I bought tickets to a 3-D matinee, more or less by accident. I thought I was getting the "Fake I-Max" version. Anyway, this movie worked pretty well in 3-D. Lotsa large set pieces to properly use the effect, which was otherwise subtle and non-intrusive.
What movie were you watching? ALL that stuff was in NO TIME TO DIE . . . Heck, De Armas's character was shoehorned into the story by the director, barely covered by an impossibly showy runway dress, high kicks revealing garter belts. It was practically an old school men's magazine shoot. Honestly, I think a lot of people made up their minds to hate this film before they ever saw it . . .
I love the Bond franchise and have seen every film in the theater since Golden Gun. And generally, I have really liked the Daniel Craig era although QOS and Spectre underperformed for me. Spoilers coming. I enjoyed NTTD very much. Except for the ending. I haven't been this traumatized with a movie franchise since they killed off Spock in Wrath of Khan. I'm in the camp with those who say this is just wrong, Bond cannot die ever. And neither should Spock and yes he did come back but that was science fiction. This seems more final to me. And totally unnecessary. Bond actors have been replaced 6 times and not once did the character need to die in order to be rebooted. I think if I was in charge I would have A) left it more open where we think he died but we are not 100% sure or B) Bond fakes his death living out his life unable to be with Miranda and his daughter. I'm not supposed to feel sad at the end of a Bond film. Still lots to like here. I don't mind growing the Bond character with a family. The opening sequence was awesome if a bit long. I really liked seeing the Aston Martin DB5 again, one of the best Bond cars ever. The car chase in Norway was unique and well done. And what's not to like about DeArmis except we want more? Other minor peeves. The length. I like movies to run around 2 hours. If another 10,15,20 minutes is needed to tell the story, so be it. At 2:45, they could have easily trimmed 20 minutes to improve pacing. Which leads to the next issue, the writing. Not the best fleshed out story. They crammed a lot into this film at the expense of establishing a stronger bad guy and motive. I have no problem with Malek's performance and he made an exceptionally creepy bad guy, I just don't think they gave him enough to do. I thought visually the film was too dark for most of the run time but then again, it is a darker story so I get why they did that.
It does feel like a celebration of sorts of the Previous 24 films while giving an ending to Craig's specific run. Like I said elsewhere, you could conceivably watch this film two ways . As a finale to the Craig era, which it is. But in a meta way? One could ignore the Reboot implications of the Craig era and approach it as a stand-alone possible ending to Bond as a whole, of a Bond coming out of retirement for one final mission which it isn't and is at the same time.
Really the only classic Bond trope not in the film is Bond shagging random hench woman #235 and them dying a few scenes later. But given the story being told it made sense that wasn't included. It isn't the first Bond movie to avoid that trope anyway, so it's not something unprecedented. Also it wasn't like Bond didn't try his usual move with Nomi in their first scenes together...it was she was having none of it. It was pretty funny actually. And yes I agree with your last point. Obviously that doesn't apply to everyone who disliked the film. However what has become an increasingly troubling trope of fandom these days is people getting rilled up by the youtube culture warrior channels about "wokeness" and Reddit screeds about stuff being "ruined by those damned SJW's" months and years before a movie comes out. Fans get predisposed to hate the movie before it comes out and they go to the movie looking for reasons to hate said movie and confirm the worst fears that they've been more or less programed into them, and often they can't see beyond that. Look how people had litteral fits over the Nomi character before the movie. The way some were talking you would think they were killing off or brooming Bond away in the first act and she was going to secretly hijack the film from him and fight the patriarchy and kill all men. The movie comes out...and she's basically the usual kick ass Bond female sidekick we've seen forever. People need to chill out.
I glad the film stunk ( for me)as it didn’t matter where I sat. Today’s choice .. Dune.. trailer suggest ala Star Wars/Krull derivative, I report back when I’m Dune seeing it
That’s partially true as I wasn’t impressed with the trailer, been wrong before .. thought I’d give it a chance, film failed to impress me. But like I said earlier( last week) spoke to an old guy must have been 80, he said it’s the best bond film ever, he was Scottish as well.. felt like saying what about Sean Connery/ Bond films. Anyways folks pays their money, folks are allowed to have an opinion.
