NO TIME TO DIE (2021) - First Reactions vs. Current Reactions

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  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Stamper wrote: »
    This timeline thing interest me.

    CR/QOS are set in 2006. Bond is new.

    SF/SP are set in 2015. Bond is older.

    NTTD is set 2015 then jumps to 2020. Bond is really old (Craig insisted on not dying... pardon the pun, his grey hair in the 2020 section)

    It looks like they decided without communicating about it, to bookend Bond career with Craig. Which would make it easy to tell lots of story in-between.

    Which won't happen of course because they only put the latest products like phones and computers in the films due to the sponsoring and partnerships.

    But: there are the games, which imho count as the in between stories:

    - GoldenEye 007
    - Blood Stone
    - 007 Legends

    It means the missing Craig missions are GoldenEye 007, Blood Stone, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moonraker, Licence to Kill and Die Another Day.

    Does it make sense? I have never played 007 Legends, does Bond marries Tracy in it, and does Felix get maimed in LTK? Did Craig surf the wave?



    While I'll count GoldenEye Reloaded and Blood Stone, 007 Legends doesn't work because there are too many contradictions. Bond fights Blofeld in OHMSS before Spectre, where he's introduced. Felix is a white man in LTK, and I seem to remember a reference to Q (the character, not Q Branch) in there before he was introduced in Skyfall.

    Blood Stone actually has vague hints toward a shadowy villain that can retroactively work well with Blofeld, and GoldenEye Reloaded can exist as a standalone.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited November 2021 Posts: 7,526
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @Stamper, QoS "takes place" in 2008, if the continuity error on the Greene Planet fundraiser invitation is anything to go off of. I still see it as nothing more than an error, with the film clearly unfolding in 2006 still.

    There may have been (re: certainly was) some time between Bond reading the Mr. White text in Venice and tracking him to his house on Lake Como.

    Probably not two years, but I don’t think it means QOS took place necessarily in 2006.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @Stamper, QoS "takes place" in 2008, if the continuity error on the Greene Planet fundraiser invitation is anything to go off of. I still see it as nothing more than an error, with the film clearly unfolding in 2006 still.

    There may have been (re: certainly was) some time between Bond reading the Mr. White text in Venice and tracking him to his house on Lake Como.

    Probably not two years, but I don’t think it means QOS took place necessarily in 2006.

    The QOS tie-in game puts it at six months between films. I usually go with that.
  • OOWolfOOWolf Savannah
    Posts: 140
    I just watched 'NTTD' again, last night, and I feel like I can finally share my thoughts.

    The pacing of the film is great and the cinematography is stunning. All in all, the whole thing feels pretty fantastical and at times seems as if it's not even happening on this planet. We could have at least seen scenes of foreign governments raising concerns over Heracles, like in the old days.

    Also, the Bond and Madeleine relationship just doesn't work for me. It feels like a soap opera, watching Bond say je t'aime back and I love you and I miss you... Completely unconvincing.

    It's also utter nonsense that the nanobot infection is irreversible. If Bond had escaped death so many times, this should be no exception. Last but not least, the Mathilde mosquito bite cannot by any means be a red herring. It just leads me to believe that Safin programmed the nanobots to affect Madeleine's family aside from Blofeld...or she's Blofeld's daughter...

    Some of the Zimmer cues were good, but the soundtrack didn't do much for me. The cast was fine, but there wasn't enough time spent on any one character. There were so many things thrown in, but not developed.

    I'd say 'NTTD' works as a sequel to SPECTRE, but that's about it.

    I'm ready to go back to a tall, dark haired, wise crack, one liner, polygamous, secret agent in a world of 21st century political intrigue.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @Stamper, QoS "takes place" in 2008, if the continuity error on the Greene Planet fundraiser invitation is anything to go off of. I still see it as nothing more than an error, with the film clearly unfolding in 2006 still.

    There may have been (re: certainly was) some time between Bond reading the Mr. White text in Venice and tracking him to his house on Lake Como.

    Probably not two years, but I don’t think it means QOS took place necessarily in 2006.

