• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

First No Time to Die Reviews

ManaByte

Gold Member

5 stars:
And the big finish shows that the 007 franchise-template is still capable of springing a surprise on the fanbase – and it could be that the world of Bond has taken something from the Marvel and DC universes, with their own sense of cartoonish grandeur and mystery. No Time To Die is startling, exotically self-aware, funny and confident, and perhaps most of all it is big: big action, big laughs, big stunts and however digitally it may have been contrived, and however wildly far-fetched, No Time To Die looks like it is taking place in the real world, a huge wide open space that we’re all longing for.


4/5 stars:
While No Time to Die never hits the bombastic highs of Casino Royale, or the visual splendor of Skyfall, it more than bests Quantum and Spectre. The fact that they were able to make the movie tie so much into the latter of those lesser outings and make that movie subsequently more important is a real feat. As for Craig himself, he is absolutely not phoning this one in. If he was ready to quit after the previous movie, this movie is him knowing he’s ready to go out on top. Nobody did it better.


5 stars:
No Time To Die wraps up the Daniel Craig era of James Bond with the bow tie it’s always been destined to wear. This is going to be a conversation piece for fans and non-fans alike, as Craig’s Bond is allowed to go places other 007s haven’t dared to visit. With the modern era being a serialized story leading up to one gigantic ending, this is the best possible outcome that anyone could have expected. Borrowing from the past, and reinventing for the future, Cary Joji Fukunaga has given a new generation of James Bond fans a masterpiece on the level of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that should be revered for years to come.


4/5 stars:
This is a Bond film that dutifully ticks all the boxes — but brilliantly, often doesn’t feel like a Bond film at all. For a 007 who strived to bring humanity to larger-than-life hero, it’s a fitting end to the Craig era.


5 stars:
As for Craig, he might have one busted-up leg out of the door, but he hasn’t let himself be sidelined in his own movie (it’s not a Marvel film). Confronted by all these upstarts, the “taciturn mask, ironical, brutal, and cold” that Ian Fleming wrote about may have slipped to reveal a kind of playful mentor figure who’s grudgingly tolerant of the younger generation, but he's still able to show them a thing or two. Whether he’s casually ditching a still-moving motorbike, executing bad guys with extreme prejudice or knocking back vodka after a gun fight, Craig proves that nobody does it better.
 

NecrosaroIII

Ultimate DQ Fan
No Time To Watch Movies.


These Daniel Craig films have been coming out so sporadically that I am not even sure if I have seen the last one. So is this the last Daniel Craig Bond film?
Probably. This was supposed to come out early last year but Covid.

Daniel Craig Bond movies

Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall
Spectre
No Time To Die.

I think Daniel Craig did a great job with the role, but other than Skyfall they're all pretty boring.

Quantum of Solace is dreadful
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
Probably. This was supposed to come out early last year but Covid.

Daniel Craig Bond movies

Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall
Spectre
No Time To Die.

I think Daniel Craig did a great job with the role, but other than Skyfall they're all pretty boring.

Quantum of Solace is dreadful
Casino Royale is easily a top 10 all time great action movie.
 
Last edited:

Pagusas

Elden Member
Craig Is my absolute least favorite bond, with only a single good movie so far (casino royal, and even that would have been better with another actor) I think his time has been a horrible failure…. Saying that, I’ll still see this final one as the trailers and reviews make it sound like they finally figured out the formula for this non-bond bond.
2 good films out of 5 isn’t great, but if they stick the landing than I’ll be impressed.
 
Last edited:

Kenpachii

Member
Craig Is my absolute least favorite bond, with only a single good movie so far (casino royal, and even that would have been better with another actor) I think his time has been a horrible failure…. Saying that, I’ll still see this final one as the trailers and reviews make it sound like they finally figured out the formula for this non-bond bond.
2 good films out of 5 isn’t great, but if they stick the landing than I’ll be impressed.

Same here, never liked his movies didn't feel like bond to me even remotely. Dude felt like his introduction as bond a terminator / rambo more then bond.
 

Von Hugh

Member
I guess the joke that every other Craig Bond movie is bad, and the rest are good, holds up. Casino Royale, Skyfall, and this are good, while Quantum and Spectre are kind of camp-y and lackluster.

But we shall see on Friday.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
X2q3.gif
 

ZywyPL

Banned
The reviews will obviously be as always overblown seeing how the storyline in Craig's movies is only going downhill, but I'll give it a try anyway, mostly for Ana de Armas tho.


I think Daniel Craig did a great job with the role, but other than Skyfall they're all pretty boring.

Skyfall was the worst of them all IMO, felt so out of place, so unnecessary. It has the best opening tho, Adele did an excellent job, so did the visuals.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Skyfall was the worst of them all IMO, felt so out of place, so unnecessary. It has the best opening tho, Adele did an excellent job, so did the visuals.

Different opinions and all that, but for me Spectre is infinitely worse than Skyfall. Skyfall has solid pacing, decent story, great action and incredible set pieces. It's just a joy to watch from beginning to end.

