26/25 (25th of 25 official Bond films)
Daniel Craig departs his service as James Bond, Agent 007 on a high. His tenure has been unique in the franchise insofar as his films have had a coherent, narrative arc which charts the course of this character, from go to whoah. You could do worse than to start this franchise with the Craig films, in chronological order, starting with "Casino Royale". That first outing of his was one of the best in the franchise. Whilst, in my opinion, Roger Moore had more good films playing this character than anyone else, the films which bookend Moore's tenure are two of the worst in the franchise's history. Craig is also unique in starting and finishing his tenure in such a strong manner. I've mentioned in another Bond film review here that Sean Connery's Bond never acknowledged the existence of other actors' turns as the character. Craig's tenure is sort of similar, in that his Bond's narrative arc is self-contained and excludes other films in the franchise for that reason.
I won't divulge too much information about this latest entry in the franchise but as can be expected, world peace or the fate of the world are in peril due to weaponised high tech which governments or criminal organisations around the world would love to get their hands on. Another thing to note is that this film is one of the most serious in tone of the franchise (there's an easy to miss small quantum of humour) and is one of the few entries where Bond has formed an intimate relationship with a woman. As usual, Bond is unaware of the background of the women that he forms serious relationships with...perhaps surprisingly. Does nobody screen them?
Devotees of the franchise will no doubt appreciate all the reminders from previous films in the series, irregardless of which actor it was that played Bond before. I'd say that this film recalls my favourite and pick as the best Bond film. We could disagree on what that film would be but with so many references to other Bond films, we could still agree that it recalls the best Bond film.
This film was tracking at 80% throughout for me but just with the ending, I became aware that I was comparing this film with the more popcorn entries in the series. Somehow the ending predisposes me to be more generous with my score, to factor in its dramatic effect. Having just seen the film the same day that I started writing this review (today...but I'm finishing writing this review the next day), at the moment I feel inclined to score this film higher for the drama of the ending. Maybe that inclination may change over time or with a repeat viewing, sometime, if ever, in the future. For some reason, another finale to a favourite character from another story is brought to mind: Dexter. In that TV series, I can't say that the ending pleased me (I have learned that just now, years later, the character and TV show is being revisited). I got the impression that the ending was shoehorned and made to fit the expectations of some sort of 'ideal' audience, whatever that may mean (probably conservative Christians, to be cynical). Similarly, the conclusion to Craig's time as James Bond seems to be invoking some sort of teenage boy's romantic 'ideal' of how to conclude the story...or maybe it's just suited to the real world, where we are living with the COVID-19 pandemic! Given the flimsy connection between Bond movies as a whole and their lack of cohesion, an alternative finale to the character of Bond can be found in the unofficial Sean Connery (the first actor to play Bond in this franchise) outing "Never say never again". At least, that was how I interpreted the end of Bond's career in that film.
No doubt I'll make a point of continuing to see the next actor in the role of James Bond, whenever that film is due to be released. I've seen every canonical film in the series as well as the one non-canonical film that I've seen (I've not seen the 1967 spy parody film "Casino Royale", which, whilst loosely based on author Ian Fleming's character of James Bond is neither canonical nor the same story which Daniel Craig debuted as Bond). What will intrigue me about the next official Bond film though is how it follows on from this. Daniel Craig's last entry in the franchise will be a tough act to follow. If you're interested, I've made a list at this site ranking what are, in my opinion, the best Bond films, canonical and non-canonical.
What follows is a resumption of my formulaic review elements of the previous Bond films that I've seen:
* I was going to say that "No time to die" didn't have the usual Bond pre-title sequence but I suppose that you could say that it sort of does, just not the typical fare, though.
* In the gun barrel sequence, Bond walks too quickly for mind but I'm not sure if it's quicker than usual for Craig's Bond.
* The theme song, by Billie Eilish, is interesting but I think that having lyrics which tie closely to a Bond film might make it lack a more general longevity and it being its own thing. Then again, my favourite Bond songs didn't have this problem, e.g. Any of Shirley Bassey's classic contributions, like "Moonraker" and "Goldfinger", even though they could be nothing other than a Bond related song. And so it goes.
Random observations:
* It seems some Bond fans hated the high tech aspects of Pierce Brosnan's Bond in "Die another day". I wonder how the high tech in Craig's last film will be viewed. Is it believable?
* I doubt that any evil genius could have orchestrated the actions of a certain woman in Italy, early on in the film, as asserted later.
* Despite being the longest of very many Bond films, it's length wasn't an issue for me.
* Generally I find Bond films forgettable. The main villain here seems like I should know him from previously. It seems I should know Bond's love interest too but it's been years since I saw the previous film, so I'd already forgotten her. I can't even remember why M changed. I'll probably remember this film though.
* A brickbat to Scott Murray's review of "Dr. No" in The Age's Green Guide lift-out (21/10/2021), for including too much information about "No time to die". As if any mention of the new film was required for a review of the very first one.
