007 Bond 25 — “No Time To Die”
No Spoilers!
There will be no spoilers in this review (certainly none of any significance).
Fans of the James Bond 007 movies have waited many years for this. On July 24, 2017, EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer inc. announced a U.S. theaters release date for BOND 25 of November 8th, 2019, but that was not to be.
I have been a huge fan of 007 and have been enjoying 007 movies in theaters from the late 1960s. Daniel Craig was absolutely right when, in a filmed introduction to our press screening of “No Time To Die,” he sincerely thanked the audience for our “patience and support,” saying that “it was important that you see this on the Big Screen, where it belongs. Thank you and enjoy the movie.”
They really did bring “No Time To Die” to the Big Screen as soon as they reasonably could have, to increase the likelihood that sufficiently large audiences would enjoy it. I had not seen a movie in a theater since before COVID-19 took hold in March 2020. I was surprised, and dismayed, to see that even now the theater’s parking lot was almost empty of cars in mid-afternoon on a beautiful day.
Where are all the cars and people?
In the theater, immediately before the screening
This is one of the most consequential 007 films ever. It has everything that the best Bond films have ever had, and more: magnificent locations, iconic Aston Martin cars, sensational chase scenes, truly evil villains, romance, intelligent and supremely talented Bond women who are instrumental to the development of the plot, high tech gadgets from Q that play a key role in the resolution of the plot, Moneypenny, M, Felix Leiter from the CIA, and more.
(L-R) Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), M (Ralph Fiennes) & Tanner (Rory Kinnear) in M’s office
James Bond (Daniel Craig) having a discussion with Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright)
The non-stop suspense will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. This nearly three-hour movie flies by.
Arch villain Safin (Rafi Malek)
Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux)
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux)
James Bond visits Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) in his maximum security prison cell
“18-year-old multi-platinum selling and GRAMMY® Award nominated Billie Eilish (wrote) the title song with her elder brother; fellow multi GRAMMY® Award nominated FINNEAS. Billie Eilish is the youngest artist in history to write and record a James Bond theme song.”
What would a James Bond film be without spectacular car chase scenes? There is one particular scene that you’ve probably seen in the previews where Bond does donuts in his iconic Aston Martin DB 5, while spraying the villains with bullets from the machine guns mounted on the front of his car. What you may not know is how donuts were performed with that car.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) battling villains in his Aston Martin DB 5
Those of you who watched Sky’s coverage of the recent Russian Formula One Grand Prix were treated to a special segment where the stunt driver for the Aston Martin 007 scenes joined the two Aston Martin Formula One drivers to give them a taste of what it was like for him to perform those stunts. We learned that this was no ‘ordinary’ Aston Martin DB 5. Inside its cockpit, there was an extra lever near the gear shifter, that seemed to perform a similar function to the “Drift Stick” that stops the rear wheels from rotating in Ken Block’s rally cars — except in the movie, according to an excellent article by Mark Vaughn that was published in Autoweek on Oct. 1, 2021, this lever activated a brake on the left front wheel (Mark's article is entitled "All the Stunts in the James Bond Thriller 'No Time To Die' Are Real"). It was quite interesting to see Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll try to emulate the skilled stunt driver’s drifting of the DB 5 and doing donuts on the track.
There are, of course, new agents. They bring with them great skills, and add to the plot twists in ways that will surely surprise you.
Nomi (Lashana Lynch) is ready for action in Cuba
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Paloma (Ana de Armas)
Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and James Bond (Daniel Craig)
The global locations are breathtaking. The 007 production was “based at Pinewood Studios in the UK, and on location in London, Italy, Jamaica and Norway.”
Daniel Craig (James Bond), Léa Seydoux (Dr. Madeleine Swann) and director Cary Joji Fukunaga arrive in Matera, Italy to continue filming.
Jamaica
This is easily Daniel Craig's best performance as James Bond, showing a great depth of character. In the past his performances were especially dark. He seemed to lack that twinkle in the eye that Sean Connery's James Bond had, that made him likable. In “No Time To Die,” we can see and empathize with Craig-as-Bond’s humanity. Of course, as always, his fighting and other action sequences are thrilling.
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Before I close, I must share with you one last, absolutely important thing. Absolutely do not — I repeat — DO NOT leave the theater until you've watched until the very end of the closing credits. You’ll understand why.
For more information about 007 and “No Time To Die,” visit the official website at www.007.com
To see the most photos and most recent text, and to explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, visit AutoMatters & More at AutoMatters.net. On the Home Page, search by title or topic, or click on the blue ‘years’ boxes.
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Comments (45)
Casino Royale is still my favorite.
I assume you mean the Daniel Craig version. People rarely mention the 1967 unauthorized spoof version with David Niven. It was hilarious!
Yes I mean the Daniel Craig version, I haven’t seen the 1967 version.
I particularly enjoyed Quantum of Solace for some reason
Alessandro,
What I particularly like about the 007 films is that while they have a common denominator, their individual stories break new ground and are generally different from each other, which helps to keep the franchise fresh.
Jan
Can’t wait to see this in the Dolby IMAX theater Oct 8th. I got my reserved seats a couple weeks ago.
The Man with the Golden Gun is my favorite but I love them all.
This one will blow you away!
Jan
My favorite James Bond 007 movie is "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."
Great choice
Jan, if this was a special press screening, where are the other members? The theater is empty and your orange Miata is the only car in front of the theater.
I’m looking forward to this movie. I like all the 007 movies, and until Daniel Craig came along, Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan were my joint favorites.
I thought George Lazenby got a raw deal from the critics in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It was a great movie, especially the opening ski sequence. George did a respectable job as Bond, so I never understood why he was dumped after only one movie.
Can’t wait to see this one!
David,
I got to this press screening about half an hour early, hence the lack of other people in the theater yet. Also, the theater was intentionally not filled to capacity, due to an abundance of caution over COVID.
After the screening, at...
Read morei had read somewhere that George Lazenby was a very "difficult" man to work with and didn't like listening/co-operating with the director and other crew members,hence he had to be dropped.