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

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  • Posts: 3,327
    On a very long flight, I just watched all 5-Craig films back-to-back for the first time. My major takeaway is that Skyfall is amazing haha. That, and No Time to Die didn't fare so well, surprisingly, given I've been a huge fan of it ever since viewing two.

    This is mainly down to Craig's performance. Others have said it, and I've had my nits to pick about it since viewing one, but it's even more noticeably wildly different when watching in the context of the marathon. Took away from the big finish, because I felt like I wasn't watching the same character. And I'm shocked to be saying that.

    Idk. Maybe I'm delirious. Or maybe Skyfall had the perfect ending to Craig's tenure.

    SF should have ended Craig's tenure. That would have been a nice 3 part trilogy. SF is probably Craig's best performance as Bond too (even though I prefer CR).

    NTTD has to be his worst. SP gave us a more cinematic version (which was fairly ok), but in NTTD his performance is all over the shop. The standout terrible scene is the 2 hander with Blofeld, where Craig literally feels like he is suddenly playing a different character entirely.

    I would go as far as saying that is the worst acted scene by any actor in the franchise (yes, even Lazenby wasn't that bad).
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited July 2022 Posts: 3,799
    On a very long flight, I just watched all 5-Craig films back-to-back for the first time. My major takeaway is that Skyfall is amazing haha. That, and No Time to Die didn't fare so well, surprisingly, given I've been a huge fan of it ever since viewing two.

    This is mainly down to Craig's performance. Others have said it, and I've had my nits to pick about it since viewing one, but it's even more noticeably wildly different when watching in the context of the marathon. Took away from the big finish, because I felt like I wasn't watching the same character. And I'm shocked to be saying that.

    Idk. Maybe I'm delirious. Or maybe Skyfall had the perfect ending to Craig's tenure.

    SF should have ended Craig's tenure. That would have been a nice 3 part trilogy. SF is probably Craig's best performance as Bond too (even though I prefer CR).

    NTTD has to be his worst. SP gave us a more cinematic version (which was fairly ok), but in NTTD his performance is all over the shop. The standout terrible scene is the 2 hander with Blofeld, where Craig literally feels like he is suddenly playing a different character entirely.

    I would go as far as saying that is the worst acted scene by any actor in the franchise (yes, even Lazenby wasn't that bad).

    Another one was at the Norway forest scenes especially when Bond told Logan Ash that "I have a brother he's name is Felix Leiter", I didn't see Bond, it's Craig playing himself at that scene.

    The London scenes was him playing Benoit Blanc particularly at his meeting with M at the office "and whoever stole your weapon used it to wipe out SPECTRE instead, now your weapon is on the run, and nobody seems to know who has it", and yes that Blofeld interrogation scene, where he's playing an entirely different character.

    Then the third act was just him playing himself, it's just Craig himself in all of those scenes from Norway to Safin's island.

    That's the bad thing ever happened to me while watching a Bond film when I said to myself, this is not Bond, this is Craig.

    At least in SPECTRE, some of the scenes there had him acted more like in the books particularly the Austrian scenes when he's convincing Madeleine to join his side after saving her, those scenes in Tangiers and the scene in Morocco when they're waiting at the desert, and when he touched Madeleine's hand in the car on the way to Blofeld's base, I could easily see Fleming's Bond acting the way Craig did in those scenes.

    Agreed about Lazenby, he acted like Bond in the majority of scenes in the movie, liked his performance that he's naive and he's natural.
    Well, I would go as far as saying that some of Craig's acting in NTTD are more worst than Brosnan's pain face in TWINE.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    edited July 2022 Posts: 4,247
    I don't know how Cary missed out from not continuing with the Matera feel, Craig was electric in Matera. Could Cary be the first unintelligent Bond director? I can't directly say, but I can't argue against that.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    Jordo007 wrote: »
    I wish I could get on board with it and ignore the plot holes (like I can with Skyfall) but I can't. I'm glad people on here enjoy it though, I'm extremely jealous I hope in time my feelings with soften on it

    I hoped I'd warm to it too. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. I still haven't bought a physical copy of it, I can't bring myself to put NTTD with my James Bond films. It's daft.