    The QOS tie-in game puts it at six months between films. I usually go with that.

    Ah interesting, I didn’t know that.
  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 652
    Stamper wrote: »

    It means the missing Craig missions are GoldenEye 007, Blood Stone, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moonraker, Licence to Kill and Die Another Day.

    Does it make sense? I have never played 007 Legends, does Bond marries Tracy in it, and does Felix get maimed in LTK? Did Craig surf the wave?



    There are no missing Craig missions. Spectre clearly establishes that Vesper was his only love before Madeline, meaning no Tracy, and that the only villains he'd tangled with were LeChiffre, Greene, and Silva. What you see in the Craig movies is what you get.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Birdleson wrote: »
    So, in movie time, Craig's Bond has spent a total of about seven months with these two women over a span of 15 years, yet they dominate the narrative of four of his five entries. He certainly becomes far more attached than the other five guys did.

    Well, that never happened to the other fellas. ;) \:D/ :bz
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    George Baker should have just gone to Piz Gloria disguised as Bond.

    But then George Lazenby should have voice-dubbed Hilly. \:D/
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    edited November 2021 Posts: 1,261
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    @Stamper, QoS "takes place" in 2008, if the continuity error on the Greene Planet fundraiser invitation is anything to go off of. I still see it as nothing more than an error, with the film clearly unfolding in 2006 still.

    Unless the drive from Lake Como to Siena took that long.

    That's what happens when you have to stop every few minutes to let White out to pee.

    Bond was lucky, that White did not smoke. He would have had to stop, because White needed to have a cigarette every 20 minutes. Plus going to the loo. That would have been some kind of a hell of a car chase :P
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 2,928
    Good job Mr. White doesn't get travel sick or it wouldn't've been nice when Bond opened the boot of that car...
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    OOWolf wrote: »
    I just watched 'NTTD' again, last night, and I feel like I can finally share my thoughts.

    The pacing of the film is great and the cinematography is stunning. All in all, the whole thing feels pretty fantastical and at times seems as if it's not even happening on this planet. We could have at least seen scenes of foreign governments raising concerns over Heracles, like in the old days.

    Also, the Bond and Madeleine relationship just doesn't work for me. It feels like a soap opera, watching Bond say je t'aime back and I love you and I miss you... Completely unconvincing.

    It's also utter nonsense that the nanobot infection is irreversible. If Bond had escaped death so many times, this should be no exception. Last but not least, the Mathilde mosquito bite cannot by any means be a red herring. It just leads me to believe that Safin programmed the nanobots to affect Madeleine's family aside from Blofeld...or she's Blofeld's daughter...

    Some of the Zimmer cues were good, but the soundtrack didn't do much for me. The cast was fine, but there wasn't enough time spent on any one character. There were so many things thrown in, but not developed.

    I'd say 'NTTD' works as a sequel to SPECTRE, but that's about it.

    I'm ready to go back to a tall, dark haired, wise crack, one liner, polygamous, secret agent in a world of 21st century political intrigue.

    I concur.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    chrisisall wrote: »
    OOWolf wrote: »
    I just watched 'NTTD' again, last night, and I feel like I can finally share my thoughts.

    The pacing of the film is great and the cinematography is stunning. All in all, the whole thing feels pretty fantastical and at times seems as if it's not even happening on this planet. We could have at least seen scenes of foreign governments raising concerns over Heracles, like in the old days.

    Also, the Bond and Madeleine relationship just doesn't work for me. It feels like a soap opera, watching Bond say je t'aime back and I love you and I miss you... Completely unconvincing.

    It's also utter nonsense that the nanobot infection is irreversible. If Bond had escaped death so many times, this should be no exception. Last but not least, the Mathilde mosquito bite cannot by any means be a red herring. It just leads me to believe that Safin programmed the nanobots to affect Madeleine's family aside from Blofeld...or she's Blofeld's daughter...

    Some of the Zimmer cues were good, but the soundtrack didn't do much for me. The cast was fine, but there wasn't enough time spent on any one character. There were so many things thrown in, but not developed.

