James Bond 25: No Time to Die

[Yakumo]

Calling [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION], Calling [MENTION=10111]QualityChimp[/MENTION]


So, I'm back from watching the film and I'm going to say that I know many enjoy the Craig entries but after viewing No Time to Die I feel like my opinions of his era are almost cast in iron. Like, I'm on the side of Right or something in that all the issues I have with them are correct and that the quality bar for Quantum but more so Skyfall then Spectre isn't anywhere worthy of the success and praise the series or Craig receives. I mentioned before that Casino Royale being so much damned better a film proved it and so we come to No Time to Die, a film that follows on from Spectre...

Breath the moment in QC - The new film was good... like, damned good. The Craig era has struggled hard with marrying the grounded, miserable tone with classic Bond elements but it feels like they finally nailed it with this one. If I could lay out various plot points and beats I should hate this one but it's just so damned well made. The direction is on point and feels like it's made by someone who is actively enjoying getting to make a Bond film, Craig feels like he's playing a different version at times - it's like Bond has had a personality transplant and is finally how he should have been all along. I'll hold off further as we've been avoiding spoilers so far whilst the film is new but if I had to highlight something that is a shame about this new film it would be that it largely requires knowledge of much inferior entries to get the most out of it. It's a tease of what could have been and frankly, a great entry and a great and worthy point for Craig to bow out of the franchise.

See, we told you it was good
But seriously, I'm glad you liked this entry. It's such a well made film that makes me proud it was from the UK. Seeing this in Japan and being the only none Japanese in the cinema was a proud moment.

[Neon Ignition]

Definitely, I'm kind of sitting on a lot of thoughts for the Canon-Strike thread when we get to it as more people will have seen it by then but I've been thinking about the film quite a lot and the direction work stood out very early on in the film which says a lot when Bond films often have a certain stock approach, particularly the Craig entries which have often gone with a greyed out imitation of Royale. The work done in this one though is very cleverly handled.

[QualityChimp]

It's stuck with me since I saw it last week.
Plus, as people have been to see it, they've come to me to talk about it, because there's a lot of weight to it.

It's out on home release on February 28th 2022, if people are avoiding the cinema.

[Yakumo]

It's stuck with me since I saw it last week.
Plus, as people have been to see it, they've come to me to talk about it, because there's a lot of weight to it.

It's out on home release on February 28th 2022, if people are avoiding the cinema.

Nice. 4k ultra HD purchase for sure.

[teddymeow]

Just back from seeing NTTD.

It was brilliant. A fitting end to Craig's run as Bond as many have said.

It looked fantastic if a little soft-of-image at times. Some incredible action scenes which owed a fair bit to John Wick, Ana de Armas rivals Eva Green as just unspeakably beautiful.

There were some lovely nods to Bond films of old, some zippy one-liners and incredible performances all round.

I have one major issue with it though and that was that

->Open Spoiler<-

I could see what was going to happen at the end. It all felt a bit Avengers Endgame in terms of giving Bond the thing he wanted most and then having him sacrifice himself to save the day.

I'd say it was as good as Skyfall.

So Craig's run for me goes:

Casino Royale
Skyfall / No Time To Die
Spectre
Quantum of Solace

And, I honestly do believe, he is the best James Bond.

[Yakumo]

And, I honestly do believe, he is the best James Bond.

100% agree.

[Asura]

Saw this last night, as all the Bond movies are on Prime Video for the Easter Weekend.

On the whole I enjoyed it... But I still dislike Daniel Craig's Bond era and I'm really glad it's over...

->Open Spoiler<-

... and capped off in such a way that anything short of a soft reboot is going to be impossible.

Bring back some camp and fun. This movie actually had a few bits of it, funnily enough, I enjoyed; like I loved the shootout in Cuba, and the bike/car chase scenes were fun too.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, I hold NTTD up as well as CR but Craig doesn't come close to the title for me still. He's leagues better in his first and last films than he was in any of the middling to weak middle trilogy entries. Well fitting for this era of Bond but that's it. Much as it was good I'm very... very ready for the reboot

[teddymeow]

Skyfall is an absolute belter!!

How very dare you.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Craig pretty much the most realistic portrayal of Bond this side of Dalton and Connery, as far as I'm concerned. Definitely don't want a return to Moore-esque campness for 007.

The Craig Bond films also get props from me for the way they continued the storyline in a clear and concise way - something not really seen in past 007 films IMO.

[Neon Ignition]

We've done this dance before but:

Skyfall - there are bits I like but it's also a bit of a mess

Craig - Can't really get on board with the storyline bit either, for the most part the storyline continuation aspect was horrid. Quantum was a terrible continuation of Royale, Skyfall largely and wisely ignored most elements but then Spectre veered uncontrollably in an effort to patch everything up for not much good reason only to make an even bigger jumble of it all. One of the reasons NTTD is so expertly delivered is because it somehow managed to deliver an effective ending for Craig and tie most things off whilst not suffering at the hands of its predecessor.

I'm hoping they don't decide to make a new continuous storyline and go back to individual entries (for the most part).

[Nu-Eclipse]

We've done this dance before but:

Skyfall - there are bits I like but it's also a bit of a mess

Craig - Can't really get on board with the storyline bit either, for the most part the storyline continuation aspect was horrid. Quantum was a terrible continuation of Royale, Skyfall largely and wisely ignored most elements but then Spectre veered uncontrollably in an effort to patch everything up for not much good reason only to make an even bigger jumble of it all. One of the reasons NTTD is so expertly delivered is because it somehow managed to deliver an effective ending for Craig and tie most things off whilst not suffering at the hands of its predecessor.

I'm hoping they don't decide to make a new continuous storyline and go back to individual entries (for the most part).

Couldn't disagree more.

The storyline aspect of Craig's Bond is excellent and a refreshing change that the franchise needed for the most part (Brosnan's Bond movies suffer for being one-off stories, with the obvious exception of GoldenEye). It obviously veers off at points in QoS (worked into the end of Casino Royale due to not really being a Bond story) and Skyfall (pretty much an excuse to celebrate 007's 50th Anniversary) but it works for the most part and I for one hope that the next Bond has a continuous storyline. I don't want a return to one-off stories that make no sense when lined up together. Leave that kind of crap to other franchises.

[Neon Ignition]

They need to rework the idea of a 00 agent as well for the new one. Brosnans was referred to as a relic whilst Craig passes his 00 license to then be referred to as a dinosaur for 4 films. Kind of reframe it for relevance

[Nu-Eclipse]

They need to rework the idea of a 00 agent as well for the new one. Brosnans was referred to as a relic whilst Craig passes his 00 license to then be referred to as a dinosaur for 4 films. Kind of reframe it for relevance

I think you're making the classic mistake (as many do) of confusing the 00 rank with the person who holds the rank, tbh.

Obviously, anybody can hold the rank of 007 (as NTTD proves). But obviously, not anybody can be James Bond.

Maybe it's the character of Bond that needs reworking.

[Dogg Thang]

I have no end of criticisms of the Craig era Bond films, although I thought the last one was great and several of them have been very entertaining. As a lover of some old ropey classic movies, which I will happily watch over and over again versus some modern polished blockbuster, I can completely understand how people could enjoy the older movies much more than some of the recent ones. But even being that person, I don't know if I could ever try to make the case that the older ones are better movies. I feel the recent Bond movies, even with all of my criticisms, stand head and shoulders above most of the previous era Bond movies. I don't know if it's a surprising take but I only think I could try to make a case for the Moore-era Bond movies and that's because they are so different and leaned so far into the fun that I would be judging them on entirely different criteria.