Spectre however fails in almost every regard except visuals. The story is nonsensical and feels cobbled together around a few stunts or set pieces. Worst of all is that it's boring. The story is boring, the action is boring, many of the locations are boring, every character is boring. That entire subplot with the digital intelligence, o my god what a waste of time. That chase in Rome is soooooo boring and it takes forever. How can you do a high stakes chase scene through the city of Rome and make it so boring? How? It is so boring that James Bond even calls Moneypenny and has a chat about her boyfriend. I mean there are zero stakes during this chase.

Blofeld is presented as this menacing, supremely evil mastermind but just comes across as a goofy, giddy Schultz from Django.

Not to mention the bizarro "love" story that falls completely flat. Madeleine Swann goes from absolute hatred to head over heels in love in literally two days. There's zero character development here. And how do you cast Monica Bellucci and have her only in the movie to be borderline raped by Bond? That scene is by far the worst scene in any Craig-era Bond movie.

Structure is dogshit too because it has four acts instead of the traditional three. That entire last act is a waste of everybody's time and makes no sense except them going overly symbolical with blowing up the old MI6 HQ. It should've ended at Blofeld's base.

I could probably write a 20-page essay on why Spectre is a terrible movie in everything except outfits, lol.

My rating:

Casino Royale: superb, the golden standard
Quantum of Solace: servicable but forgettable
Skyfall: excellent
Spectre: terrible
No Time To Die: ???
 
Last edited:

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Probably. This was supposed to come out early last year but Covid.

Daniel Craig Bond movies

Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall
Spectre
No Time To Die.

I think Daniel Craig did a great job with the role, but other than Skyfall they're all pretty boring.

Quantum of Solace is dreadful
Casino Royale great movie. But no gadgets
QoS shaky cam movie just one giant chase scene. More an épilogué movie then stand alone
Sky fall great movie. Not perfect but great
Spectre tries to retcon everything and fails.
no time to die haven’t seen it.

Meanwhile M:I has become the better spy movie series. It feels Unafraid to take chances.
I hope No Time to Die is great.
 
Last edited:

MikeM

Member
Awesome to hear. I'm not a big movie guy but I always enjoyed watching Daniel in the 007 movies. I'm going to buy the eventual boxed blu-ray set and watch them from start to finish.
 
I guess the joke that every other Craig Bond movie is bad, and the rest are good, holds up. Casino Royale, Skyfall, and this are good, while Quantum and Spectre are kind of camp-y and lackluster.

But we shall see on Friday.

Basically the same formula the Star Trek movies follow where all the even numbered ones are good and the odds are bad/lackluster.
 

DKehoe

Member
That‘s a troll. He does it with every movie when reviews come out to try to get his troll joke posted on a website. It’s not real.
Oh I'm fully aware don't worry.

The Wrap actually included it in their article showcasing different people's impressions. It's funny how these sites keep falling for it.

image0.jpg
 

Little Mac

Member
The first movie, Casino Royale, was easily the best of the Craig series. The rest were ... okay or meh tbh. I'm hoping this final movie ends Craig's bond career a lot closer to the bar set upon his introduction.
 
Craig Is my absolute least favorite bond, with only a single good movie so far (casino royal, and even that would have been better with another actor) I think his time has been a horrible failure…. Saying that, I’ll still see this final one as the trailers and reviews make it sound like they finally figured out the formula for this non-bond bond.
2 good films out of 5 isn’t great, but if they stick the landing than I’ll be impressed.
Didn’t they almost make Casino Royale with Pierce Brosnan?
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Didn’t they almost make Casino Royale with Pierce Brosnan?

Not quite. They had a script for a version with him, but he only signed for 4 Bond movies that that deal was fulfilled with Die Another Day and he left the role after that, meaning they had to find a new Bond to do Casino Royale. They always were going to do it after Die Another Day though.
 

And so, in what now seems like an inevitable course-correction, “No Time to Die” is a story about the need to leave certain things behind. It’s the modern spy movie equivalent of “The Last Jedi,” as the universe tells James Bond that he has no choice but to let the past die — to kill it if he has to — and dares Craig to pull the trigger.

No Way Abandon Thread GIF
 

Star-Lord

Member
Not quite. They had a script for a version with him, but he only signed for 4 Bond movies that that deal was fulfilled with Die Another Day and he left the role after that, meaning they had to find a new Bond to do Casino Royale. They always were going to do it after Die Another Day though.
I think after the flop that was Die Another Day, had Casino Royale bombed as well, we would have seen the last of Bond. Thankfully, Casino Royale was sheer perfection, and we got a further four Craig films.
 
Not quite. They had a script for a version with him, but he only signed for 4 Bond movies that that deal was fulfilled with Die Another Day and he left the role after that, meaning they had to find a new Bond to do Casino Royale. They always were going to do it after Die Another Day though.
Lets not forget this;
 
Top Bottom