Thought Daniel Craig reminded of Sid James as his face was so lined / craggy .. and only in his fifties... anyway Carry on
Well at least you admit your bias against the movie. Of course if you are predisposed to dislike it your mind will often seize on the things you feel reinforce your mindset and will usually override everything else. Same can be true if you are predisposed to like something as well. In my case I thought Spectre was half a good movie with a terrible second half, and Quantum of solice was meh. I loved CR and Skyfall so I feel I had my expectations reasonable. I will be honest and say that if I didn't know the spoiler going in how my reaction would have been. I don't think I'd be quite as negative as some have been but I also think the shock of seeing Bond die might have overshadowed what I felt and feel was an entertaining entry. I half expected he would die even before the spoiler got leaked to me, but going into the theater and seeing it mostly blind might have colored my opinion. At least now I can remove my emotions and look at it rationally.
I do like the idea of Cavill, especially since DC/Warners don't seem to want him as Superman anymore. He was a runner up to Craig in CR so he may have the edge. However he's now a big star, and traditionally Bonds are either unknowns or low key stars. The closest thing to a "star" Bond we've had is Moore, but he was mostly a television staple prior. But...I'd like it.
I'm not sure why a person "predisposed to dislike the movie" would go to the effort and expense of watching it. I understand it's an "event" movie, and Eon held out to make it so. But still why go to a movie you think you'll hate? Two people at my workplace have seen it. One cried at the end, the other was asleep and missed it.
It might be hard to believe, but there are some that hate watch movies or go to movies they know they will probably hate, especially if its part of a franchise they like/used to like or, as Roger Ebert once said, someone who constructs their entire being from being a fan of fandom. Yes it defies logic, but those people do exist. Not here necessarily, but I've encountered a few here and there. I find its people who feel obligated to watch everything that a particular franchise they are devoted to being a fan of puts out, even if they know it will likely upset and anger them, because they often want to piss in the cornflakes of other fans who do like it , especially more casual fans, because they take great pride in their superiority and take it upon themselves to gatekeep.
I like Dave Gorman's comic routine (wrt music fans). He calls them "Extractor Fans" those who extract other peoples joy from a certain group or album. Go to 5:30 in the clip
THE ONION sells a tee shirt that reads, "I appreciate the Muppets on a much deeper level than you." Similar to people who feel the need to report in every Rolling Stones thread that they haven't been to a Rolling Stones show or bought an album since 19XX, which magically is also the date the poster claims the band stopped being relevant to anyone else, either. Solipsism much?
I'm so pleased I didn't get sucked into the MCU. I enjoyed the Iron Man movies, disliked the Thor movie I watched and thought Avengers Assemble was ok. The first Captain America was enjoyably retro. However I was in a group of people watching one of the later ensemble movies and thought it was terrible. I tend to bite my tongue when people are discussing them at work, just because they are obviously 'invested' in a way that I can only dump on if I had my say. I'm just not that guy.
After two years of a global pandemic. Looking forward to going back to cinema. Perhaps“ feel good factor“.. I was hoping that with JB25, even though I had my doubts. Things I didn’t like in Never Time To Die ..cough ; .. cast, music .. story. Anything redeeming? Guess Daniel Craig is gone.
I do believe it was time for Craig to make an exit, lest he started embarrassing himself like Roger Moore did when he stayed on past For Your Eyes Only ( although in retrospect, I can understand why EON bent over backwards to get Roger to return for Octopussy given the whole Never Say Never Again fiasco). I'm certainly glad Craig didn't make SPECTRE his Swan song. Yeah it had a happier ending, but it was ultimately such a disappointment and NTTD while not perfect, was a good way to end. Its at least in my opinion a solid film in the series. Although in retrospect, SKYFALL may have been the perfect place for Craig to end his run. It was probably the closest thing the Craig series had to a stand alone entry and pretty much returned the status quo of the series to its roots after two movies of distancing itself from the past. By the end of that movie we have a new Moneypenny, A new Q and a New M, and Bond was ready to get back to more self contained adventures/cases. May have been a good point to pick up with a new actor. I think moving forward it wouldn't be a bad thing if the next few Bond actors do trilogies. Not necessarily tied together, but three movies each while said actor is in their prime and then they pass it off to someone else before they get stale. Keep some of the support cast but change out Bond and keep it fresh. I think every Bond actor has three good movies in them.
Sean Connery did Bond 7x David Niven 1 George Lazenby 1 Roger Moore 7 Timothy Dalton 2 Pierce Brosnan 4 Daniel Craig 5
Thanks for posting that! His line about Black Star was absolutely classic! My wife and I enjoyed the film, but I'll probably see it again in the theater with a closed caption unit. They should have done a second ADR pass on Remy Malik's lines. Friend of mine tweeted an excellent suggestion that they should just not make any more Bond films for about a decade, and instead do spin off series about related characters. I would totally watch a series about Q.
