Michelle Scharf

Sadly, I left this movie that I was looking forward to for several years in confusion and thinking therapy is required to process it. I LOVE Bond. I LOVE Daniel Craig more. This movie just was hard to consume, and I walked out feeling good to have spent time with my favorite Bond but also like it was not worth the wait. The storyline of DNA programmable targeted nanobots was excellent. (Also, disturbing and timely) The nanobots had all the potential of rising to Bond-worthy storylines. I like Rami Malek. I didn't feel his villain rise to the level of disturbed and evil. The real villains were restrained and died. It just felt like I was holding my breath and then remembering to breathe when the story just kind of fell in its intensity. I wonder if, in part, it's just impossible for a story to live up to its potential when the release date was held so long. It just eventually loses some energy in that process. Madeline, while beautiful, is also not wildly sexy. She has a wholesome subtle sexy that is not Bond-level. Also, I didn't ever really get the sexual intensity between them. I also don't see him getting all romantic and interested in monogamy, and the child was a weird addition for cheap, easy emotional pull. However, what I am left needing therapy for is we watched Bond choose to end his life because there was no way to stop the nanobots he was exposed to from killing Madeline and the child. James Bond is undoubtedly DEAD. We watched bombs fall onto him and evaporate him. What the actual hell? I get it was the end to Daniel Craig, but I don't see this as necessary. There have never been hand-offs in this series. I don't understand the purpose of killing off Bond. Also, if you're going to kill off my fantasy sexual badass narcissistic spy, do it in a robust fight scene and not from his choosing. You ended Bond as a martyr. What the hell? No. I needed him to go down fighting, not as a sacrifice for his love; I mean, he just gave up. He isn't going to be able to protect them. James Bond isn't a martyr. He is a driven, selfish playboy. He wouldn't have sacrificed his life when he could have just avoided contact with Madeline and the child. It's just the least believable thing you could expect Bond to do. I wouldn't say I liked it that end. It confuses me. Where does my love for Bond go now? Watching Casino Royale, Skyfall, Spectre, and enjoying the intensity, gadgetry, and sexual tension that is all things BOND.