Austin L

"No Time To Die" was (believe it or not) my first time seeing Daniel Craig in the venerated Bond franchise. I have to say I liked him, but not as much as Roger Moore. I watched it on Blu-Ray at home and I agree with many others who have said the cinematography is magnificent, and it is - it is a stunningly beautiful film visually. I, like many others, have seen other Bond movies - "Moonraker", "Live And Let Die", and "The Spy Who Loved Me" being the most memorable for me. I agree that some of the Bond film trademarks were not present, or as present in this movie. One thing I’ve always come to expect is car chase scenes that make a mess of urban situations like street markets. We only got one such scene in this movie and, as I recall, it was some kind of wedding. But with so much of the action taking place in exotic locales, there wasn’t much of a mess to make where passers-by would wonder "What was that all about?" Too, the trademark Bond one-liners and humor were largely missing, although Lashana Lynch as Nomi, the new 007, had plenty of lines that made me laugh, the best being, "Double-O what, now?" The humor in this Bond film came not so much from those one-liners, but by the tension between the new agent meeting the old one. Black humor (not racially speaking, but humor making light of dark or tragic events as a coping mechanism) is part of why I liked the Bond films of the past, and quite frankly, I’d like to see that tradition continue - just because a movie is tense and violent doesn’t mean it can’t also make me laugh. Much has been said about Ben Whishaw’s turn as Q versus the previous incarnation. While I personally consider Whishaw a singular talent as well as delightful eye candy, I felt like his turn as Q was fairly pedestrian. I enjoyed watching him, but something was missing - perhaps it’s the way this version of Q was written, essentially a dutiful but expert technologist. It just seemed like a part most competent actors could have handled. Maybe Q is more interesting in the previous Craig films which I need to see. (I do agree, though, that having one’s planned, quiet dinner at home with a guest, interrupted by work, is awful!) Ralph Fiennes as M was a brilliant choice. Weary, weathered, but very serious, Fiennes’ M rings true. I liked the exchanges between him and Bond. Even though M thought Bond over-the-top in the way he carried out his orders, it was clear he had respect for him, even to the bitter end. Speaking of which, I was sad and surprised at the ending, since I went into this movie not realizing this would be Daniel Craig’s last flick in the Bond series, and not having seen any of his others, had no idea. When the staff are in M’s office, somberly toasting the deceased Bond, I kept waiting for a moment where Bond would come bursting in through the door, clothing in tatters, filthy all over, haggard. That would have been a scream, and elating, but that moment never came. The final demise of Bond with missiles destroying the island, seen from a distance, was both horrifying and sad - total destruction always is. Interestingly, at the end of the closing credits, the screen reads "James Bond Will Return." I can hardly wait to see how that materializes. At 163 minutes, "No Time To Die" was very, very long. I hope future films are shorter. The explosion and action sequences in the film were impressive technically, but they didn’t do much to advance the story. All in all, "No Time To Die" was entertaining. As the franchise continues to evolve, I’d like to see some of the previous trademarks return.