MovieChat Forums > No Time to Die (2021) Discussion > Just average imo. (Some spoilers)

Just average imo. (Some spoilers)

posted 3 years ago by fani (430)
25 replies | jump to latest

I absolutely love James Bond and I have enjoyed the silly personification of the ultimate man from making women wet with his mere presence, suave factor, charisma while battling baddies with funny one liners and some self deprecating funny comments to cool gadgets to ridiculous situations but ones which are always cool.

I thought Pierce Brosnan was the most cool/suave Bond of all with Sean Connery and Roger Moore my other favorites. Goldeneye is the ultimate Bond movie and Eva Green and Isabella Scorupco were the hottest Bond chicks. Goldeneye, You Only Live Twice are my 2 most favorite Bond songs of all.

Daniel Craig was meh as were his Bond movies. Skyfall was the best.

The emergence of Jason Bourne killed James Bond imo as it went gritty/serious and idiotic and neutered Bond every movie.

Today's Bond is a shell of his former self - too scared to be around women who are super powerful and he is basically a stranger and irrelevant in his own goddamn movie. It's all about diversity check boxes, social agenda and keeping some mythical vocal minority happy for some reason.

Coming to No Time To Die, I found some excellent parts marred by stupid scenes where Bond is basically a joke.

The opening scene was great and so was the initial chase scene in Italy/wherever with the Bond's Aston Martin DB5 and all the cool gadgets. Then.... it started to descend into some mumbo jumbo nonsense.

Overall, the movie is decent imo (spectre and condom of solace were the worst of the lot).

I'll post more opinions here later but overall I thought the movie made Bond more irrelevant and an archaic relic.

Gone is the appealing message of you could be a suave sexy secret agent who makes women's panties twist in a bunch with your presence and beds them for ....for England and the whole male fantasy aspect is killed off because it's supposedly evil and bad now, despite pretty much everyone who watched and enjoyed it these past 50 years turned out normal.

Oh well.

I rate No Time To Die a 6.5/10

[–] ebhaynz (3688) 3 years ago

I agree if they're going to emasculate James Bond then just replace him with a woman(Jane Blonde) and call it a day.

[–] 123Guy (7259) 3 years ago

and also stop calling it Bond when it clearly is not that anymore.

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 3 years ago

maybe they've already done that . if the name is changed , not to (Jane Blonde) obvs but some other name,
then any of the recent women secret agent films could have been a james bond film. "Atomic Blond" for instance

ooh , blond / bond , coincidence?

[–] TandyMan (11096) 3 years ago

This was a very decent movie I mostly enjoyed. The problem was: It wasn't a Bond movie. None of it was. The camera, pacing and editing were way the hell off. And when it did try to be a Bond movie, it was so over the top as to leer into Austin Powers territory. I found the action scenes to be especially cartoonish as our heroes just waltzed through battlefields sending bullets into bad guys everywhere while never taking a scratch. Movie never got into high gear, never had a sense of ratcheted tension. The best bits were the wonderful exotic locations and talking bits. First 45 minutes were especially enjoyable. It had a few one liners but there was a few obvious ones that they missed. Still, this was by far Craig's Bondiest Bond performance. He was actually having a little fun in the role. But for the most part, felt like I was watching a generic big budget spy thriller. As it was, a perfect capstone for Craig's version of Bond.

[–] Killermueck (170) 3 years ago

Lol I think you're just a paranoid conservative. I expected way more diversity stuff in there. It was basically only black 007 and the hint that Q is gay. If that's a problem for you then just disconnect and pretend its 1950 again.

[–] 123Guy (7259) 3 years ago

and while we're at it, let's change a sport from pigskin and goals over to hitting a little white ball with a club into a hole, yet keep calling it "Football". makes the same amount of sense. :)

[–] fani (430) 3 years ago

Heh. No. I'm a liberal Democrat actually and I am all for diversity. But I dislike checkbox things to appeal to some segment but I guess the market forces determine things so it makes sense.

Anyways, I couldn't care less Q is gay or there's a 00 or even an 007 who is a black British woman. I totally welcome and appreciate that Bond retired and his number was reissued. No issue.

But the approach and direction and picturization made it seem like Bond is old, slow, irrelevant in his own movie.

I have a vision of Bond and I'd like to keep that vision - the suave, sexy womanizing Bond who battles crazy loonies like Goldfinger with his ridiculous plans, using cool gadgets.

[–] Killermueck (170) 3 years ago

Weird perception. The whole movie was a male power trip fantasy on steroids, every woman he met basically melted and he saved the world, all while looking extremely sharp and agile. I really don't know what you guys problem is.

[–] fani (430) 3 years ago

What? No. Ana De Armas rejected him outright in the wine cellar with her "ugh, please gtfo old pervert" look on her pretty face.

Lea Seydoux looks like his daughter and she looked off and grossed by his advances/kisses.

Moneypenny couldn't care less about him nor did that black Bond lady.

Actually he had basically zero presence in front of women and they were like whatever old man. And he didn't look that sharp or agile to me. He looked slow, cumbersome and basically lost and out of touch with what's happening.

Some action scenes were nice and the vistas were great but overall it was just meh. In fact, he took a back seat to the women who were saving him constantly and being not just on par with him but superior to him.

Like I said, he felt irrelevant in his own movie

[–] moviechatterer (15583) 3 years ago

It was basically only black 007 and the hint that Q is gay.

well , black and female , but yes i agree

[–] 123Guy (7259) 3 years ago

Bond hasn't felt like Bond for the last four movies. more like James Blah.

kids don't get our statements, and that's fine, they can like what they want.
Hard to take anyone seriously who lives off tiktok and thinks kardashians have any importance.

