For some reason I don’t remember the gun, but I’m sure it had one. I do remember the wallet and passport.
It was a cool toy, but kind of weird because carrying around a briefcase was odd. Wearing a holster with a gun to look like a cowboy or detective? Cool. Carrying a briefcase to look like a spy disguised as a businessman? A bit of a hard sell for a kid.
I just got out of my screening so maybe my impressions will change, but I loved it. Might edge out Casino Royale as my favorite of Craig’s run, and probably one of top of the series for me.
That sounds like Secret Sam. I had one of those as a youngster.
I was annoyed at the last two thirds of this movie, but I really want to see the first 20 minutes again in IMAX. I would complain that the whole movie wasn’t in IMAX format but there weren’t that many scenes that could make use of it.
I love Lea Seydoux in this but totally forgot she’s in SPECTRE, probably because I was so bored by it. Why did it matter in this that her dad was Mr. White? Was there anything in the plot that made it actually matter that Rami Malek killed her mom? Plus many other points mentioned in this thread. They needed to hire a better rewrite hired gun to fix this.
Zimmer score and the heart stirring direction and edits to match were inappropriate for Bond. I was quite dismayed by the last 15 minutes of this. So, yeah, I’m probably going to catch this thing again in the most heart-pumping format available to me and then see if I want to walk out during the title sequence.
Sorry, I shouldn’t just dump on the movie, but I was really disappointed that it squandered such a cool beginning!
Having slept on it, I’m not quite as high on the film as before, but I think I’m probably still the biggest fan in this thread.
To me, it feels like it suffered in trying to get the film down to an acceptable running time. I enjoyed everything that was there, but it felt like pieces were missing. It could have really used another 10-15 minutes in the final act on the island to flesh out Safin’s plan and give a little more depth to the character. I loved the mix of Soviet and Japanese aesthetics (thought there were some wonderful nods to Ken Adam’s set design work on Dr. No) and I liked what it implied about the character’s past and history, but could’ve used at least one more weighty scene between him and Bond.
And I absolutely would’ve loved more time spent with Ana de Armas’ character.
The biggest flaw, in my mind: Mathilde never got her stuffed rabbit back! I 100% expected a final scene where it shows up later in an unmarked package. I feel like actually killing off Bond was a late decision and earlier versions had him surviving.
I totally expected it to mysteriously show up. That was going to be the hint that he had somehow surived. I think it’s odd that they killed him. I guess reboots will just be retcons from now on.
Oh man, I was having the hardest time switching off my brain for this movie, which I recognize is a personal issue because this is James Bond. But it seemed like every dramatic moment was undercut by contrived character motivations. I’ll put my impressions in rough chronological order.
Lyutsifer Safin’s opening scene was great! I understand him wanting to kill Mr. White’s family after Mr. White killed his. That’s a strong motivation. Even better, I like the idea of him seeing this drowning little girl and deciding to save her. That’s more humanity than most Bond villains get. It gave me high hopes for his goals later on. Wiping out Spectre with the nanovirus kept the hope alive. He had Bond dead to rights; sitting back and doing nothing would rid the world of the secret agent who’s toppled every single villain he’s gone against. Those two character beats plus Rami Malek’s oppressed charisma made me think he might have broadly altruistic goals. A targeted virus could indeed be a way to end corruption and war. That raises interesting questions about conflicting ideologies, mutually assured destruction, whether anybody can keep the lid on that sort of power, etc.
The action scene on Bond’s “honeymoon” / mourning trip was solid. Right away, though, it calls on us to accept Bond as a total moron. In Spectre, Bond learned that Blofeld’s life was pretty much dedicated to punking him. Quantum? Mr. White? Vesper Lynd? Raoul Silva? Bond’s parents? They were all chess pieces pushed into Bond’s way out of petty jealousy. Blofeld even built a Joker-esque psychological funhouse to torment him! Now Bond visits the tomb of his great love, gets attacked, has some flimsy evidence Swan has betrayed him, and just… buys it? Because this mega-genius who keeps punking him is in prison? I mean, I don’t have mega-geniuses punking me every day, but even so, I would question whether Swan had set that up. I understand that Bond is emotionally bruised, but come on. His knowledge of Blofeld’s brilliance and weird obsession is enough to erase his self-imposed hermithood of five years. Like, run a background check. Check her call history. Sign a spy prenup. Anything but this.
Bond has a serious case of the Sherlocks. By which I mean, everyone treats him with this weird reverence even though he’s an asshole who keeps flitting in and out of their lives. Moneypenny helps him. Q helps him. Mallory is pissed at him for five minutes, then they’re chuckling together like pals the next morning. Nomi gives him the 007 moniker for no reason whatsoever. This is what happens when screenwriters are too drunk on their own character to remember that some of these people would barely tolerate him.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Cuba. Paloma was a fun inclusion, even though she might as well not have been in the movie. Oh my gosh, that dress. I wanted an entire movie about Ana de Armas kicking butt in that dress. Since Felix was her mentor, I somewhat expected her to show up to help storm the villain’s fortress. Guess she shrugged it off. So we didn’t get a scene of her doing that flying kick to Rami Malek’s head. More’s the pity.
Speaking of Cuba, another goofy motivation issue: If you were a ranking leader of Spectre and received an invitation to a Kill Bond Party, would you attend in person? I think I’d Zoom it. Putting everybody in the same room feels like packing everybody in the presidential line of succession together.