    This is where I am at. I paid to see it on the big screen, once. Not for one second, am I in any rush to see it again. Even QOS, I have watched a few times.
  • MI6HQ wrote: »
    On a very long flight, I just watched all 5-Craig films back-to-back for the first time. My major takeaway is that Skyfall is amazing haha. That, and No Time to Die didn't fare so well, surprisingly, given I've been a huge fan of it ever since viewing two.

    This is mainly down to Craig's performance. Others have said it, and I've had my nits to pick about it since viewing one, but it's even more noticeably wildly different when watching in the context of the marathon. Took away from the big finish, because I felt like I wasn't watching the same character. And I'm shocked to be saying that.

    Idk. Maybe I'm delirious. Or maybe Skyfall had the perfect ending to Craig's tenure.

    SF should have ended Craig's tenure. That would have been a nice 3 part trilogy. SF is probably Craig's best performance as Bond too (even though I prefer CR).

    NTTD has to be his worst. SP gave us a more cinematic version (which was fairly ok), but in NTTD his performance is all over the shop. The standout terrible scene is the 2 hander with Blofeld, where Craig literally feels like he is suddenly playing a different character entirely.

    I would go as far as saying that is the worst acted scene by any actor in the franchise (yes, even Lazenby wasn't that bad).

    Another one was at the Norway forest scenes especially when Bond told Logan Ash that "I have a brother he's name is Felix Leiter", I didn't see Bond, it's Craig playing himself at that scene.

    The London scenes was him playing Benoit Blanc particularly at his meeting with M at the office "and whoever stole your weapon used it to wipe out SPECTRE instead, now your weapon is on the run, and nobody seems to know who has it", and yes that Blofeld interrogation scene, where he's playing an entirely different character.

    Then the third act was just him playing himself, it's just Craig himself in all of those scenes from Norway to Safin's island.

    That's the bad thing ever happened to me while watching a Bond film when I said to myself, this is not Bond, this is Craig.

    At least in SPECTRE, some of the scenes there had him acted more like in the books particularly the Austrian scenes when he's convincing Madeleine to join his side after saving her, those scenes in Tangiers and the scene in Morocco when they're waiting at the desert, and when he touched Madeleine's hand in the car on the way to Blofeld's base, I could easily see Fleming's Bond acting the way Craig did in those scenes.

    Agreed about Lazenby, he acted like Bond in the majority of scenes in the movie, liked his performance that he's naive and he's natural.
    Well, I would go as far as saying that some of Craig's acting in NTTD are more worst than Brosnan's pain face in TWINE.
    Quite right. He's 100% Benoit Blanc in the interrogation scene. And he's so, so far removed from the CR/QOS, and even SF or SP, Bond, that I can't imagine any of those variations becoming this guy, if it's meant to be an evolution of the character (and not, what it seems to actually be, which is an actor who lost the character's voice).
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited July 2022 Posts: 16,502
    Craig’s performance was surprising in NTTD, but I get what they were going for and buy the conceit that we’re watching a more vulnerable and less internal version of Bond five years after retirement. I liked it.

    At the same time, it increases my fondness for Craig’s performance in SPECTRE where he’s playing 100% cinematic Bond without any of the chip on his shoulder he had in the first three films. The film may not be strictly formula as many want, but Craig is playing Bond exactly as I wanted to see since he was announced: Being a straight up aloof bastard.

    Spectre was probably my favourite version of Craig's Bond too, with the playfulness creeping in here and there. Bond is having fun quite a lot of the time in that one.
    mtm wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I don’t think a cliffhanger would have upset too many people.

    It's a big old downer though, and that's what a lot of these comparisons with Top Gun have been about.

    Even I would have been ok with a cliffhanger ending. It would have been a bit of a downer compared to TGM, but it still wouldn't be such a final, depressing ending. There would be still hope. We know Bond is going to survive to live and fight another day.

    Nah it's a downer, I'd have hated it. They didn't even end CR on a note like that even though Bond's love had died; and NTTD ended with the vaguely positive, if wistful, Madeline & Mathilde scene.
    NTTD has to be his worst. SP gave us a more cinematic version (which was fairly ok), but in NTTD his performance is all over the shop. The standout terrible scene is the 2 hander with Blofeld, where Craig literally feels like he is suddenly playing a different character entirely.