[–] MarkDaniels (310) 3 years ago

I'm sorry but I love Daniel Craig as Bond. I actually love every iteration we've had since Connery but Daniel Craig is my personal favorite. Casino Royale and Skyfall are my two favorite Bond movies as well as being two of my favorite films of all time. Quantum of Solace and Spectre were meh but not not horrible and I thought No Time to Die was a satisfying send off for Craig.

[–] pjl69 (2647) 3 years ago

Casino Royale and partly QoS was casting pearls before swines. After that the collapse started. Mendes didn't understood Bond and made him a stiff short-haired statue. And his casting of supporting actors (M, Q, Moneypenny) was very poor. Spectre the movie could have been a return to Quantum of Solace storyline, but unfortunately EON got rights back to Spectre and Blofeld and it finished the mess Mendes started.

[–] MarkDaniels (310) 3 years ago

I thought Mendes did a pretty great job with the character. I know many criticise Craig's portrayal in Skyfall as being "too moody" and I can see why but I honestly liked that direction he took. My personal preference is the more serious approach they've taken with the character and not the more tongue and cheek approach so I didn't mind Mendes vision.

I also gotta disagree with you on the supporting characters. Naomi Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Ralph Fiennes are all great actors and they did a fantastic job in these films.

I didn't like the whole Blofeld scenario in Spectre as well. I actually didn't mind Waltz being revealed as Blofeld and him being somewhat related to Bond but what I hated was the motivation. Like the reason why he started this whole global terrorist organization was because Blofeld got jealous of Bond and his father's relationship was a very weak motivation.

[–] 123Guy (7259) 3 years ago

nothing wrong with that for you. :)

[–] MarkDaniels (310) 3 years ago

I appreciate you respecting my opinion.

[–] 123Guy (7259) 3 years ago

yeah! I totally get it. and we all should be able to enjoy whatever we like. You are absolutely not wrong for you. neither am I. we can have opposite ideas, and still be civil - unlike what the internet tries to cause :D

[–] MarkDaniels (310) 3 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ivankyazze (182) 3 years ago

The Craig films don’t feel like Bond at all. They feel more like Bourne. Even the Kingsman films feel more like Bond

[–] fani (430) 3 years ago

Agree. The Kingsman movies had more of the suave male fantasy elements with a touch of cool factor and the cartoony villains and the babe chicks. Basically, guys' fantasy movie. That's what a movie is supposed to be - an escapist fantasy.

Movies by definition are segmented towards sections of the population and don't appeal to every single segment all at once in one movie. So if Bond appeals to men who like to be sexy secret agents and bed women who are docile, innocent, hot and eye candy only, what's wrong? Many women in reality are like that at times - docile, innocent, eye candy who rely on men.

Not saying all women are like that or even those women are like that all the time.

Just that it is for one population segment. If you don't like that, watch the movie targeted to your segment. People can be in multiple segments at once. e.g. there's action movies, chick flix, dramas, thrillers, horror etc. They're geared towards a particular segment of the fantasy aspect.

What's wrong if Bond is a straight powerful white male sexy suave secret agent? If you don't like it, don't watch it or create a new opposite char and watch that. Why emasculate and destroy this genre because you feel uncomfortable with it?

This is why The Man from UNCLE and Kingsman and other movies are doing great - because they're doing what Bond was supposed to be.

[–] Mephariel (58) 3 years ago

All of the Craig films are far more popular than The Man from UNCLE and Kingsman.

The question is, who is in this segment that you are talking about? 50+ year old boomers?

[–] fani (430) 3 years ago

The Bond movies are generally most popular in the secret agent genre across most age groups. I would speculate the support for modern Bond take is actually lower in lower age groups actually and Craig is not that well liked as Bond and the lower age group 30 and under haven't watched a lot of Bond movies. So Bond in a way is really for 30+ mostly.

Bond is Bond because of people 30+ who have always loved and supported those movies and people have not quite enjoyed Daniel Craig's Bond nor his Bond movies which according to several (search online, youtube for reviews).

The Man from UNCLE and Kingsman don't really have the established fan base of decades for Bond and yet have done quite well (Kingsman especially) which is impressive while Bond movies have faltered quite a bit last 20 years.

[–] Mephariel (58) 3 years ago

Except there is no evidence supporting that people didn't quite enjoyed the Craig films. The Craig Bond films are the most successful in franchise history. Skyfall earned $1.109 billion worldwide. Spectre did $800+ million. No Time to Die is approaching that in the middle of a pandemic. Casino Royale, Skyfall, and No Time to Die have over 80% ratings--both critics and audience--on RT while Spectre and QOS were less well received. But overall, the Craig films have been a tremendous success. And I agree that many 30+ years old watches Bond. I disagree with your assessment of this "segment." There is no evidence this "segment" didn't enjoy the Craig films.

[–] TylerAArse (2871) 3 years ago

IMO, Brosnan played Bond more realistically than everyone else. He was cold, and seemed very detached. What you would expect from someone in his line of work. Connery was too suave. Moore was a comedian. Dalton was hard to take seriously, and Craig is too angry.

Brosnan movies (all of them) were horrible. They were the worst of the entire series.

[–] ivankyazze (182) 3 years ago

GoldenEye isn’t horrible. It’s easily a top 5 Bond film