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I meant most people in relation to this site. I know the film was popular with critics and the public, as I said earlier.
I'll re-phrase that as quite a few people on this site have said they'd have preferred Skyfall to be Daniel Craig's last Bond film.
Sorry for the confusion. I was in hurry when I wrote that.
To be honest, I'm beginning to think I like SP more than NTTD. Mendes knew how to present James Bond visually....even with the film's problems.
And removing her from the action at the end made no sense to me...you have two 00s. Use them.
@007HallY , I definitely understand your perspective. It’s honest and it’s also nice to see how you can see why they ended it this way.
EoN, and the other creatives involved (from all of the writers and director and the distributors), must have known that this conclusion would have ticked off a portion of their built in audience.
But all of them decided to go for it.
I admire them for making that choice, and I luckily loved it since I first laid my tear-filled eyes on the image of my favourite James Bond being blown to smithereens (not to be too melodramatic about it, 😂)
In fact it was very short, sweet and classy.
I'm beginning to think the aesthetics and cinematography of Bond are the strongest factor in me being a fan. Applying also to Fleming's descriptions in the novels.
I must agree here. Truthfully, it was the nanobot ploy that made it hard for me to really be okay with this movie. Bond looking up to face his fate with no fear was actually pretty intense.
That he got to that point because, nanobots... I mean, that's Stargate Atlantis stuff for cripe's sake! ;))
And I'm obviously just a member of the general public and not someone with a decade's history on this site, thanks.
If Bond had to die--and he did, even though it was no time to die--what other plot device ensuring Bond's sacrifice and death would have worked that would have seemed less contrived?
Seriously? I could come up with many given the time or motivation to try...
I agree, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility for a Bond film; personally I think I would have preferred a biological virus, which I think was something they were considering.
My question isn't addressed to you personally. It's just out there for anyone who'd like to take a stab at it.
The nanobots ploy makes it easy. Science that can't be perfectly explained nor understood. Forcing Bond into a place where he had to die without nonsense would have required actual writing skills.
Him sacrificing himself to save Leiter?
Him dying while killing the big bad?
Making it back home with a wound that ended him just before he reached the front door?
Endless possibilities never explored because... nanobots.
On the positive side, NTTD is a far better film than SP and I felt that the chemistry between Craig and Léa Seydoux was better. The action was good, I thought that the homages to prior Bond films – especially OHMSS – were well handled, Zimmer’s score was top-notch and Craig (as always) is excellent.
The elephant in the room, is of course, Bond’s death. Maybe my Bond fan card should be revoked, but for whatever reason, I was not as moved by it as I thought I would be. In fact, Leiter’s passing affected me more – especially during my first viewing of the film.
Oddly, I’m not entirely sure why I feel that way. Perhaps subconsciously I viewed Bond’s death scene as being too passive and I would have liked something more “in battle.” Again, that was my impression in October 2021, and I still haven’t been able to shake it. That said, whenever Bond 26 is released and I have a chance to really place the Craig era in context (for me), I may feel differently.
My two cents anyway.
A quick aside: While NTTD did good box-office in the US (maybe not as well as some would have liked, but still good), I don’t remember there being a lot a “buzz” about the fact that Bond died at the end of the film. And by “buzz” I’m not referring to the film press, but to more general media. You would have thought that given the status of Bond in popular culture; it would have been the topic of wide conversation. I could be wrong about this, but I don’t recall any. Maybe with super-heroes being killed right and left, the "death of the hero" is somewhat passe.
I've just realized that the Craig Era leaned too much on damaged Bond Girls, I think it's one of the aspects why his tone was also dour and serious.
The 'Bird With A Wing Down' aspect has been overused in the Craig Era (with an exception of Paloma or maybe Strawberry Fields), all of Craig's Bond Girls had that sort of inner heavy baggage in them, they're burden, too heavy to watch.
I understand Vesper, but the rest, like Camille, Severine, Lucia Sciarra and Madeleine Swann, they're all very dour to watch because all of them were tragic, could we rest from that?
I'd liked to see Bond Girls with sense of humor and fun, and witty as Bond himself.
That's why it's a breathe of fresh air to see someone like Paloma, just playful and fun, a woman with no problems and not complicated.
The trend of an iconic, beloved hero performing self sacrifice, IMO had run it's course by the time NTTD was released.
The biggest faux pas for me personally, is post NTTD, I'm not excited to see what happens next. That was a 6 year gap, and unlike GOLDENEYE, I don't feel the series was rejuvenated after the hiatus. If anything, killing Bond only compounds that error.