    I would go as far as saying that is the worst acted scene by any actor in the franchise (yes, even Lazenby wasn't that bad).

    I think that's absolute nonsense. And that scene has a line from Fleming in it so it's automatically good, isn't it? :P
    GadgetMan wrote: »
    I don't know how Cary missed out from not continuing with the Matera feel, Craig was electric in Matera. Could Cary be the first unintelligent Bond director? I can't directly say, but I can't argue against that.

    I think he doesn't get Bond: there's a Bond flavour missing from the film which Mendes and Campbell completely understood.
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,641
    @mtm completely agree on what you said about Fukunaga mate

    On Craig's performance in NTTD, I hate to say it bit it is patchy in places. I remember when I saw the final trailer, I winced at the line "you can imagine why I've come back to play" it just felt like too soft a delivery and it reminded of Benoit Blanc.

    That happens a few times in the film especially in the London sequence, that's part of my dislike of that section of the film. The M scene felt out of place and the Blofeld scene was terrible and in desperate need of another take.

    I think it's only noticeable because out of all of his films differing quality, Craig's performance has not only been consistent but a highlight of each film. The only one part is in Spectre "no no turn it off, I said turn it off!", that felt too big in that moment. NTTD is riddled with tons of odd acting touches like that by everyone
  • edited July 2022 Posts: 4,230
    As much as I get the criticism that Craig is essentially doing Benoit Blanc during the interrogation scene in NTTD, I've never understood the claim that he's 'playing himself'. It's not even bad acting as such (it's certainly not one note), but arguably a case of mishandled Direction.

    I actually don't mind the idea that Bond went through a bit of a change after leaving the Service. Keep in mind, he's a man who spent his entire adult life being turned into a killer, went through numerous tragedies, and spent a good chunk of his life as a loner. It makes sense he'd no longer have to put that 'mask' he needed as a 00 agent - that cold, stoic attitude a man like that would need just to keep sane in that profession. Craig's Bond is certainly more sarcastic after the PTS which is an element I think worked (ie. 'M, darling!' and 'Who's the Book of Mormon?', 'Has this desk gotten bigger?'). It's a part of his Bond that's always been there, as seen in SP with the 'I think I'll call you C' line, but the fact that this Bond doesn't have to restrain himself as much due to not being in the Service and has more of these lines feels natural and in-character. I actually really enjoyed seeing Craig's Bond and Felix interact in the Jamaica scenes sipping beers together, laughing, telling stories, even doing each other's accents. It felt like these two were genuinely friends. This is where I think that change works best in NTTD. It even works to an extent when Bond tries to appeal to Safin at the end (the ropey dialogue doesn't help, but the idea of this older Bond, a man who has witnessed all kinds of horrific events in his life, trying to appeal to Safin in a 'this is morally wrong' way is interesting).

    But yeah, the interrogation scene is awful, and I do think Craig's performance needed to be reigned in. It would have been cool to have seen him put up that 'mask' again to face Blofeld. The 'die Blofeld, die' is needlessly dramatic and forced too, and the fact that Bond goes from Benoit Blanc to an unhinged killer is strange. Still, it's a Direction/script decision. While Craig probably had a hand in it (I get the sense he took the attitude of 'I want to say more than three words at a time in this film') it's something that could have been ironed out in concept.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,193
    Part of why I roll with his changed demeanor in NTTD is the fact that his Bond has actually grown across the first four films. So a precedent is already set for seeing what a retired James Bond would be like.

    With CR he was an impulsive upstart. QOS, sort of expanded on that which I wasn’t a fan of. SF jumps ahead to him being a veteran trying to prove he’s still got the edge. SP is then Craig being 100% unadulterated Bond. Finally, NTTD shows the retired Bond. Something we only saw in our imaginations with other actors that their films never depicted.