    I'd say 'NTTD' works as a sequel to SPECTRE, but that's about it.

    I'm ready to go back to a tall, dark haired, wise crack, one liner, polygamous, secret agent in a world of 21st century political intrigue.

    I concur.

    So, just because Bond survied in the 24 previous movie (how hideous it might have been), he cannot die in the 25th movie? Sorry, mate, that's not a valid argument. You have to do that better. Like, "I never had a cold in my life, I can't have it now?"
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    chrisisall wrote: »
    OOWolf wrote: »
    I just watched 'NTTD' again, last night, and I feel like I can finally share my thoughts.

    The pacing of the film is great and the cinematography is stunning. All in all, the whole thing feels pretty fantastical and at times seems as if it's not even happening on this planet. We could have at least seen scenes of foreign governments raising concerns over Heracles, like in the old days.

    Also, the Bond and Madeleine relationship just doesn't work for me. It feels like a soap opera, watching Bond say je t'aime back and I love you and I miss you... Completely unconvincing.

    It's also utter nonsense that the nanobot infection is irreversible. If Bond had escaped death so many times, this should be no exception. Last but not least, the Mathilde mosquito bite cannot by any means be a red herring. It just leads me to believe that Safin programmed the nanobots to affect Madeleine's family aside from Blofeld...or she's Blofeld's daughter...

    Some of the Zimmer cues were good, but the soundtrack didn't do much for me. The cast was fine, but there wasn't enough time spent on any one character. There were so many things thrown in, but not developed.

    I'd say 'NTTD' works as a sequel to SPECTRE, but that's about it.

    I'm ready to go back to a tall, dark haired, wise crack, one liner, polygamous, secret agent in a world of 21st century political intrigue.

    I concur.

    So, just because Bond survied in the 24 previous movie (how hideous it might have been), he cannot die in the 25th movie? Sorry, mate, that's not a valid argument. You have to do that better. Like, "I never had a cold in my life, I can't have it now?"

    This is fantasy, not reality. It can be written in any way, shape or form.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    Exactly, it’s all “valid”. We’re just a bunch of ultra-dedicated fans throwing our thoughts and feelings about pieces of fiction at the wall.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,691
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Exactly, it’s all “valid”. We’re just a bunch of ultra-dedicated fans throwing our thoughts and feelings about pieces of fiction at the wall.

    To see what sticks.... ;)
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,025
    Avoiding creative choices like killing Bond just because they’re unprecedented is to me the death of creativity.

    For example, I believe TWINE should have not had Christmas Jones, or any fallback Bond girl for Bond to be with at the end after killing Elektra. Maybe in Craig’s run that’s how it would have played out. As it is, it feels like a cop out. The film is supposed to be a OHMSS spiritual follow up. Bond falling and having to kill Elektra should be HUGE, and it’s diluted when Bond has Christmas Jones on the side to satisfy formula.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Avoiding creative choices like killing Bond just because they’re unprecedented is to me the death of creativity.

    Exactly. Arbitrary limitation; I'm glad we have this story along with the other 24+ Bond stories.

    If you don't like, then that's just... ... fair. :)) But there's already a ton of Bond content that meets your needs. And there will be a lot more to come in the future.

  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    edited November 2021 Posts: 652
    TWINE needs Christmas Jones to deliver exposition about the nukes. I never got love vibes between Bond and Elektra, either. She was more of a Tiffany Case (from the novel) type character, a wounded girl that Bond had an emotional need to protect. Obviously it was all an act of her part, so Bond having a fling with Christmas at the end didn't really dilute anything. Anyway, it was the 90s, and back then Bond movies weren't so dour and heavy-handed.
  • MinionMinion Don't Hassle the Bond
    edited November 2021 Posts: 1,165
    TWINE needed Christmas Jones like a hole in the head. Remove her and it instantly becomes ten times better.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    Minion wrote: »
    TWINE needed Christmas Jones like a hole in the head. Remove her and TWINE instantly becomes ten times better.

