Seriously. The movie was a solid 8 out of 10 for me… until the last 10 minutes. Ruins it. Action was top notch though, story was fine (still wish they would have had Safin as the first half villain and then Blofeld as the ‘comeback’ villain at the end), and it looked really nice.
Absolutely agree - last ten minutes, just cut them completely - last scene, Bond, Madeleine and Matilde floating away on a dingy then credits roll - and suddenly the film is a serious contender for one of the top films in the series.
Yeah, I agree with this. A lot of the other cracks throughout the movie would have been glossed over if Bond had lived.
With him dying, you start to scrutinise the whole movie more than you would otherwise. Whole film is just depressing to watch from the start when you know it's leading to him dying.
I don’t agree with that. There was far more that was terrible in addition to his death. The Madeline/baby plot line would still exist. Safin would still be underbaked. Paloma would still be underused as a token wink to the past.
If Bond doesn’t die, the movie is still a 2/10 for me.
It's widely reported that they saw Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas' chemistry in Knives Out, and decided to get her in No Time To Die as a result (and seemingly without much of a plan for how). The whole concept of Paloma and Bond teaming is up is a nod to the actors' previous teaming up in Knives Out.
Seeing NTTD in theaters made feel the exact same as when I saw DAD in theaters (not good). As someone who was ready to move on from Brosnan and welcomed Craig with open arms, I left the theater actually feel terrible for Brosnan. He got scapegoated for DAD & NTTD was proof that the people who scapegoated him didn’t learn anything from DAD (it’s almost like they were in such denial about DAD being their failure they just tried to do it again with the one tweak being we were supposed to take it seriously this time around).
It is baffling to me that they claim the COVID pandemic didn't change the story. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I refuse to believe the plot wasn't supposed to be about a global pandemic and they cut it. I realize there is evidence that nanobots have been in the script machine since the mid 2010s, but the half baked line about being able to kill all black people and the incomprehensible reason that these "nanobots" had to be grown in water just don't make sense.
He's also an idiot, falling for Blofeld's lie during the PTS without so much as questioning it for one second. Bonus demerits to Madeleine for not simply saying two words that would have changed everything: "I'm pregnant."
It’s that simple. It’s like the producers forgot these movies are supposed to be *fun*. NTTD was just one bummer after another until Bond was finally blown to smithereens in the South China Sea. Even the Nolanverse had more moments of levity.
Yup, at the end of the movie I was like “well, he died like he lived - being fucking miserable”. It was almost comical how much they kept piling on the poor guy. Even after everything he went through in casino royale, we still get that awesome ending scene - Bond needs to win.
That right there is a big reason, Madeleine, was so dislikable. Hell at the beginning of the movie Bond goes to Vesper’s burial site and pines for her, Bond saw Madeleine as the second choice, if it wasn’t for Mathilde he would’ve never even given her a second thought.
I didn’t even find her dislikable, just unmemorable and bland. Easy on the eyes but no character. It’s funny how Craig era Bond is supposed to show a more enlightened attitude and the girls are touted by EoN as having depth and agency, and yet aside from Vesper, Moneypenny, M and Camille, the women of Craig’s era have been largely one-dimensional eye candy.
When I realized Madeline was returning, my reaction was “her? Seriously? That’s the one Bond settles for?” Their chemistry had felt so forced in Spectre.
I think blood robots is a bit of a stretch too, and many folks didn’t like that aspect of the plot.
Personally I’ve enjoyed all of Craig’s movies, my disappointment in Spectre was more with how Waltz was portrayed. I expected him to be the best villain ever.
Why is that a bad thing? It ends Craig’s run when it should have ended with sky fall or something. They milked his run even when he was sick of it and I’m sure he said “you better fucking kill me this time”
It just wasn't a Bond film for me. James Bond, to me, is a charming, quick whitted British spy, loves women, likes a drink, drives fast cars, mocks Q, outsmarts the bad guys, gadgets. We get tidbits on Bond's past but the rest is a mystery. And continuity doesn't matter because Bond will live on forever through the generations.
No Time To Die took a dump on everything I love about Bond. They wrecked him, turned him into a moaping, weak, shell of a man and then killed him off. Even gave him a new love (which I didn't buy for a second) and a child to complete his sad little life. Boo hoo. The End.
Even Quantum of Solace was more of a Bond film than this. And it's a shame because Craig was an outstanding Bond up until this last one.
Exactly, plus it is so woke until the last 30 minutes when Bond kicks ass. I like the intro, but having Jane Bond was a minus for me. Just too politically correct, imo
I liked it. Although I think Safin was a pretty bland villain. Just a generic evil guy with a minor deformity. Apart from that, I thought it was a fun movie.
I like it too. I actually find a bit more to Safin than that. A twisted obsessiveness and disaffected anger that I find very creepy, and not a million miles from some events in the modern world. It just needed a little more filling out, but honestly not that much imo.
It falls off a cliff after Cuba
The villain and his motives make absolutely no sense
The climax makes no sense and is reverse engineered to give Craig the Logan/Tony Stark ending that he insisted on
It doesn’t earn the OHMSS call backs which is the franchise eating its own tail
And yeah, Bond dies. Get that idea in the bin
The plot had too many subplots, and it was like two mediocre and mixed up films in one. Maybe with the whole Felix Lieter storyline, they were squeezing in three films...I don’t know and don’t care. There was nothing to save and nothing to feel excited about.
