No Time To Die is the first James Bond 007 movie that I was far from enthused about going to see in a cinema (in fact, I felt entirely disinclined, and not because of Covid), so I didn't. Casino Royale aside (and even it wasn't perfect), Daniel Craig's previous Bond films have failed to score with me, despite one or two good bits in each offering. Craig's Bond is humourless and charisma-free, which isn't necessarily down to the actor, but maybe just the way the character has been written for Craig's tenure in the role.
Anyway, bought the DVD double-disc edition and was appalled on account of it being a 'mumble-fest', with me not being able to make out what the characters were saying throughout almost the whole movie. I turned up the volume, adjusted the various sound-settings on my TV, but all to no avail. Mumble, mumble, mumble. And the movie looked too dark as well. First time I've ever seen Jamaica looking like a wet afternoon in Skegness.
Remember when you could actually understand what actors were saying in movies, and when they were lit in a way which made everything clear and recognisable at first glance? Those days are over it seems. Bond movies once had their own style, what with Ken Adam set designs, John Barry orchestration, and a quick-fire pacing that never seemed to abate. Nowadays, Barbara Broccoli seems to want Bond films to look like almost every other movie out there.
She really needs to take a leaf out of the Mission Impossible cinematic outings, which are imaginative, humorous, action-packed, fast-paced, and far more engrossing and exciting than Bond's recent lacklustre efforts. There are rumours that Bond is going to be rebooted again, with his adventures set in the '60s, but let's hope that now the seemingly dead* secret agent has a daughter, we aren't going to be subjected to 'Jane Bond' - or even a female carrying her father's first name. (Broccoli has dismissed the likelihood of the last part of that idea.)
Anyway, we're assured that James Bond will return, but in what form, shape, colour, or inclination remains to be seen. Let's hope it's the real McBond, and not one from a parallel universe like Daniel Craig's seemed to be.
Verdict? An emotional ending, but far from a memorable journey getting there. There was one 'innovation' this time though; instead of just regurgitating ideas and stunts from previous films, this time out they 'borrowed' one of the songs from an earlier movie in the series. Thankfully, it was a good one. Oh, tell a lie - two innovations. The 'secondary' Bond Girl doesn't get killed as a result of helping Bond fight the baddies. Perhaps three innovations - I don't think Bond even makes love to her. (If he did, I must've dozed off during it. Let's hope she didn't.)
Have you seen the movie? What were your thoughts on this latest offering from Eon Productions - hit or miss, or halfway in between? And could you make out what they were saying?
*Incidentally, despite assurances of Bond's death, it should be remembered that author Ian Fleming killed him off at the end of From Russia With Love (the novel), but relented (no doubt after some pressure from his publisher) and returned him to life in another book. (Same thing happened, more or less, with Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional hero Sherlock Holmes.)