    I agree, I think the only reason she’s there is so that Bond could end the film with a girl. Electra was enough. I think that lesson has since been learned.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,025
    slide_99 wrote: »
    TWINE needs Christmas Jones to deliver exposition about the nukes. I never got love vibes between Bond and Elektra, either. She was more of a Tiffany Case (from the novel) type character, a wounded girl that Bond had an emotional need to protect. Obviously it was all an act of her part, so Bond having a fling with Christmas at the end didn't really dilute anything. Anyway, it was the 90s, and back then Bond movies weren't so dour and heavy-handed.

    Except TWINE is so explicitly trying to be a callback to OHMSS that even the very title of the film is a direct reference.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,526
    Minion wrote: »
    TWINE needed Christmas Jones like a hole in the head. Remove her and it instantly becomes ten times better.

    :)) I love this sledgehammer of a comment.
  • MinionMinion Don't Hassle the Bond
    Posts: 1,165
    slide_99 wrote: »
    TWINE needs Christmas Jones to deliver exposition about the nukes. I never got love vibes between Bond and Elektra, either. She was more of a Tiffany Case (from the novel) type character, a wounded girl that Bond had an emotional need to protect. Obviously it was all an act of her part, so Bond having a fling with Christmas at the end didn't really dilute anything. Anyway, it was the 90s, and back then Bond movies weren't so dour and heavy-handed.

    Except TWINE is so explicitly trying to be a callback to OHMSS that even the very title of the film is a direct reference.
    Maybe slide_99 only read the plot synopsis for TWINE on Wikipedia ;)
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    Posts: 4,554
    Minion wrote: »
    TWINE needed Christmas Jones like a hole in the head. Remove her and it instantly becomes ten times better.

    :)) I love this sledgehammer of a comment.

