No Time to Die (2021 James Bond film). May include spoilers!*

NtTD was delayed 3 times due to the pandemic. I'm not sure you can lay that at the feet of Craig, the filmmakers, the studio, or anyone else.

Covid: James Bond film No Time To Die delayed for third time

 

Release delayed but filming started in 2019.

First, Danny Boyle's treatment was rejected so that accounts for a good portion of wasted time, spent looking for another director and re-writing the script.

Also, Craig's negotiated (said he wouldn't do another one after Spectre) comeback took time.

 

Good point, but Craig does get beat up in each film by doing some of the fighting and stunts himself--it's a lot more physical than previous Bonds and he worked a lot harder to keep in shape. That said, Keanu thoroughly surpassed him with the Wick franchise. Probably better entertainment value for mindless action that lacks many pretentious elements of 007. I need to rewatch the entire Craig run and maybe I'll have a different take on how it holds up.

 

That’s up to him if he wants to do his own stunt stuff and injure himself. He’s not a stuntman.

He’s also not a writer, as his contributions to Quantum of Nonsensical Plot show.

 

I streamed this today and enjoyed it. A little long but I liked Craig's Bond movies for the most part.

 

QoS made sense to me. As for the stunts, I like seeing the actor's face during fight scenes, throwing punches, taking punches (that aren't obvious misses), jumping, running, etc. It adds a bit of realism to the action sequences and helps avoid methods like zooming in too close or too far, the handheld jerky cam technique, or other tricks to make it harder for the audience to see they're watching a double instead of the actor. I appreciate Craig doing these scenes without overuse of stuntmen.

 

I finally watched last weekend and thought it was poor, but then I'd read so much about it I was prepared. I think it was a very slight improvement on Spectre, just because that film really trashed the legacy of Spectre and Blofeld.
I hope they do a significant reboot with Felix back in place and an all new cast - even though I thought the younger US agent was a really good addition, as was the new 007. But what they really need is a fresh writing team and a more "grounded in reality" take on the world.

 

Bond cover-novel author Charles Higson totally gets it:

‘Hated it’ Bond author blasts Daniel Craig’s No Time To Die and ‘ruin’ of modern 007 - Ababeel TV

‘Hated it’ Bond author blasts Daniel Craig’s No Time To Die and ‘ruin’ of modern 007 - Ababeel TV

 

Does Daniel Craig just wing it or like all actors he has a script?
Might be a long shot but I bet script.

 

Next Bond film will be ‘complete reinvention’ but won’t shoot for ‘at least two years’

 

Not sure I like this idea. I don’t want a kinder, gentler Bond, a romantic/monogamous Bond or even a more inclusive Bond. I agree that the franchise needs a reboot - obviously the way Craig’s series ended - but there still has to be that spirit of the character that has gone throughout all the different iterations.

Not to go down a rathole but that’s sort of what ruined Doctor Who for me, I didn’t get the sense that 13 connected to her 12 predecessors, the chain was broken.

Of course, I’ve left myself an out by saying I’m not sure if I like this. Who knows what the Broccoli’s will end up doing and I may end up liking it. Time will tell.

 

Just give us something in the spirit of Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me, or The Living Daylights. I just want the films to be FUN again. I enjoyed Craig's tenure but it was so dramatic and devoid of escapism in many respects. The best Bond films manage to combine action, drama, comedy, and creativity while gently winking at the audience.

 

“The start of the film is great – he’s really in a flash car, having a car chase around Matera. But he’s got his girlfriend with him and they’re having a row. What kind of fantasy is that? Find the ejector seat button, get rid of her and have an adventure.“ … exactly!

 

"We're reinventing who he is," Barbara Broccoli says.
After 5 films and 17 years of deconstructing James Bond out of
existence -- of excoriating him, ridiculing him, p___y-whipping
him, woking him, making him fail, making him stupid, making
him beg for mercy and then obliterating him under a bomb, why
doesn't this "revinventing who he is" surprise me?

Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are the problem. They
really do have to get lost. Somebody needs to rescue 007 from
EON Productions.

 

2025???? What a bunch of lazy clows!

..or it may be good news since they seem to look for a total debasement of the Bond character.

 

whooops. typo! I meant "clowns"

by the way, looks like Fukunaga won't direct the next one...or maybe won't direct anything anymore

No Time to Die director Cary Fukunaga accused of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ on sets

3 women accuse ‘No Time to Die’ director Cary Fukunaga of manipulation, predatory behavior

 

Wasn't he the one who accused Bond of basically being a rapist in the earlier films?

 

Correct

James Bond was ‘basically’ a rapist in early films, says No Time to Die director

 

A rapist? From my recollection, most his "conquests" readily acquiesced to his advances. How can Bond help it if he's just irresistible to the young ladies? You even have Bond scolding Bibi over her advances in For Your Eyes Only!

 

I always find Bond wrestling P. Galore in the barn in Goldfinger hard to watch. Hitting Diana Rigg in OHMSS also. Ugh.

 

Goldfinger yes and definitely the slap…just unpleasant to see and I imagine it was then.

I wonder if that scene in Majesty’s was in lieu of strong language. Bond couldn’t issue a terse “f you!” so the script has him slap her.

Really not excusing the behavior but I wonder if they’d been able to be looser with dialog if it would have been necessary?

 

How hard?

 

And how he handles Maud Adams in the Man With The Golden Gun, hitting her, threatening to break her arm…

 

Broccoli to the garbage bin, bring on some steak!

 

Why does Bond need to be “reinvented” again? Did they just do that 15 years ago?