No Time to Die (spoilers)

[Username taken]

I just finished this. I thought it was very good.

It's very much in the Casino Royale/Skyfall mould in that it's a much, much, much more personal James Bond movie.

The plot was a little wonky with the "bioweapon" thing and the villain a little weaker (that's not to say that Rami Malek did a bad job, just that he wasn't really in the movie all that much).

The action sequences were brilliant though and lots of them featured single, long takes which is always welcome. The sheer brutality of the fights was a bit surprising for a PG-13 film. The movie even got an F-bomb in.

That ending though..very intriguing. I guess this is cleaning the deck for an entirely new type of James Bond. But I don't know why modern film makers feel the need to end the heroes journey in death. In this instance it just seemed rather unnecessary especially now that James Bond had a family.

The anti-SJW crowd have been crying about the movie...people really need to watch the stuff their critiquing because this movie did not have any overt political message (except if people are offended by Q being gay or a black, female 007...who gave the title designation right back to James Bond in the middle of the film). Honestly, these guys sound so fragile its unbelievable.

All in all, I'd give No Time to Die an 8/10. It's a good send-off for the Daniel Craig era of James Bond.

[AnakinFlair]

When The World is Not Enough came out, it was an anniversary year for Bond. And in that movie they placed a lot of callbacks to the older Bond films, usually in very loud and in-your-face ways.

This movie also had a lot of callbacks- but they were done subtly, and with more class. For instance:

When Bond goes to his storage locker to get his other Astin Martin, as the door opens you can see, in shadow, the bulldog statue M left to him in Skyfall.

When Mallory was sitting in a hallway, you of course saw the painting of Judi Dench's M across from him. But what you might have missed was the painting of Bernard Lee's M that was right next to his seat.

When Bond and M meet on the streets of London, the score calls back to the theme of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'- one of MANY callbacks to that movie.

Safin's lair also called back to both Dr. No and Bloefeld's volcano lair in You Only Live Twice.

Daniel Craig also felt like he was channeling Sean Connery at times, something he really hasn't done that much in his series. And it really worked here.

Is Vesper Lynd the most consequential Bond girl of the Craig films? Maybe it's just the fact that they never really carried Bond girls over into more than one film (Tracy being an exception), But Vesper has been in, or has been invoked, in four out of five of the Craig films. She was his lover in Casino Royale, he avenged her in Quantum of Solace, he found her interrogation tape in Mr. White's hotel room in Spectre, and he visits her grave here.

Nice to get another classic Bond-type henchman in Primo.

While I didn't feel the length of the movie, I do feel that some characters were underserved. I would have liked more with Felix, and Logan Ash was a wasted character. I wish he had spent more time doing something on screen, so his death had more impact. And Safin was barely in the movie. Rami Maleck was good, but I would have like a bit more.

Overall, I'd also give it a solid 8/10, and for the Craig films, I'd say it's the third best after Skyfall and Casino Royale.

[Hellion]

I counted two F-bombs in this film...did I mishear? One from M and one from Bond himself when he cracks the Mormon joke?

Anyway, I enjoyed the hell out of it. People criticize that Safin/Rami Maleck wasn't given enough screen time but honestly, this movie packs so much in that I'm not sure you could fit anymore Safin into it. I wasn't bothered by the runtime, but I prefer long-running movies. The Judi Dench and Bernard Lee cameos were a nice touch. This was probably the first film in which I felt like they gave the Mallory iteration of M some depth.

This was also the funniest of the Craig Bond films, and I new that going in and wasn't sure how I'd feel about it. The laugh-a-minute approach that certain Disney/Marvel products take just irritates me, but I was never annoyed at the humor in this film, and even laughed out loud a few times, especially at the remark Bond makes about Q's cat.

My biggest criticism of No Time To Die is just the theme song. I don't know who or what a Billie Eilish is, and I enjoy a very diverse range of music genres, but I can only describe the style of this song as sounding like a hoarse tween who's just been sent a dead cat in a box.

[AnakinFlair]

My biggest criticism of No Time To Die is just the theme song. I don't know who or what a Billie Eilish is, and I enjoy a very diverse range of music genres, but I can only describe the style of this song as sounding like a hoarse tween who's just been sent a dead cat in a box.