Of course, the intention wasn't to rejuvenate the series, but permanently end that iteration of Bond. In that respect I suppose it works, but doesn't exactly make me enthused for whatever Barbara and Michael come up with next.
Looking back, the Craig era itself makes me feel like the series is winding down. Not just the longer gaps, but the various attempts to do something shocking (like killing Bond, M, Felix, etc), reek of desperation. At least that's how I feel when I rewatch those films now. I still love them regardless, but I'm not holding my breath on anything new.
Future Bond films may be akin to, say, waiting for someone to make a new Tarzan or Dracula movie. They happen occasionally, and some are better than others, but they're not what I call a series or franchise. Just one off revivals of iconic characters.
Time will tell, but those are my feelings two years on from NTTD.
Used to really hate it, but I’ve slightly warmed to it lately.
The first part is excellent, the pts, Jamaica and Cuba. All great stuff.
The second part is a bit convoluted I think. Killing off Felix felt unnecessary, killing off Blofeld off-screen and by accident makes FYEO’s chimney drop look like a stroke of genius and Bond’s death felt convoluted and overly dramatic. The film refers to OHMSS so many times, I would expect they would have learned from the way Tracy’s death was handled. Less fuss, but with a real gut punch.
Now with all that being said, three aspects do keep my interest throughout:
- Léa is outstanding from beginning to end, what an actress!
- having become a dad myself fairly recent, I was truly invested in the father-daughter storyline, Lisa-Dorah Sonnet was phenomenal all the way through too. And there are few child actors who are. Impressive stuff.
- The cinematography, heads-off to Linus Sandgren.
Now that was longer than I anticipated. All in all I’d give a higher rating than a few months ago, though some of my original gripes still stand.
I've already re-written it once. But just for you, I'll do a third version. Here you go . . .
Without prejudice. . .
Certain members of this site, (but perhaps not the majority), as evidenced by opinions herein, might/would have preferred Skyfall to have been Craig's last Bond film. That's not to say that people who liked Spectre and/or Skyfall aren't just as much Bond fans as those that didn't, and furthermore, may even have greater commitment to the Bondian cause.
Is that okay?
I can do a fourth version if required, should anyone else find issue with it. But I think I have all bases covered now.
The movie in general works great for me and I enjoy rewatching it, I think the finale is great - though the things I disliked I dislike even more: Safin is badly written and also the otherwise great Malek can't turn this material into something better on-screen. And I still simply hate Waltz as Blofeld. It's not as bad as SPECTRE in this regard - still I am totally annoyed by his casting, his performance and how they wrote this character in SP and NTTD.
But - to summarize and stay true to the thread's title: I think it was a good ending for *this* timeline. Next film should show a different Bond and just enter Moneypenny's office like nothing happened.
James Bond will return
So we're supposed to feel sadness or some other emotion at the passing of Bond but told "don't worry, he'll be alive in the next film!"
Just silly.
However, if NTTD were Eon's final produced Bond film I guess the death of James Bond could be justified. It would draw the 25 film franchise to a natural end. The End. But I don't think Barbara Broccoli plans to sell up. Amazon has bought MGM so it's very unlikely Eon want to ditch their new relationship with Amazon/MGM.
I also apportion some of the foolishness and blame to Daniel Craig. It's been suggested he was the driving force behind wanting Bond to die in NTTD (possibly a condition of his return to the role). If the rumour is true, Danny Boyle rejected Craig's demand and this led to Boyle leaving the film.
Sadly, we can't undo time. No Time To Die happened and fans have to accept it. You don't have to support the next film. You can boycott Bond 26 in protest at the decision to kill off Bond. That's a personal decision. It's counter-intuitive because all fans want the franchise to continue and prosper, but killing off Bond could be a sufficient reason to question your loyalty to the franchise? Perhaps.
Boyle was fired because he didn’t want anyone but his writer touching the script they had. He was against rewrites and he was very much against professional script-doctors jumping on board what has been described as quite a dull screenplay.
Unfortunately for him, he didn’t own the rights to the script— EoN did and still does. They fired him because he wasn’t a team player.
Bond, like other tent pole pics, have quite a number of script doctors doing passes. Some may polish dialogue, others, action; some may have to do heavier lifting on story and character. It’s the way of big budget script development.
Danny Boyle comes from an indie background and was still playing in that sandbox when he was canned.
EoN was correct in getting rid of him.
As for NTTD being silly, I guess I’m a silly person because I loved it .