As much as I enjoyed the forest battle, I’ll confess I laughed out loud when after dispatching the first three vehicles, Bond & Co. looked up to see one billion ATVs, motorcycles, trucks, and tanks bearing down on them from over the hilltop. I sort of miss the fights from Casino Royale, where Bond would struggle against a small handful of enemies instead of effortlessly hitscanning them without even aiming.
I know you’re sick of me blabbering about motivations, but I had no idea what Safin wanted. I’m of the school of thought that good antagonists generally possess one concrete objective. Safin wanted to kidnap Swan (and make her drink poisoned tea?), adopt Bond’s daughter (until he didn’t?), get revenge on Spectre (fair), kill billions of people with the nanovirus (woah what?), and bring smocks back into fashion. At no point did I understand his goals. What a waste of Rami Malek.
Points for creepy lair. Stirring slurry isn’t how I imagine nanobots are manufactured, but what do I know.
Sadly, the entire thing fell apart in the final act. When everybody kept reiterating that there was no cure for nanobotitis, despite their mechanical construction and the ease of building portable EMP devices, and when Safin had that Swan / baby-Bond vial, the conclusion could not have been more telegraphed. Never mind that Bond should have left with Swan instead of sending Nomi (which doesn’t preclude a final showdown), that saying “there’s no cure” sure indicates a high degree of certitude for something nobody present has actually studied, that the nanovirus operates according to whichever rules the current plot requires (is it airborne or carried by skin contact?), and that Bond could have lived in some plush isolation chamber and still been around to raise his kid (less of a sacrifice now that most of us have been in Zoom isolation)… I dunno. The seams were showing.
So overall I liked it.
A weird phenomenon: when I think back to any of his scenes in this film, my mind replaces Ben Whishaw’s Q with Maurice Moss.
Was listening to the Big Picture podcast, and they mentioned that Craig is the longest-serving Bond. Although that doesn’t count number of movies. Craig has only done five Bond movies. Connery and Moore each did at least seven. This is also the longest gap ever between Bond movies, although the pandemic also helped play a role in that. Weird to think Spectre was 2015.
Ok, watched it today and was a bit surprised by the ending, but then it is a fitting way to put a button on the Craig era. The villains plan and motivation are nebulous as usual & the movie could have been 30 min shorter (perhaps just cut out the whole Blofeld prison scene)?
Otherwise I’m glad the Bond-as-thug-era has ended for now (I never liked Craig in the role) and REALLY hope they find a way back to a nice exciting ENTERTAINING spy movie/thriller and not these dour angsty versions.
No need to go all camp as in Moore, but somewhere between Brosnan and Dalton perhaps?
I did appreciate the visual nod to the title sequence during the bunker shoot out. The shot IS in the trailer, but I will spoiler it for those who haven’t seen the trailer/movie.
That really surprised me, as it felt to me that it was decades between GoldenEye and the earlier films - but no, only six years! I guess it’s because I was only 8 when Licence to Kill came out, and would only have seen it on TV afterwards, but 14 for GoldenEye and actually saw it in the cinema.
Thank you for enthusiasm! I felt like that after watching Spectre even though everyone else seemed to be down on it.
Boo! Don’t let your brain forget that you had a great time! :)
I actually liked Spectre quite a lot as well–except for the stuff in London with Andrew Scott.
But I still really enjoyed No Time to Die, and even with its flaws, I think it’s my favorite of the Craig era, and far better than anything with Dalton or Brosnan.
Okay, finally saw it tonight. IMAX with my dad, who has been wanting to see this movie for years.
The final third of this movie is a goddamn mess, and I have no idea what the hell is the Big Bad’s motivations.
That said, I think it’s my favorite Craig Bond. I just really love Lea Seydoux, and she shines in it. And all the emotional moments hit hard.
I haven’t checked, but this has to be the longest Bond movie ever, right? The title song/credits didn’t appear until like 20 minutes into the movie.
You can tell that different crack writers left their fingerprints on different portions of the movie. Cuba and Ana de Armas scream Phoebe Waller Bridge. She looks amaaaaaaaaaaazing in that dress, but she’s only in that one scene, and her character is basically just comedic effect. I don’t even think we even got her name, did we?
Bond says her name when they meet (Paloma).
It’s not that unusual for there to be “Bond girls” that only show up in one act of the film though, right? I thought de Armas was great too, but I’m not as convinced that’s necessarily evidence of script rewrites.
I’m sure I’m putting more thought into this than the writer(s), but “nanobots” as I have (theoretically) understood them going back to Drexler’s Engines of Creation would be more like enzymes than robots and are too small to have electronic control circuits, thus would not be susceptible to EMP.
And Bonds earpiece / communications thingamajig is also NOT affected by an EMP?
No, that’s dumb.
Just came back from the cinema. Wow, liked it very much. Fantastic ending for Daniel Craig, went out with a bang. I loved Nomi, the new 007. In your face to all misogynists, at least a little bit. I would love her to continue the series. She has the charms… She could really play a great maneater. A little bit disapointed by the character of Madeleine. Lea Seydoux deserves better!
After the boring finale of Spectre, we get a real finale this time. How are they going to reboot? Just a new timeline?