She's had a few hits- a remake of 'bury a friend' that was used on a Netflix show, and 'bad guy' are probably her most well know tracks. And the song has grown on me.

The more I think about Safin, the more he reminds me of Dr. No. From the lair, to the fact that he does loom over the movie without being in it too much, and his presence is felt even when he's off screen. And that's not a bad thing.

[Frobisher]

Saffin kind of reminded me of how they tried to hype up Robert Carlyle in TWINE by having other characters be **** scared of him, but then Bond turns him over easily at the end. Indeed, at the end of this one the two 007s easily wipe out his entire evil lair of henchmen with no back-up. Saffin wiping out Spectre in this just served to make Spectre look more incompetent than they already did in the last film.

I kind of feel like Saffin’s poison Island was meant to be part of a poison theme for the whole film, but it got completely lost in the edit or rewrites. Bond is poisoned against Madeleine figuratively at the start of the story, and then again literally at the end, but there’s not any more going on under the hood than that - indeed, the poison Island isn’t even relevant to the story as the bio weapon was not even developed there. It’s like a weird vestigial limb of an earlier draft that no-one ever bothered to cut out. It would have been cooler if the henchmen had been using the mind control poison and stuff earlier on to get up to nefarious ****, but having the nano virus stuff as well muddles things.

And also, with the sunken Britannia in the opening credits I thought they’d make more of MI6 developing a sodding bio weapon. Bond has a go at Mallory for it but then in the next scene they’re cool again, and they quickly give up on the interesting and challenging idea of the nation state developing a terror weapon - could this have been because of the allegations about COVID coming out of a lab?

[Frontier]

Saffin kind of reminded me of how they tried to hype up Robert Carlyle in TWINE by having other characters be **** scared of him, but then Bond turns him over easily at the end. Indeed, at the end of this one the two 007s easily wipe out his entire evil lair of henchmen with no back-up. Saffin wiping out Spectre in this just served to make Spectre look more incompetent than they already did in the last film.

I kind of feel like Saffin’s poison Island was meant to be part of a poison theme for the whole film, but it got completely lost in the edit or rewrites. Bond is poisoned against Madeleine figuratively at the start of the story, and then again literally at the end, but there’s not any more going on under the hood than that - indeed, the poison Island isn’t even relevant to the story as the bio weapon was not even developed there. It’s like a weird vestigial limb of an earlier draft that no-one ever bothered to cut out. It would have been cooler if the henchmen had been using the mind control poison and stuff earlier on to get up to nefarious ****, but having the nano virus stuff as well muddles things.

And also, with the sunken Britannia in the opening credits I thought they’d make more of MI6 developing a sodding bio weapon. Bond has a go at Mallory for it but then in the next scene they’re cool again, and they quickly give up on the interesting and challenging idea of the nation state developing a terror weapon - could this have been because of the allegations about COVID coming out of a lab?

I've seen some speculation that a lot about the plot got cut/edited because of COVID.

[Hellion]

She's had a few hits- a remake of 'bury a friend' that was used on a Netflix show, and 'bad guy' are probably her most well know tracks. And the song has grown on me.

The more I think about Safin, the more he reminds me of Dr. No. From the lair, to the fact that he does loom over the movie without being in it too much, and his presence is felt even when he's off screen. And that's not a bad thing.

I guess I'm glad Eilish has had some success then, her voice just ain't my cup of tea. But I also admit they'll never likely be able to match Adele belting it out.

[Hellion]

I've seen some speculation that a lot about the plot got cut/edited because of COVID.

I hate that we live in a world where I cringed a few times watching this movie (body-invasive nanobot "virus" and again when Nomi kills the scientist when he mentions he is capable of exterminating her entire race) because my first thoughts were these elements are gonna cause anti-vaxxers and racists to become further entrenched in their views.

[Vegeta]

When The World is Not Enough came out, it was an anniversary year for Bond. And in that movie they placed a lot of callbacks to the older Bond films, usually in very loud and in-your-face ways.

You are thinking of "Die Another Day" with callbacks like the Thunderball jetpack in Q's lab, or Jinx wearing the iconic Honey Ryder bikini.

Is Vesper Lynd the most consequential Bond girl of the Craig films? Maybe it's just the fact that they never really carried Bond girls over into more than one film (Tracy being an exception), But Vesper has been in, or has been invoked, in four out of five of the Craig films. She was his lover in Casino Royale, he avenged her in Quantum of Solace, he found her interrogation tape in Mr. White's hotel room in Spectre, and he visits her grave here.