    Which is why I think a Brosnan return would be kind of redundant in a sense. We’ve already seen a retired Bond. Let’s get back to seeing him in his prime as 007 rather than bring back a 70 year old Brosnan just to appease his base.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited July 2022 Posts: 3,154
    Feeling that Craig had lost Bond's voice and I was watching a different character altogether isn't a new experience - I felt exactly those things after the first few viewings of SF. He spoke and carried himself very differently than he had in QOS. Much more clipped and terse, as if consciously holding back. I was massively disappointed. Took a while for it to dawn on me that it wasn't that they'd lost sight of CraigBond, but that it had been done deliberately - the time jump between the two films meant that Bond had gone from firing on all cylinders in QOS to a more experienced but also a more closed, colder, harder and more reserved character. Craig's changed portrayal in NTTD is almost certainly also deliberate, rather than him losing Bond's voice. The professional armour Bond had developed hadn't been worn for half a decade after all, so there'd be some differences. I get that. Thing is, once Bond reappeared fully suited at MI6, you'd expect the full, recognisable CraigBond character to have reasserted himself and be played out consistently to the end of the film. Instead, we still get more tonal shifts even after that. That's partly why NTTD feels not just tonally inconsistent but actually a bit all over the place. Thinking about the oddness of Craig's performance in the Blofeld interrogation scene in particular, I've tried to convince myself that it's because Bond himself has actually slipped out of character in that moment, in order to draw Blofeld out and make him trip over his own hubris and say something he otherwise wouldn't. But is that really the case or am I just consoling myself that there's a plausible reason for such an odd approach? Hmm...dunno.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited July 2022 Posts: 1,711
    I may be the only guy on Earth who loves the Blofeld scene in NTTD. I know what people mean about Craig's performance, but he is talking to a guy with whom he has a very strange relationship, and he needs something from him, so he's making a somewhat awkward sales pitch. And all the while they're trying to get under each other's skin. Bond's back-handed and false admiration is wonderful, and Blofeld's bravado as he deflects it is even better.

    I think Waltz is excellent here, which may elevate my feelings about Craig's side of it, but I really don't expect him to talk to Ernst the way he'd talk to Nomi or M or Felix. People are exaggerating a bit on the Knives Out comparison. It's really the one set of hand gestures that may remind one of that. (The one part I do find odd is how Bond mutters the word "die" before the famous YOLT reference. But if it's written that he has to say "die" under his breath, I know of no good way that could have been done.
  • edited July 2022 Posts: 4,230
    I must say, regardless of whether or not people like Craig's performance in NTTD (and indeed his other Bond films) it can't be said that he didn't consider how to play the character in each film, what difference approaches he took each time, what mannerisms/vocal intonations he chose to emphasise etc. The script/story direction certainly had an impact too. As has been mentioned in the previous posts, it's actually really interesting watching his Bond go from CR/QOS to the aged, stoic agent in SF, to cinematic Bond personified in SP... and then NTTD.

    It'd be nice to see a similar contrast from film to film with future Bond actors. Nothing too elaborate, just little differences which show how the previous film has affected our hero or where he is in comparison to the previous movie.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,336
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited July 2022 Posts: 3,799
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    I'm not sure, Brosnan's character also changed from being cold towards women to caring for them.
    Remember the interaction between him and Xenia and his playful attitudes to Natalya, to showing his soft side to Paris Carver and almost falling in love with Elektra.
    I think it's there, there's a chance for his Bond to change but the inclusion of Christmas Jones and Die Another Day stopped him from evolving.

    To be honest, I have no problem with the Blofeld interrogation that much, I find it a bit fun.

    The scene where he really acted like Benoit Blanc was when he's talking to M in his office and blaming him about the Nanobots and his insistence to visit Blofeld in Belmarsh that's where he sounded like Benoit Blanc, there's the dialogue, I've posted earlier.

    About Craig playing himself, it's in the Norway scenes, he's fine in the first half of the film, but when he reached Norway, that's where Craig himself replaced Bond.
  • Posts: 4,230
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.
  • Posts: 1,083
    ggl007 wrote: »

    Thanks for that. I'm in complete agreement with the writer.
    I paid to see it on the big screen, once. Not for one second, am I in any rush to see it again. Even QOS, I have watched a few times.

    QoS can be an enjoyable mess, I've watched it many times.

