It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
The perfect ending for Craig's Bond. Him and Madeleine driving off into the sunrise of London in the DB5. Should've ended it there. Sometimes I wish No Time To Die didn't exist because of that depressing ending. A waste of a good movie.
I haven't watched SP again, but I may enjoy it more than I did because of NTTD now.
CR was on TV the other night and I caught the last part, from when Bond rolls the Aston. My wife said exactly the same thing I was thinking as we watched the end of the movie. `Now THAT is a Bond film!'
EON hit the right jackpot formula with CR, the same way they did back in 1964. That is what they need to emulate again to keep all fans and critics happy.
What 4EverBonded said.
Bond's initial anguish from heart break and emotional trauma (Vesper) that has invariably played a role and is alluded to in all 5 Craig Bond films is because of Mr White.
Bond and Mr White's daughter meet and inexplicably fall in love and we find out that Madeleine's own personal trauma comes back in to her life and effectively ruins it and facilitates Bond's demise as vengeance because of...Mr White.
And it's Mr White's daughter and granddaughter who not only survive but close out the Craig era, driving into the sunset.
It's certainly an interesting juxtaposition but I can't say I fully appreciate the closeness of the link between Mr White and Bond. Lastly, out of all this, Mr White ended up being a better Blofeld than Blofeld himself.
Maybe Mr. White was really
How do people explicably fall in love?
:))
It helps when identifiable qualities of chemistry and attraction are involved? I take it you've never been in a relationship before.
Ha! Unnecessary ad hominem stuff already? You'll fit in well around here.
I like the idea that there's some sort of chemical formula for attraction and chemistry. It doesn't really work like that: it just happens.
:D lol
:))
- Mark O'Connell
SPOILERS!
THE SUNSET BULLET - Catching Daniel Craig's Swann song, NO TIME TO DIE
Yes, that was a bit odd and not creative enough to have two (almost similar) brief fights with Primo and Bond. Primo is okay but far away from the best and iconic henchmen and I definitely prefer Hinx. He is useless in the car chase in Rome but the train fight is intense in the best possible way and his introduction sticks in mind, too.
It's crazy how colourless the henchmen are in the Brosnan and Craig era! (Imo, Hinx is solid, Xenia is top and... the rest isn't memorable enough.
I quite like Patrice's intense quality but I suppose you can't really call him a henchman as such.
That was a great read. Nice job.
That was a hell of a review. So many sharp observations, Tunnels as bookends - yes, that seems to be a fitting image. But the costumes citing the older films? I doubt that was intentional. If anything, it seems that Bond prefers suspenders over belts. This film is a classic already.
Top Job, a bravura read, indeed Daniel Craig used his time, thank you.
NTTD - screening in Laser 4K Ultra
The rather jumpy black dots seguing into the gunbarrel and then onto a sheet of white snow for the PTS make it very clear - this is not going to be another SkyFall or even another Spectre. We are getting a traditionalist's 007 adventure, or so we are to believe...
Well, despite the fairly old-school structure and final confrontation, it... isn't.
Therefore I'll go straight ahead and say it - I don't particularly like NTTD, and went away wanting more. More 'Bond', and less ' 'The Dark Knight Rises'... more Ian Fleming and less Greek tragedy.
NTTD made me believe in the real 007 again for about an hour (only to cruelly tear it away from me in the latter stages of the film - SPECTRE, anyone..?) - though through no fault of Daniel Craig himself - the man is class and saved this film for me. He completely delivers on the promise he showed in Casino Royale and does his interpretation of the character utter justice.
It is the writers who continually manage to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to turn James Bond into something he cannot be and was never designed to be...
Craig is not to blame for the fact that 007 and Maddy Swann have absolutely nothing going on on screen - they are in dire need of some of that chemistry out of the secret MI6 bioweapon facility that was so cooly infiltrated early on.
But, hold on - it isn't a bad film. Not at all.
What immediately struck me here is the Direction - it's a complete 360° from the two Mendes' films - Fukunaga's direction is vibrant, uncomplicated, colourful almost to a fault - and doesn't linger about. Fukunaga himself lists CR and OHMSS as his two main inspirations for this, and it shows - in a good way.
NTTD feels and looks dynamic - which after the auteurish-bondfilms of Sam 'hold that shot' Mendes; where I often felt the director was more concerned with framing than storytelling, feels fresh and is quite honestly a relief.
CJF knows how to build a Bond film, and how to deliver crisp and energetic action sequences. He doesn't force stylistic elements that don't work for 007 - he heightens reality, and it is in EXACTLY this heightened reality where James Bond should exist.