The character Sylvia Trench appears in both Dr. No and From Russia with Love. The actress Maud Adams did appear in 3 films, but as different characters in each. (She's a blink and you'll miss it extra in A View to a Kill.)

[Username taken]

I've seen some speculation that a lot about the plot got cut/edited because of COVID.

I'm not surprised the plot got cut down.

The movie is already 2hrs 45 minutes...the original cut would have been well over 3 hrs.

[sunofdarkchild]

The action and character work was very good. I noticed the 'long takes' like in the stairway fight at the end. Also never looked like a videogame set to 'very easy' like Spectre did.

This was in some ways more Madelyn's story than James Bond's. She was the one with the connection to the villain. But as a character movie for him it was still very good. Both characters are handled better here than they were in Spectre and it's a much better final movie for Craig.

I knew Felix was going to die the moment he mentioned his family. Hollywood really needs to stop using that trope because it makes it obvious what's going to happen. His death scene was still well-done and I liked how it harkened back to Vesper's death in Casino Royal and how Bond calls Felix his "brother" when getting revenge for him.

Making Bond a daddy. It's something I never thought I'd see in a Bond movie and it's something different for the franchise. The kid didn't have many lines and she mostly spoke French in the few she had, so the child acting wasn't a factor.

The villain was mostly good, but I don't understand what he was trying to do other than his obsession with Madelyn and getting revenge on Spectre. Why does he want to thin the world's population? Neither he nor the film ever really says, and that's the biggest problem with the movie.

Killing Bond. That's another move I didn't see coming, at least not before the final fight. The moment he was shot I knew for sure he was going to die. I'd rather he got a happy ending, but I'm fine with him dying in the end.

"I wan to tell you a story about a man. His name was Bond, James Bond," I think might be the best possible line for the franchise to end on, even if it's just this subseries that's ending.

[AnakinFlair]

You are thinking of "Die Another Day" with callbacks like the Thunderball jetpack in Q's lab, or Jinx wearing the iconic Honey Ryder bikini.

Of course, you're right. I was thinking of Die Another Day. Not sure why I mixed the two up.


The character Sylvia Trench appears in both Dr. No and From Russia with Love. The actress Maud Adams did appear in 3 films, but as different characters in each. (She's a blink and you'll miss it extra in A View to a Kill.)

I forgot all about Sylvia Trench, but then I never really counted her as a Bond girl. I know that originally she had signed on to do multiple films, and she was (I think) supposed to be James' main love interest, but they got rid of her really quick. Didn't know Maud Adams was in AVtaK.

With Vesper, the impact she has had on James has been felt through most of the Craig movies. The same could be said for Tracey, but in her case I think she was featured in one film, mentioned in 2 others, and the weight of her death was lessoned by the fact that it was dealt with by three different Bond actors.

[AnakinFlair]

The villain was mostly good, but I don't understand what he was trying to do other than his obsession with Madelyn and getting revenge on Spectre. Why does he want to thin the world's population? Neither he nor the film ever really says, and that's the biggest problem with the movie.

I REALLY agree with this. I get using the bioweapon to destroy SPECTRE- they killed his family, he wanted revenge. But I got no reason for why he wanted to use the bioweapon on the rest of the world. Was he selling it? Did he want to target a certain race or ethnicity?

And why was he so focused on Madelyn? Was this his was of continuing to get revenge on Mr. White? Did he have some sick fascination with her? Bloefeld was dead; so she did do what he wanted.

They really needed to develop Safin's motivation beyond revenge for his family. Because once he had that, there was no real reason given why he continued.

[sunofdarkchild]

His obsession with Madelyn I thought was explained well enough. Choosing to save the daughter of the man who murdered his family right after she had shot him and he had killed her mother was a big decision and made him feel a sense of ownership over her. It was a pivotal moment in his life and one he would have thought about constantly. When he meets Bond face to face he says that they are both in love with Madelyn. That part of the movie worked for me. It's just his larger world-ending scheme I have a problem with.

[Maestro 216]

I've seen some speculation that a lot about the plot got cut/edited because of COVID.

Same thing happened with Falcon and The Winter Soldier