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Thank you, @Creasy47, old friend.
Well, I can’t, for the life of me, recognise Bond as the character I grew up loving, from the books and films, in the second part of the film. I do like the first part, a lot actually. But when it starts to go downhill, it really hits rock bottom, IMO. And, in these times of doom and gloom, I just can’t fandom having him killed off in the end and not being ambiguous about his fate. If I could fix NTTD, I’d do it this way: No kid, no nanobots. Don’t kill Bond at the end or leave it ambiguous. Better, punchier song. And a totally different wardrobe for our man Bond. Trying to give a short answer to your question here, and probably failing, my friend :)
Not at all! I totally get where you're coming from with a lot of that. I think I ended up liking it more than I would've at face value because of how much I loathed SP and how entertaining the action was in some respects - short and sweet, but pretty entertaining overall, sans the snappy machine-gunning in Cuba and some sequences that aren't as exciting or expansive as I was hoping they'd be after seeing them teased in the marketing.
Yes, I quite agree. In fact, it’s a bit sad to think I don’t love a Bond film since 2012. That was a decade ago :(
The last one for me was QoS, and I really, really loved that one. You're telling me, it's such a drag waiting that long to find another installment you love. I think that's why I managed to look more favorably upon NTTD; otherwise, now that the honeymoon phase is over and the emotional impact is gone, I'm not terribly invested in a lot of the big ideas and implementations in the film, particularly killing off Bond.
I often wonder how I would have received the film if it had come out on time in April, 2020. I liked NTTD a lot and I found the ending to be risky and rewarding. But it also seemed to fit well with a Fall 2021, COVID atmosphere. I will look back on NTTD as being a product of COVID, with its virus-oriented plot line. And yet, as we all know, the film was completed and in the can before COVID was ever on the radar.
That's exactly it. I don't think big ideas and implementations is being risky. Neither was turning Craig's era into a soap opera with awful continuity and really, really bad writing. I can say it now, NTTD was poorly written. Cringeworthy, really. At least QOS benefited from silences, due to the strikes. I prefer a silent Bond to a cringeworthy one. And the Scooby gang, which was thankfully absent from CR and QOS, really ruined the rest of the films for me.
Sometimes I think I could ring up the producers and make myself useful. At least I have 11 published books (a 12th out next year), all critically well received, six of them novels. None are of the spy genre, and english, alas, is not my mother tongue, even though two of them were written and published in the King's. I'm not saying a fan should ever be the writer of choice, I'm just saying I think I have some sensitivity towards the quality of the written word, and we're sadly lacking in that department since 2006. But NTTD was particularly jarring. I think no one here will firmly state that the Daniel Craig James Bond from CR was given the same quality of lines throughout his other entries. And no, let's not confuse the differentiation in characterisation and language with an arch. One is perfectly distinguishable from the other.
Oh, how I wish they would get new writers. Hey, I'm available, sort of. Well, I'd find the time ;)
And boy oh boy, @Creasy47, my friend, are we due a good film by now ;)
I tried to stop complaining about the Scooby Gang for a while but I would wholeheartedly love it if the next era reduced the screentime and focus of M, MP, Q and co., especially when we continue to cut back to them while Bond's on a mission. I know some would argue that it makes the films too formulaic and repetitive but I really don't care about it when it comes to those characters. I don't think I can stomach seeing Bond chat up Moneypenny on the phone about her lovers while escaping from an assassin again. It's too much.
Me neither. They were the absolute worst thing from this series, IMO.
And about the formula, the way I see it, they've been trying to kill the goose with the golden eggs for years now. And, unfortunately, succeeding. There are tons of ways the formula could still work with little tweaks and updates. Clever variations of a winning formula, that's the way to do it.
Me too, my friend, me too. Fun, exotic, stylish escapism, with a solid espionage plot . That's what we need.
QOS
SF
NTTD
SP
QOS and SF are usually neck and neck for me. Today, it wins.
Spectre has officially overtaken NTTD, which brings my Craig rankings exactly on trend with Brosnan’s (ie. a straight line downward through their tenure - GE, TND, TWINE, DAD):
1. CR
2. QOS
3. SF
4. SP
5. NTTD
My main reason for the switch is that NTTD feels very awkward and uneven in its writing and tone. It almost comes across as a very expensive Bond imitation film. Despite some beautiful shots, I find the dream-like cinematography rather distracting and oversaturated. The dialogue is too chatty, and the villain/ending still isn’t “settling in” for me. Where NTTD has many excellent moments, at least Spectre has a decent 2/3.
Yep.
SF
QOS
NTTD (A better title for this film would have been Coda.)
SPECTRE
QOS
SP
SF
NTTD
2. Casino Royale
3. Quantum of Solace
4. SPECTRE
5. No Time To Die
NTTD is where Craig acting like himself, it's more of Craig's film than a Bond film, NTTD is no different to his previous films outside of Bond like Flashbacks of a fool, or Enduring Love, it feels more like a film of Daniel Craig than a Bond film, and again, there's Madeleine Swann (I just don't liked her, she's very unlikeable).
SPECTRE is better in that it's still felt like a Bond film, it's not pretending, and whereas with NTTD the story, everything that's happened in the film was like slapping on your face, like a force spoon feeding, with SPECTRE it's not like that, the only thing that ruined it was Madeleine Swann and the whole step brother thing, but remove those two and it's a decent or good Bond film, it would probably have been better than Quantum, given that Craig's acting was really superb in SPECTRE, whereas Quantum he's Bourne-like, but alas, the stars had never aligned.
SF
QOS
NTTD
SP
Skyfall and Quantum of Solace could quite easily switch places.
1. CR
2. SF
3. NTTD
4. QOS
5. SP
Preference:
1. CR
2. SP
3. QOS
4. NTTD
5. SF
CR
QOS
SF
NTTD
SP
QoS
NTTD
SF
SP
I'm still amazed that they chose to double down on SP. If ever a film in the series deserved to be left behind, it's that one.
Crikey! Someone with the same ranking as myself...!!! Great taste @Birdleson 😁
SF
SP
QoS
NTTD
Mine would be completely chronological if I didn't think QoS was a bit of a mess. That said, I like all of the first four Craig movies and would argue they're the best run of four Bond films since the sixties. Though TLD-TND was good fun as well.
CR
SF
NTTD
SP
QoS
Basically the same as mine, just flip SF and CR.
Not trying to sound condescending towards you, but that probably would be the exact order general audiences collectively, who have seen them all, would put it, if I’m not mistaken.
1. QoS
2. CR
3. NTTD
4. SF
5. SP
The jump from NTTD to SF marks a huge drop off in my level of enjoyment.
It is beautiful though.
That's about all I get out of it though. The performances are very solid. And trust me, I've tried really, really, really hard to come around on this one. It's only gone up in my estimations thanks to how utterly terrible I think SP is.
I think they felt a ton of pressure to make the 50th anniversary Bond as immaculate as possible; crossing every t and dotting every i, rounding every corner off, putting as much "Bond" in it as absolutely possible, and I think they accomplished all that... but forgot to make it fun.
The polar opposite of Spectre; slapped together, rough around the edges, pieces don't quite all fit... but I derive a lot more fun from it.