equally dumb and self-serious, but much also much more treacly and self-satisfied). Indeed, I simply am not a Bond fan: I've seen the last nine movies, plus one or two others, and while some are pretty okay, I can't say I really enjoy any of them. When it comes to spy derring-do, I prefer the Mission: Impossible series, and in terms of action franchise flicks overall, I'll sooner go with a mid-tier MCU entry such as Doctor Strange or Guardians 1 (which I consider good, but not great) any day. And I was fine with Bond and Madeleine driving off into the night at the end of Spectre, even if I didn't buy their out-of-nowhere, chemistry-free romance for a moment, so, if it hadn't been a family outing to the movies, I would happily have skipped NTtD.

And, while the movie wasn't terrible, I found myself consistently unengaged by the goings-on. I get that it's still his Vesper trauma or whatever, but when Bond starts out the movie moronic enough to think there's any chance whatsoever he's been long-conned by Madeleine, instead of merely still targeted by the international criminal group run by his vengeful half-brother he was battling days before, it becomes impossible to care about him. Lashana Lynch's agent was credibly badass, but then the movie broke itself with Ana de Armas' character, because if a slim, novice field agent can fight as effectively as a 00, and then laugh off the death she's wrought, what's so special about a hulking, tormented brute like Bond?

Ergo, since I felt no involvement with the paper-thin Bond character or the absurd story (as others have pointed out, Rami Malek doesn't seem to have any motivation at all for the havoc he kinda threatens to inflict), I just waited, and waited, and waited, for the twists to be over and the movie to conclude. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't memorable, and I don't see myself returning to the Craig run down the line. Heck, maybe we can just be done with Bond in general?

No Time to Die: C+

As for that ending: it might have hit a lot harder had I not recently seen Hugh Jackman, Stephen Amell, and Robert Downey Jr. end their runs of playing iconic characters with similar finality. But, even though I went in not suspecting it at all, once it looked as though that was what they were doing, I just thought to myself, "sure, of course this is how it goes." The question is, can Harrison Ford's Indy possibly survive his next, presumably final (pre-Disney reboot) film?!

 

Got the Blu-ray for Christmas so now seen it three times and frankly it gets better with every viewing. For a film close to three hours in length I'm never bored, and rarely checking my watch. Yeah Safin should have been better, and it annoys me that they couldn't have given him a big more of a post Spectre agenda, not sure he really needs the money whoever was coming to buy the nanobots would pay him. I do like Malek's performance better now and certainly he's a better villain than Blofeld or Greene.

The first time the ending just left me shocked. On second and third viewings I may have had something in my eye It's Madeline's "I'm going to tell you a story..." line that gets me.

One thing is certain.

James Bond will return.

 

I just finished watching it - it was OKish, but not more than that for me. I like Craig as an actor, and I like him as Bond, but I haven't really enjoyed his movies much. I have all of the other films on dvd or blu-ray, but I find that I have no interest in owning his movies. Hearing all of the music cues from OHMSS just made me want to watch that film instead (of course OHMSS is my favorite Bond film). I really did enjoy the scenes with Ana de Armas, I know that EON doesn't want to do any spinoffs but I would love a Paloma spinoff.

 

So there IS going to be a James Bond-derived series on Amazon.

The twist? It’s a reality/competition show https://www.thewrap.com/james-bond-competition-series-prime-video/

 

Been in the works for 4 years so does it predate Amazon's interest in MGM?

 

Also they won the best original song Oscar, that's three in a row now! (and mildly annoying as I've only really liked one of them (Skyfall) and none of them are anywhere near as cool as You Know My Name!

 

Yeah, think that's a definite pass for me, but if others are interested, I hope they enjoy it.

 

I like all three of the last theme songs, but it does surprise me that they all won Oscars when I also think that "You Know My Name" is the crown jewel of the Craig era themes.

Oh yeah, and "Another Way to Die" happened, too.

 

Anyone registered for it? I would but I don’t know enough people who would be interested

 

It's odd because prior to Skyfall you have to go all the way back to For Your Eyes Only to even have a nomination for best original song and the only two songs previous to this to be nominated were Nobody Does it Better and Live and Let Die. (unless you count The Look of Love from CR67).

 

...and then fails to invite her to the ceremony despite being such a heavily nominated film including Best Picture.

 

I don’t buy that. There must have been some miscommunication. She’s the Juliet for heaven’s sake.

 

I believe it. The Academy has a long history of really bad decisions.

 

So I guess Fukunaga may not be back directing the next Bond film then...

 

Can Martin Campbell reboot the franchise 3 times in a row? If so, hopefully a director following him doesn't directly insult his films again with movie dialogue.

 

Some details of Boyle's film. It does seem a bit strange to complain that the producers won't do anything challenging when they killed Bond off!

 

I’m still not that crazy of killing Bond off. It feels hollow knowing that he will be back anyway.
Dench’s death worked better since she was a character we have got to know over two Bond’s.

 

Well I guess all that pre-production we had going on at Eon for the next Bond film with Cary Joji Fukunaga directing, Armie Hammer as Bond, Kevin Spacey as M, Ezra Miller as Q, and James Franco as the villain goes right out the window now.