“No Time to Die”…….the Un-fettered Review!
Looking forward to seeing the latest James Bond movie with great urgency…..seemed somehow out of sorts for us. Usually, we do not follow the herd mentality and just jump off the cliff every time someone yells “Lemming!” in a crowded room. In this case however there seemed to be some compelling force pushing us to get there early and pay close attention. To put this into some context, the first James Bond we ever saw was at the Port Theater in Corona del Mar, way back in 1964. It was called “Dr. No”. From the time we saw that flick, we have been hooked James Bond, 007 fans without doubt. Sure, we were quite upset when Roger Moore took over the reigns for Sean Connery…..George Lasenby never counted back then.
“No Time to Die” is the 26th edition of what Cubbie Brocolli envisioned and conceived of, taking the works of Ian Fleming and making them into the first major film Franchise in US History. Having to endure the likes of Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton were painful to those of us that were devout Sean Connery fans. In retrospect Roger Moore wasn’t that bad for the Bond Purist Set. Along comes Daniel Craig into our world……along with a great array and endless list of bad, terrible, crazy, nutcase villains of the worst repute with one worse than the next.
In “No Time to Die” you wind up with maybe six or seven different bad guys, a Black Female 007 (that is supposed to be on the good guys side!), Earnst Stavro Blofeld (incarcerated!), a Love of his life and a daughter! Giveaway Alert: This film is tough to watch, tough to keep up with and violent without any redeeming reasons.
Moving on; the opening of the film is great…..enjoyed it a lot. Then things get way too confusing for anyone to try to unravel. We will not attempt to even give you any incite. Watch the movie carefully….especially in the beginning. The connections soon become cartoons rather than touchy feels on reality. Felix Lighter? The CIA? MI6 Retirement? Why do the bad guys want him dead so early? Was it something he did in the past? The ragged connection with “M” and “Q”? Who was that great cute Intern Agent in the Cocktail dress? She was awesome! Probably our favorite cast member for this film.
The bad guys as you can well imagine were BAD! Very BAD! The Love Interest was disconnected by any standard …..we never did get how this relationship ever developed even in the beginning. Character Development, Character Development: they say! Anyway, it took a great deal of time to discover the Essential Threat to Mankind and what needed to be done to save most of the people on the planet. No Give-A-Way Alert: Cyber DNA! Sorry, but even if we told you everything we saw….it wouldn’t help. By the way, the Theme Song by Billy Elish was not to our liking…..no biggie! The music was fine, the lyrics were awful. We expected better music however throughout. The Negativity was rampant throughout. The brutal answer by Government at the end of this film was not necessary. In fact, the ending was awful in every respect.
We will leave you with this: Go see “No Time to Die”, but do not accept the outcome. There should have been three or four selections to choose from…..for the best ending. Many of us will probably have to go back and see this film two or three more times….to get depressed enough to write the filmmakers and demand a “Recount”!
“No Time to Die – the Un-fettered Review! Hoping that the next 007 will be coming soon!
*There seems to be a “Death Cult” circling Hollywood lately. Now we hear that Jamie Lee Curtis dies in “Hollyween Kill”. Hilarious. When are they going to pick on Annette and Frankie from “Beach Blanket Bingo”? Who are these idiots in Hollywood nowadays? We do like the Geico Commercial take off however!
This was the first movie I’ve seen in a theater since 2019 and IMO, it was well worth the wait.
There were so many callbacks to previous Bond films that I want to watch NTTD again just to enjoy the movie and not perk up like a meerkat at every Bond Easter Egg and inside joke.
Fascinating that this film paid so much homage to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (my personal favorite Bond film).
My qualm was a lack of character development with Felix Leiter (played for a record-breaking third time by Jeffrey Wright) and Bond, and we’ll as really delving deeper into the Safin character.
The one overarching trend of Daniel Craig’s portrayal of Bond is that we have seen a stripped-down character who is uniquely more human and flawed than at any other time in the series.
This film continues that trend – until the end of the film. It may not be the send-off for Craig’s Bond that some hoped for, but his Kobayashi Maru solution was an expected conclusion to arc of this incarnation of Bond.
I was a fan of Eilish’s song last year, but when I heard it during the opening credits, I had a different reaction.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the series moves on with the new Bond.
Jeffrey Wright is one of my favorite actors who should be better known, ever since Basquiat, Angels in America, the Manchurian Candidate remake… but especially his Puerto Rican gangster character Peoples Hernandez, which was the high point of Samuel Jackson’s 2000 Shaft remake.
I liked him playing Peoples.
I had no idea that Wright did plays and Shaft made me a fan.
Nice review! Who’s your choice for the new Bond?
*Woody Allen! James Bond doesn’t die. Craig will be back after the drone came by to pick him up out of the sea……as any James Bond Fan knows..really happened. We want the Intern with Three weeks Training to be the nexr Jane Bond!
I’d be good with Tom Hiddleston, Henry Cavill or a dark horse pick of James Scott, if they could lure him out of retirement.
I agree with Daniel Craig that instead of casting a Black or female Bond, writers and producers should create new vehicles for women and minority actors to thrive.
There have been several rumored spin-offs involving female Bond co-stars. It just takes a little legwork, but expanding the Bond universe could actually be good for the franchise.
Good points.
*Gene, your read like the Wallstreet Journal. About as exciting as watching grass grow. Well, you could add some Roundup…….for later lawsuits…..but having said that: There can only be ONE JAME BOND at a time. A vertical programming concept for MoneyPenny, Q, M or Blofeld makes absolutely NO SENSE at all, to us, the unpaid Film Critic Group. Next, you will want several knock-offs for The Godfather? “Your job if you choose……is to find funding for these projects”.. and get The Trumpster Group to back you!
Much like Disney/Marvel, the Bond producers could work with Amazon (which bought MGM) to create content for Amazon TV – Adventures of Q, Moneypenny, etc. – and keep the Bond films in the theaters.
People would watch that.