The tone of the film is haphazard but manages to hold together thanks to CJF's skill - it's blatantly obvious that there were several writers involved - some of which know NOTHING about Ian Fleming's James Bond.
There is a scene in which 007 mocks M in his office that very nearly made me dismiss the whole thing as utter garbage - Bond's relationship with M is so far off the source material that it makes you wonder if Babs proof read the script at all (I maintain my less than popular opinion that Barbara Broccoli is not fit to be calling the creative shots in the Bond series, she is a business woman, not a filmmaker...)
Furthermore I'm not in the camp that thinks Phoebe Waller-Bridgerton is the next coming, and find her less than subtle writing a bit too in your face - this shows in NTTD as we are routinely force-fed the notion that Bond is past it and no longer relevant because he is a middle-aged white male who likes to sleep with women and doesn't wear make up or paint his toenails. For Christian Bale's sake...
The first three-quarters of an hour fly by and really show off what this well-oiled EoN crew is capable of - it has been said plenty but bears repeating: Daniel Craig puts his soul and very best work into this film - he is magnificent and tops even Dalton in the acting stakes, to my mind at least.
The supporting cast is excellent and makes the whole thing feel 'large' and alive - something I sorely missed since Casino Royale. Ana de Armas and Ralph Fiennes in particular bring their A-game and lift the film at key moments giving it both gravitas and lightheartedness when needed.
The score is mostly a triumph, although someone does need to point out to Hans Zimmer that the classic Bond-theme is a CULMINATION cue - not something to be used in every 2nd scene whilst driving along or buttoning up one's suit jacket. But still, he breathes life into the film in a way only Arnold and Barry have done before him.
There is a discinct lull after the 2nd act and the film does plod a little by the 2h.15m mark, but this is a minor gripe that could be directed at many other Bond outings.
One thing I still don't care for is the (always forced) ever-present melodrama that Babs & EoN insist in giving Craig's 007 universe - as Univex pointed out - I don't particularly want to see Bond on fatherhood duty as I have plenty of that going on in my own, distinctly non-cinematic, life as it is, thanks v much.
Whichever way you look at it - this was always the most likely way that Craig's 007 arc was going to end.
And whether or not it was the Bond film that I or you, the fans, wanted or not - that is up for serious debate. But it was the Bond film that Daniel Craig's tenure needed...
I'll just reiterate these passages, which I found to be wonderfully put:
"NTTD made me believe in the real 007 again for about an hour (only to cruelly tear it away from me in the latter stages of the film - SPECTRE, anyone..?) - though through no fault of Daniel Craig himself - the man is class and saved this film for me. He completely delivers on the promise he showed in Casino Royale and does his interpretation of the character utter justice"
"One thing I still don't care for is the (always forced) ever-present melodrama that Babs & EoN insist in giving Craig's 007 universe. I don't particularly want to see Bond on fatherhood duty as I have plenty of that going on in my own, distinctly non-cinematic, life as it is, thanks v much"
"Whichever way you look at it - this was always the most likely way that Craig's 007 arc was going to end.
And whether or not it was the Bond film that I or you, the fans, wanted or not - that is up for serious debate. But it was the Bond film that Daniel Craig's tenure needed..."
My friend, @AceHole, it's good to see you again in the forums, it really is. Thank you for your wonderful, honest, faithful and just review.
Cheers
PS: The principal thing to do for Bond26 is to get new and apt writers who have a full understanding of Ian Fleming's James Bond, IMO. Not doing this is the equivalent of shooting the proverbial foot again and again, until there is no foot to shoot upon.
I still don't have any fondness for the ending and I feel conflicted with it, and I don't want to write a full review yet with it clouding my judgement.
The first third of NTTD is so good and exactly what I wanted, Bond a ruthless killer, wounded animal and struggling with retirement. NTTD is worth watching just because of Daniel's fantastic performance, especially in the first half.
You nailed it on the M scenes by the way, nearly every review I've read or heard, praised it and I really hate it. I thought I was alone in that to be honest, but I could never picture Bond being so rude and childish to M. I didn't think the jokes nor the delivery of them worked personally
Oh I liked that scene: I liked the idea that as he was no longer working for SIS we had a totally new dynamic between the two of them- we've never seen Bond and M talking outside of the structure of respect for rank and M's status as his boss, and Bond was being totally frank as a result.
What I wasn't keen on was M being such a fool to commission that weapon, and it was out of step with what we knew about Mallory from the previous films. Much less keen on that.
I agree with this. As much as I love the film, M's involvement in the first place seems out of character for Mallory. We could have done with a bit more insight I thought. Otherwise I liked the taste of the casual M/Bond dynamic and it got a good laugh at the cinema.