    That said, I haven't watched a Craig Bond movie since November. The shine's been knocked off now we know it's all supposed to end.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I don t see it, either. There would have been much more "Umm...aaa...Um-um-um..."
  • mattjoesmattjoes THE MOONRAKER TAPES ARE LOST THE MOONRAKER TAPES ARE LOST
    Posts: 7,040
    He would've said "listen" or "look" more often while explaining things.

    As in "Look, I know we've had our differences, Blofeld." Or "Listen, the thing about relationships is that they are based on trust, Madeleine."
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited July 2022 Posts: 16,502
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    I'd say Connery and Moore both changed a fair amount: they weren't trying to depict a change in the character's inner life between films especially, but then neither was Dalton. Connery starts out playing Bond as a bit of a distant bastard in Dr No, then develops his main Bond persona after that, and then by DAF he's clearly decided to go for a more genial comedy performance, and it works very well. Meanwhile Moore goes from the harder-edged and occasionally cruel Bond of his two Hamilton films; to the ultra urbane laid-back superman of his Gilbert films; to the slightly warmer and at times more realistic and dramatic, uncle figure of his Glen films.
    I think Dalton's performance probably varies less than those two do.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited July 2022 Posts: 3,799
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I've watched it again, I mean the way he spoke those lines particularly the "I have a brother, his name is Felix Leiter" line before he killed Logan Ash, his delivery of that line, the way he spoke it was not Bond, it's just Craig delivering that line.
    And even some of his lines when he's talking to Safin about "second chance".

    His delivery of lines was very much himself.

    But maybe it's just me perhaps?
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 3,154
    I don t see it, either. There would have been much more "Umm...aaa...Um-um-um..."

    And a lot more 'effing and blinding'... ;)
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,799
    Yes, maybe my perception is a bit different, I don't know.
    Yeah, sorry if I gave you all confusion, maybe it's just me.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    edited July 2022 Posts: 4,247
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I've watched it again, I mean the way he spoke those lines particularly the "I have a brother, his name is Felix Leiter" line before he killed Logan Ash, his delivery of that line, the way he spoke it was not Bond, it's just Craig delivering that line.
    And even some of his lines when he's talking to Safin about "second chance".

    His delivery of lines was very much himself.

    But maybe it's just me perhaps?

    Yeah, I know what you mean. But I think Craig still sounds like Bond in NTTD. Only in some scenes, he doesn't sound or behave like the Bond we were introduced to. For example, him talking to Blofeld and waving his hand. We were introduced to a laconic Bond(like Bond is usually is, anyway)so for him to be loquacious in NTTD is quite distant.
  • Posts: 3,327
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    Connery changed too. The Bond of Dr. No/FRWL is very different to the Bond of DAF or NSNA.

    GF/TB are also different, as is YOLT.
  • edited July 2022 Posts: 4,230
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I've watched it again, I mean the way he spoke those lines particularly the "I have a brother, his name is Felix Leiter" line before he killed Logan Ash, his delivery of that line, the way he spoke it was not Bond, it's just Craig delivering that line.
    And even some of his lines when he's talking to Safin about "second chance".

    His delivery of lines was very much himself.

    But maybe it's just me perhaps?

    I dunno, having seen Craig in interviews I've never really gotten the sense that him and his onscreen Bond are very similar really. Perhaps it's like when people say actors in certain roles are just playing themselves the longer they play the part... they're not, but usually it's a case of them heightening aspects of their performance that they themselves introduced to the character. With Craig it's even further removed because he's playing a version of his Bond that differs from his performance in other films. It's jarring and perhaps uneven, but for me it's not Craig, nor is it lazy or bad acting.
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    Connery changed too. The Bond of Dr. No/FRWL is very different to the Bond of DAF or NSNA.

    GF/TB are also different, as is YOLT.

