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
I assume that that's less the fault of Craig's performance than it is the expectations we have of his Bond 4 films in. If that makes sense.
edit: Speaking of which, I am halfway through a rewatch of SP. Had to stop it last night. My thoughts haven't changed much, but I'm spending so much more time on the Bond/Madeleine stuff.
1. Casino Royale
2. No Time to Die
3. Skyfall
4. Quantum of Solace
5. Spectre
(This is an extremely preliminary ranking based on one watch. It's closer to SF than it is CR, right now, and those two could easily swap).
Wanted to see if NTTD improved this. It did, marginally. The strengths are the same as before:
- Pre-title sequence
- Bond’s general swagger and cool
- Lucia Sciarra scene / SPECTRE meeting
- Mr. white
- Tangier / everything on the train / everything from there until Blofeld shows up in his lair
- Hoytema’s cinematography is rich and tactile and delightful to look at.
———
However, one thing that did work more this time was Bond and Madeleine. Thanks, NTTD, for helping to retroactively improve that dynamic. It still isn’t incredible, but I felt it more.
That said, the flaws here, unlike in some Bond films, REALLY detract. And I mean really.
- The pacing is abysmal. All of the intercuts to London *kill* the film. The C subplot is egregious.
- Enough has been said about Blofeld, but Waltz’s performance is flat and lifeless and dull. On paper, this is embarrassingly bad. Offensively terrible. Bond’s greatest enemy is his jealous older foster brother? And then “it’s all connected” now because Blofeld didn’t like that his dad liked Bond more? It is unfathomably bad. I cannot overstate how much that ruins the film once we get there. Not that there’s much to ruin. Aside from some good photography, everything dies once we get to his lair and then gets worse ofne we’re in London. Maybe the worst climax of any Bond film ever.
- Aside from the train fight and the PTS, the action here is dreadfully lifeless. The Rome chase is the most egregious. When your big action scenes actually detract from a film that is already badly paced (I blame Mendes’ stuffy, stately, snoozy direction) you’ve got a problem.
- The whole movie just feels rather tired to me. The Scooby stuff toward the end and intermixed. It has many good parts - many - but they’re all broken up and dispersed amongst a lot of fat, a lot of stuff that bogs it down.
For me; this is a movie that is often better in memory, because you remember the good scenes and you forget all that between them. Anyways, I liked it more this time around. I appreciated a lot of it more, including Bond and Madeleine (it isn’t great, but it’s stronger than I used to think). But it’s still bottom tier for sure.
Like NTTD, this film has a gut punch for an ending. This film is a lot more fast paced than I remembered! I was also impressed by the editing, the ski chase/ escape from Piz Gloria as well as the following vehicle chase.
Lazenby performs admirably for his experience. The only thing I don't like is the dubbing for Bond as Sir Hilary Bray, made me cringe and wish they didn't do that! Also, feel a bit weird about Bond falling for Tracy and then still bedding the girls, but I suppose Tracy herself said that 'love would come someday'. After she saves Bond, the scene in the barn is one of the series best.
It's always hard for me to rank this one because I enjoy so many others, but it deserves to be in everyone's top ten!
But I was also struck by how far ahead of it's time it was in other respects
For instance I'd forgotten the part where James Bond confronts Covid 19
And the Star Trek crossover, where Bond poses as a Romulan Ambassador
Or that this is the only Bond film that features two incarnations of Ernst Stavro Blofeld at the same time
And the only really sexy Toyota I have ever seen in my life
Oh, and they killed James Bond!!!
SPECTRE
My mixed feelings haven't changed much. I still think the Mexaco sequence, up to the collapsing building, is Craig finally being Bond. And there are a few other moments throughout the film that I like, but there are equal number of elements that grind my gears.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon
1. SPECTRE
2. No Time To Die
I thought after NTTD it could affect my viewing, but the latter Craig films hardly registered at all I was so engrossed. In fact i find SP has about as much in common with this film as The Wizard of Oz.
CR is it's own beast and holds its own regardless of what came after. Everything works. It's a classic already and it raised the bar to heights possibly never to be attained again.
Treated myself to a matinee of the newest film today. Third time. My previous 2 viewings had been hampered by the time constraints of going to work afterwards, so there hadn't been a real chance to truly relax, enjoy the film and let everything sink in.
That said this was by far the best viewing I've had of NTTD.
One sour note was that the film was projected slightly un-even on the multiplex screen. WTF!
The gunbarrel dots rolled across the screen a bit low and reminded me of that Lowery AVTAK transfer in which the opening of the film was framed incorrectly.
Still I'm thrilled I had the chance to see this again on the big screen. My hunch is next week it will no longer be playing in my neck of the woods.
Something regarding NTTD, so I will put it in tags...
Silver Anniversary Bondathon
1. Skyfall
2. SPECTRE
2. No Time To Die
As much as I would like to claim a new appreciation for QOS, I can't. The editing is still as atrocious now, as it was when I saw it on the big screen back in 2008. It doesn't make me feel like I am there with Bond. The opposite actually, it takes me out of the film. It makes me feel like I am being kicked in the head by a Rugby squad. I also find Greene's plan to be pitifully... meh, and as a villain, he's a joke. Elvis was his henchman, says it all.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon
1. Skyfall
2. SPECTRE
3. No Time To Die
4. Quantum Of Solace
Are you able to download it already? That was quick!
The editing is my biggest issue. It ruins what could have been some good sequences. I do like the way that Bond deals with Greene at the end, but that's about it, really.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon
1. Skyfall
2. Casino Royale
3. SPECTRE
4. No Time To Die
5. Die Another Day
6. Quantum Of Solace
Extremely tired, so I'll keep this brief. This continues to rise in my estimation. It is well paced, has some wonderful action, Brosnan's performance is pretty strong, contains some of the better thematic heft out of many of the Bond films despite its relative lightness.
Maybe my tastes are just worsening with age, but I dig it. It's also easily one of the most gorgeous Bond films. Elswit is an absolute master. So many beautiful, thematically communicative compositions and the lighting is exquisite.
Some of the humor falls flat, but it isn't as bad as in the following two. And quite a fair bit of it actually works. Michelle Yeoh is absolutely wonderful and gorgeous, despite being a bit underused for what she brings to the table.