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I've never anticipated a new Bond movie more in my lifetime than I'm anticipating Bond 26...
I will say as someone with the polar opposite feeling about NTTD that, while I was there for the transition from Brosnan to Craig, I was only 10, and my only investment in it was my childish movement with the pack of going "this guy looks like a henchman, not Bond." This is the first time I've REALLY been around for a changing of the guard, and to top it off after such a long and iconic tenure, Bond as a pop culture icon like the world hasn't seen since GF/TB. I feel VERY invested in Bond 26 and beyond.
I'd have gone with a subtle theme of him getting out, sans being infected, but getting out just barely. A fake out so you think he's dead but not. Final scene you see dou dou in their home but not him. Something like that.
But as I said people would complain he's leading a life of domesticity which he struggles with.
No one was going to be happy with this I feel no matter what direction.
This isn't a mindless blow-'em-up thriller, this is an intelligently crafted, superbly edited, lean, mean piece of work. Frenetic action, and the most serious (arguably) Bond movie ever. But, I respect your opinion. That’s the thing today that I don’t understand-it’s okay to have different views. It did take me several viewings to come to that conclusion, and I wrestled with the ending...a lot. I’m the end, it really appealed to me. He finds peace, or so we thought.
Are you still planning on missing NTTD? Not going to the theatre to watch it? Just wondered where you were at now with it.
Hey it looks like I cracked this scene February 2020. :D
I did not see how any Bond film could have him die and pull it off, but this one does. It works. It's emotional, of course, but beautiful and fitting. Cinematically stunning, with perfect editing and sound, outstanding action sequences, solid acting from all (especially Daniel) and Lea works much better in this one.
I know plenty are going to be upset about: a) him dying and b) him fathering a child. And I couldn't fathom those two things working either. I did ponder them because they've been mentioned several times on this forum. But this film did it right, with the right touch, the right tone. It caps off all the stories from CR to now. I still wanted him to live. It hits hard, and I still feel stunned. But it is fitting. Also, this is the right director and cinematographer for sure.
I hope it does great box office; it deserves it. And I'm so glad they saved it for cinema only release. I see it again this Sunday. It is right under Casino Royale for me. What a great movie, and I'm really happy Daniel did not stop with Spectre. So yes, I'm a happy Bond fan even with that ending for Bond. It exceeded my expectations.
That is an impressive prediction :)
I think this is basically it. I'm not a Bond historian like some people here, but this is the first time they went into a production where everyone knew this was going to be the actor's last film, right? Add to that, that Craig has always been slightly to the side of the other films in terms of chronology, I guess they thought to themselves: If we are ever going to do a film in which
I have to say, once you get past whether that was the right call or not (and I am still torn on it), I like a lot about the way it happens.
I agree completely. I am booked in to see it a second time in about two hours and to be honest I don't really want to go.
There is brilliant stuff in it, and there were times when I felt that it was moving really well. The first hour surprised me how good it was. I love the Felix scenes.
But yes, 'deflated' is the word.
There is another outcome you overlooked - had Bond managed to escape and get amnesia WITHOUT the infection. That would have been the best way to end it.
Well put.
Then you have the YOLT issue. People have expressed the issues with that better than me. In some ways its just not subtle enough.
For me they have tried too hard and I suspect made their lives more difficult when it comes to what they do next. Personally, I sincerely hope they do start afresh and in a new ‘world’. My worry is that they might try to continue with this current world (therefore without James Bond), or, worse still, continue and decide that James Bond is in fact a code name and it's passed on to someone else. I wouldn't put it past them doing this given the lengths they've gone to so far to squeeze everything into Craig’s Bond story.
I do think they've shot themselves in the foot. Its twofold: the last two films have gone a bit crazy and they're tried to do and give far too much to the character; secondly, and personally, I am left not only unexcited by what they will do with the next film but am in fact a little concerned about the path they will now take.
Not ideal in my eyes, but that's just my view, obviously!!
Is Casino Royale also your #1? If so, I feel quite vindicated by your reaction.
In short... I'm not too worried.
I have not ranked ALL the films in a long time; it is not a pastime for me. But usually I have CR or FRWL as #1. Skyfall in top 10.
There's 24 other movies in the series, and there will be more in the future. You probably really like most of them. They're still right there on your shelf. This movie doesn't affect those movies. (Well, maybe Spectre, and if you love that and hate this, then I suppose that would be annoying) Craig's timeline has always been its own thing. It's a self-contained five-part anthology.
At the end of Spectre, Bond retired and drove off into the sunset with the woman he loves, and there was a sense of finality. They weren't going to bring him back, do a bunch of stuff, and then again have a completely happy ending where all is completely well with a sense of finality. That wouldn't really work.
Craig Bond saved pretty much the world and went out smiling, having finally protected the people he loves.
James Bond will return.
I’m really quite angry about the way they see the character as disposable. There’s 60 years of love and investment in him. Thrown away for a mediocre melodrama that passes as emotion.
I don't care about subtle. It still would have been a tragic ending, but far better than what we got instead, which yes, wasn't subtle. But not good either.
We don't see Craig's Bond save the world multiple times. So why do characters react to him in NTTD like he's a living legend? (You could argue he fails the mission in CR and SF too).
They want us to feel for Bond that Felix has died, but their relationship doesn't go beyond two or three short meetings. Again, the filmmakers are reliant on what was built during the Cubby era.
In both of the above cases it is all supposed to have happened off screen in adventures we haven't seen. That isn't satisfying. I don't like the Marvel films, but they took the time to actually show Iron Man and Thor and whoever else doing their heroic deeds and becoming friends and developing a relationship etc over multiple films.
As for the relationship with Swann, they have to revert back to the Louis Armstrong song repeatedly to generate some emotion. Again, piggy backing on what's gone before.
So, on the one hand we are all being told to chill out about the ending to NTTD because it will just reboot in the next instalment, and stop being a 'baby' about the film not turning out as we wanted and for things not staying the same. But within NTTD itself Bond's reputation is dependent on those previous formulaic iterations of the character that a lot of people on here seem to despise, and it only gets to have the specific ending it does because of those formulaic Cubby produced movies.
This conflict between the old and new films is probably something more generated by the fans rather than EON, who probably don't see the split so sharply, but it does demonstrate how accurate some critics were when they said that NTTD was likely to divide fan opinion.
Anyway, it is a well made film and after the 60 minute mark I was really impressed. I came away hating it by the end. I am off now to see it again and we will see if my opinions even out over time.