Daniel Craig departs his service as James Bond, Agent 007 on a high. His tenure has been unique in the franchise insofar as his films have had a coherent, narrative arc which charts the course of this character, from go to whoah. You could do worse than to start this franchise with the Craig films, in chronological order, starting with "Casino Royale". That first outing of his was one of the best in the franchise. Whilst, in my opinion, Roger Moore had more good films playing this character than anyone else, the films which bookend Moore's tenure are two of the worst in the franchise's history. Craig is also unique in starting and finishing his tenure in such a strong manner. I've mentioned in another Bond film review here that Sean Connery's Bond never acknowledged the existence of other actors' turns as the character. Craig's tenure is sort of similar, in that his Bond's narrative arc is self-contained and excludes other films in the franchise for that reason.
I won't divulge too much information about this latest entry in the franchise but as can be expected, world peace or the fate of the world are in peril due to weaponised high tech which governments or criminal organisations around the world would love to get their hands on. Another thing to note is that this film is one of the most serious in tone of the franchise (there's an easy to miss small quantum of humour) and is one of the few entries where Bond has formed an intimate relationship with a woman. As usual, Bond is unaware of the background of the women that he forms serious relationships with...perhaps surprisingly. Does nobody screen them?
Devotees of the franchise will no doubt appreciate all the reminders from previous films in the series, irregardless of which actor it was that played Bond before. I'd say that this film recalls my favourite and pick as the best Bond film. We could disagree on what that film would be but with so many references to other Bond films, we could still agree that it recalls the best Bond film.
This film was tracking at 80% throughout for me but just with the ending, I became aware that I was comparing this film with the more popcorn entries in the series. Somehow the ending predisposes me to be more generous with my score, to factor in its dramatic effect. Having just seen the film the same day that I started writing this review (today...but I'm finishing writing this review the next day), at the moment I feel inclined to score this film higher for the drama of the ending. Maybe that inclination may change over time or with a repeat viewing, sometime, if ever, in the future. For some reason, another finale to a favourite character from another story is brought to mind: Dexter. In that TV series, I can't say that the ending pleased me (I have learned that just now, years later, the character and TV show is being revisited). I got the impression that the ending was shoehorned and made to fit the expectations of some sort of 'ideal' audience, whatever that may mean (probably conservative Christians, to be cynical). Similarly, the conclusion to Craig's time as James Bond seems to be invoking some sort of teenage boy's romantic 'ideal' of how to conclude the story...or maybe it's just suited to the real world, where we are living with the COVID-19 pandemic! Given the flimsy connection between Bond movies as a whole and their lack of cohesion, an alternative finale to the character of Bond can be found in the unofficial Sean Connery (the first actor to play Bond in this franchise) outing "Never say never again". At least, that was how I interpreted the end of Bond's career in that film.
No doubt I'll make a point of continuing to see the next actor in the role of James Bond, whenever that film is due to be released. I've seen every canonical film in the series as well as the one non-canonical film that I've seen (I've not seen the 1967 spy parody film "Casino Royale", which, whilst loosely based on author Ian Fleming's character of James Bond is neither canonical nor the same story which Daniel Craig debuted as Bond). What will intrigue me about the next official Bond film though is how it follows on from this. Daniel Craig's last entry in the franchise will be a tough act to follow. If you're interested, I've made a list at this site ranking what are, in my opinion, the best Bond films, canonical and non-canonical.
What follows is a resumption of my formulaic review elements of the previous Bond films that I've seen:
* I was going to say that "No time to die" didn't have the usual Bond pre-title sequence but I suppose that you could say that it sort of does, just not the typical fare, though.
* In the gun barrel sequence, Bond walks too quickly for mind but I'm not sure if it's quicker than usual for Craig's Bond.
* The theme song, by Billie Eilish, is interesting but I think that having lyrics which tie closely to a Bond film might make it lack a more general longevity and it being its own thing. Then again, my favourite Bond songs didn't have this problem, e.g. Any of Shirley Bassey's classic contributions, like "Moonraker" and "Goldfinger", even though they could be nothing other than a Bond related song. And so it goes.
Random observations:
* It seems some Bond fans hated the high tech aspects of Pierce Brosnan's Bond in "Die another day". I wonder how the high tech in Craig's last film will be viewed. Is it believable?
* I doubt that any evil genius could have orchestrated the actions of a certain woman in Italy, early on in the film, as asserted later.
* Despite being the longest of very many Bond films, it's length wasn't an issue for me.
* Generally I find Bond films forgettable. The main villain here seems like I should know him from previously. It seems I should know Bond's love interest too but it's been years since I saw the previous film, so I'd already forgotten her. I can't even remember why M changed. I'll probably remember this film though.
* A brickbat to Scott Murray's review of "Dr. No" in The Age's Green Guide lift-out (21/10/2021), for including too much information about "No time to die". As if any mention of the new film was required for a review of the very first one.