    Somewhat true. The Bond of TB and YOLT is a terrible bore really.
  • ProfJoeButcherProfJoeButcher Bless your heart
    edited July 2022 Posts: 1,711
    Yeah, I don't know Daniel Craig, so it's hard to say to what degree he's playing himself. But most of the Bond actors have been accused of this sort of thing, Sean and Roger particularly, but you could go far enough to note that Tim's surly streak as Bond could have something in common with the actor's lack of enthusaism about publicity work. People have certain vocal cadences or whatever, and that includes actors, so sometimes I'm sure Daniel's Bond sounds like some other guy Daniel played, or like Daniel himself. It doesn't seem that peculiar, especially given that NTTD put Daniel's Bond into some situations rather unlike any encountered by his or any other Bond. How's he supposed to sound?
  • Posts: 3,327
    Yeah, I don't know Daniel Craig, so it's hard to say to what degree he's playing himself. But most of the Bond actors have been accused of this sort of thing, Sean and Roger particularly, but you could go far enough to note that Tim's surly streak as Bond could have something in common with the actor's lack of enthusaism about publicity work. People have certain vocal cadences or whatever, and that includes actors, so sometimes I'm sure Daniel's Bond sounds like some other guy Daniel played, or like Daniel himself. It doesn't seem that peculiar, especially given that NTTD put Daniel's Bond into some situations rather unlike any encountered by his or any other Bond. How's he supposed to sound?

    I found the Blofeld scene the most jarring. Craig becomes very animated, slightly sarcastic but not in a Bondian way, the kind of words he is using (problem with the script), and overall it just felt Craig, rather than Bond.

    I never had this feeling in any of the other Craig movies, yet it pops up frequently in NTTD.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    007HallY wrote: »
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I've watched it again, I mean the way he spoke those lines particularly the "I have a brother, his name is Felix Leiter" line before he killed Logan Ash, his delivery of that line, the way he spoke it was not Bond, it's just Craig delivering that line.
    And even some of his lines when he's talking to Safin about "second chance".

    His delivery of lines was very much himself.

    But maybe it's just me perhaps?

    I dunno, having seen Craig in interviews I've never really gotten the sense that him and his onscreen Bond are very similar really. Perhaps it's like when people say actors in certain roles are just playing themselves the longer they play the part... they're not, but usually it's a case of them heightening aspects of their performance that they themselves introduced to the character. With Craig it's even further removed because he's playing a version of his Bond that differs from his performance in other films. It's jarring and perhaps uneven, but for me it's not Craig, nor is it lazy or bad acting.
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    Connery changed too. The Bond of Dr. No/FRWL is very different to the Bond of DAF or NSNA.

    GF/TB are also different, as is YOLT.

    Somewhat true. The Bond of TB and YOLT is a terrible bore really.
    Disagree on TB, I think Connery turns in a brilliant performance there.
  • Posts: 4,230
    007HallY wrote: »
    MI6HQ wrote: »
    007HallY wrote: »
    I'm genuinely curious @MI6HQ - in what way do you think Craig is playing himself? I can understand the criticism that it's not the best way he could have played Bond during the last half of the film, but I'm not sure where the idea that Craig is playing himself comes from.

    I've watched it again, I mean the way he spoke those lines particularly the "I have a brother, his name is Felix Leiter" line before he killed Logan Ash, his delivery of that line, the way he spoke it was not Bond, it's just Craig delivering that line.
    And even some of his lines when he's talking to Safin about "second chance".

    His delivery of lines was very much himself.

    But maybe it's just me perhaps?

    I dunno, having seen Craig in interviews I've never really gotten the sense that him and his onscreen Bond are very similar really. Perhaps it's like when people say actors in certain roles are just playing themselves the longer they play the part... they're not, but usually it's a case of them heightening aspects of their performance that they themselves introduced to the character. With Craig it's even further removed because he's playing a version of his Bond that differs from his performance in other films. It's jarring and perhaps uneven, but for me it's not Craig, nor is it lazy or bad acting.
    echo wrote: »
    Craig allowed his Bond to change throughout the films, which is not something that I can say of any of the other actors, except for maybe Dalton.

    Connery changed too. The Bond of Dr. No/FRWL is very different to the Bond of DAF or NSNA.

    GF/TB are also different, as is YOLT.

    Somewhat true. The Bond of TB and YOLT is a terrible bore really.
    Disagree on TB, I think Connery turns in a brilliant performance there.

    Power to you if you feel that. I can't watch him in it, he comes off as so bored and stiff in many key moments for me. TB and YOLT aren't my favourite Bond films anyway, but Connery's performance is disappointing.
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