    I dunno. Turned out, Christmas Jones was the Bond character that I needed during the throes of the pandemic. LOL
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 526
    I’ve seen the movie twice now. Instead of just being KO’d by the ending, I tried to absorb the film with a more open mind. Here’s my notes.
    1. The PTS was great. Best part of the film. The horror-style opening was suspenseful, and gave even more background to Madeline (the true focus of the movie-her character). The action sequence in the PTS was brilliant. Matera. When they’re annihilating the car, you can feel the tenseness. Grade: A
    2. Theme song: terrible. F - Maybe the worst Bond theme song ever. And I always enjoy these because they set the tone for the movie.
    3. I kept getting the feeling that NTTD was force fed the other 24 Bond films and it resulted in a bloated mess of an attempted greatest hits mash-up. In other words, it didn’t work as its own film.
    4. Enjoyed seeing Bond get to hang out with Felix. And it was good to see Felix again-but that didn’t last long as they killed him. Seemed like DC was trying to act like Brosnan’s Bond here. Ok sequence: Grade C -
    5. Cuba: Spectre Party, Spectre dead. Safin’s big plan. Just felt too convenient and easy. The action was a little cheesy. Made me think of Roger Moore. Paloma was ok. She was awfully small to be handling two machine guns at once. Interaction with her and Bond -awkward. Nomi was hardly noticeable. Grade: D
    6. Movie really felt bloated after this. The Blofeld and Madeline prison scene was offbeat. “Die Blofeld Die!” Cringe. The focus really shifts to Madeline here as she becomes the star of the movie, and Bond plays second fiddle. Their romance feels even more forced here than in Spectre. Blofeld dead. Yawn. Blofeld in SP and NTTD makes him (Waltz) the worst villain imo the entire franchise. Acting is terrible. His character is bland. But here we go with Bond and Madeline again. And the deadly nanobots. Grade: F
    7. Bond and M gripe about Heracles. Yawn. Grade: D -
    8. Q was good. He helps Bond and we get to see Moneypenny. Some Roger Moore vibes here. Grade : C
    9. Safin: run of the mill Bond baddie. Wants to see the world burn. He’s a nutcase. Loves Madeline based off the fact he tries to kill her as a kid. Makes perfect sense right? No. Again, Madeline is the star of the movie as everything is revolving around her. You can see the OHMSS subversion here and throughout the entire movie. Although the general feel, and Craig’s Bond is like Brosnan’s, and Moore. Craig is like his Bond in the PTS and the end. But not so much anywhere else.
    Safin: Grade: D very forgettable. Formulaic.
    Okay gonna fast forward from here.
    10. Bond and Madeline rekindle their love. Chemistry: zero. Grade: F-
    BoNd has a child. Yes, Bond is a dad. Did we really need more family drama? Anyway, there it is. Madeline says it isn’t his. Yeah right.
    11: Good car chase and forest action seen. Bond takes on impossible odds and comes out the winner. Great stunts, and especially his “Locke-style” killing of Logan. Grade: B+
    12. Bond and Nomi go after Dr. No (Safin) in his compound. Great action scene here (A). Bond fights his way to Safin. Nomi helps and kills the dopey scientist that hurt the movie with his slapstick persona. Garden of Death. The biogenic dna weapon is going to be sold by Safin to make money (which isn’t explained). Bond most open the compound doors for missiles to destroy it and the weapon. Bond fights Safin eventually after a speech where Bond mouths Safin’s words on camera (cringe and horrendous editing). Bond is shot twice and badly by Safin. Bond breaks Safin’s arm in a pool, but Safin infects him with the weapon, so now Bond can’t be around Mathilde and Madeline. Bond executes Safin. Bond pretty much stays behind to close the door, and bleeding out, tells Madeline, he’s done. Goodbye. Then a rain of missiles kill James Bond. (Grade F-).
    final take: The ending was shock value and unnecessary. The formula of Bond saving the day is no guarantee now. Nothing found in NTTD That can’t be seen in other Craig movies (and done much better). This movie is like reheated leftovers. If you like reheated leftovers, then this movie is simply delicious. In a few years time, this movie will be forgotten. The Craig era will be defined by Casino Royale and Skyfall. It would sadly have been better had the series ended with Skyfall, and a high (plus positive note).
    Rating. One * 1/2 out of 4 stars.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    One of your negatives, “Made me think of Roger Moore”, is a big positive for me.
  • Posts: 526
    Birdleson wrote: »
    One of your negatives, “Made me think of Roger Moore”, is a big positive for me.
    I should clarify this. I like Roger Moore, but I don’t like the campiness of his movies, which isn’t his fault. The way he kills Locke is a classic scene. And I’m a big fan of TMWTGG. I do think Craig channeled all the Bonds besides Connery, which is strange. Just an odd Bond movie that I will never like or enjoy. If only the entire movie could have matched the PTS.
  • DraxCucumberSandwichDraxCucumberSandwich United Kingdom
    Posts: 208

    So, just because Bond survied in the 24 previous movie (how hideous it might have been), he cannot die in the 25th movie? Sorry, mate, that's not a valid argument. You have to do that better. Like, "I never had a cold in my life, I can't have it now?"

    I’d put it as the fact that Bond movies are the ultimate escapism, and part of that is embodied in the fact that he always, literally, escapes.

    That’s no longer true. So for many fans Bond is no longer the same escapist fantasy that it once was. I love the movie but can’t deny that it has taken something away
  • DraxCucumberSandwichDraxCucumberSandwich United Kingdom
    Posts: 208
    The main problem with Christmas Jones is that her appearance immediately puts up flags that Elektra isn’t the main Bond girl, and so undermines the reveal that she’s the villain
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161

    So, just because Bond survied in the 24 previous movie (how hideous it might have been), he cannot die in the 25th movie? Sorry, mate, that's not a valid argument. You have to do that better. Like, "I never had a cold in my life, I can't have it now?"

    I’d put it as the fact that Bond movies are the ultimate escapism, and part of that is embodied in the fact that he always, literally, escapes.

    That’s no longer true. So for many fans Bond is no longer the same escapist fantasy that it once was. I love the movie but can’t deny that it has taken something away

    Very nicely put.
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