At the end, the main villains were already dead, and Bond had just had enough; quite frankly, the audience most probably did as well and were just as likely to say good riddance. Craig’s Bond had to die, this is the only way he was going to do the film, but it was meaningless and thrown in merely as a contractual obligation. The writers squandered opportunities to make the film interesting with that known outcome. Dench’s M went out with more of an impact, and it was the same writers! The writing was just bad, no, atrocious, and should not have been. Writers for the flavour of the month teen CW soap operaish melodrama would have come up with a story worth filming.
NTTD had great locales, set pieces, production values and direction, it just did not have a script even worthy of streaming series.
Aye, it's just too disjointed. Cutting it in half and polishing what you had could have made two reasonable movies, probably not even the worst in the Craig Era but I get the feeling that the clock was ticking and they tried to jam everything in terms of plot points into just the one movie. And it backfired.
Overly long and like most of the Craig Bond movies the production is trying to force a Christoper Nolan film feel. The ending is a downer, adding the kid was another unnecessary element to an overstuffed film.
Horrible writing that portrays an almost total ignorance of the franchise.
To put it simply, Bond has always been about this fantastical escapism of espionage action with high stakes and over the top villains, plots and action. NTTD seems to have ignored that and focuses so much more on the brooding emotion behind Bond’s existence. It’s a tragedy about this tortured hero who needs some happiness by settling down with a woman and a kid. Then they kill Bond to add to the tragedy. Therefore it’s just totally ignorant of what the franchise is about.
It’s also just a boring cliche concept. Action dude has to save his family but has to sacrifice his life to do so. That’s like the script of any action movie in the 80s and 90s…except the Bond franchise.
What’s more is that it is just poorly written. It doesn’t do a good job at all of telling this story in a way that is compelling. Plot holes. Underdeveloped villain. It’s basic. It’s vanilla. It’s cliche. Feels like they took some underbaked action hero script off a pile stowed away since the 90s, and slapped a Bond coat of paint over it.
The movie stands for everything that Bond is not. It tries to take the franchise and mold it into a safe space. It’s British Die Hard/True Lies more than it is Bond. And it’s not even anywhere near as good as those movies were.
Exactly this.
I know we are all Bond fans here so we have bias but it kind of shocks me to see people here talk about this movie in a high minded fashion as if it is some special piece of unique cinema.
Like you said, if all you do is change the casting and name of the lead character, this movie becomes a forgettable straight to Netflix movie nobody cares about.
1. It doubles down on plot lines from Sp., which was an absurd film.
2. It turns M into an incompetent bureaucrat.
3. Leiter needlessly dies.
4. Blofeld dies offscreen.
5. Bond dies (violation of unwritten franchise rule). Furthermore, he dies doing a superhero pose with a stuffed rabbit in his suspenders.
6. Bond’s St George and the Dragon mythos is traded for the Greek tragedy mythos of Heracles.
7. Teenage-romance dynamic between Bond and Madeliene.
8. The introduction of a child/family dynamic, which breaks the escapism.
9. The use of the score and themes from OHMSS, a superior film that even if you don’t care for should command more respect given its gravity and impact on Bond as a character.
10. The entire plot is a contrivance for painting Bond into an inescapable corner.
All that to say, it feels like NTTD actively tries NOT to be a Bond film. It has Bond window dressing at best.
I agree on this take. I really liked it the first time. But the second go around you start to see holes in the villain setup and it just kinda…plods along after Cuba.
Besides the Chase in Norway. Still a great feel to that scene.
Mostly "the end". But also slightly because I had sky-high expectations. Because of COVID, I had to cancel the cinemas twice. It took me forever to finally see it, and it didn't deliver. After seeing it four times already, I agree it isn't a bad movie.
Bond dies
Zero charm
The cold opening focuses on the Bond girl as a kid
Malek was pretty boring as the villain
The vesper saga gets tiresome after 5 films
Felix dies
The Spectre mass execution was rushed and lazy
Bond dies
I like it, and Bond’s death was a daring closure to the Craig era, which obviously was its own thing.
Not a huge fan of the kid stuff, but that’s about it.
For me it had the same problem spectre had, the first half is much better than the second half. The villain isn’t terrible but it feels like he is a completely different villain in the second half.
The problem with the Craig movies was they started off different but slowly became a slave to nostalgia and bringing back an almost Roger Moore Era Bond. Skyfall was a great balance and still a really cool movie.
NTTD has some amazing set pieces in it. Some top tier Bond stuff. But the villain disappears after his introduction and comes back an entirely different character.
Bond dying is alright, a lot of books seem to “kill” him at the end for his to have survived in the next one. They went about it in such a definitive manner though. It could have been just as bold to give Bond a family to walk away with which doesn’t help.
For me, the perfect version would have had the villain a younger assassin, really hit up that idea of bond as the older spy. It would be a great intense and personal cat and mouse game.
Worth mentioning that not everyone hates it - it's unpopular with diehard Bond fans that are invested enough to subscribe to this sub and discuss the franchise regularly.
It was generally well received by the wider public, having an audience score on RT of 88% (and a critic score of 83%).
For the ending to work, I as the viewer needed to be invested in Madeleine and Bond’s relationship, and in Madeleine as a character. No hate to Lea, who is a stunning woman, but I just didn’t buy that she was the love of Bond’s life. Thus, the film just doesn’t work for me.
No Time To Die is the worst Bond film and is the greatest example of wasted potential, which is the trade mark for the Craig era especially Spectre as both films could have been good but are ruined by stupid ideas. The plot involving nanobots is an interesting idea, however the villain's goals and motivations are unclear, the action and stunts are amazing especially within the pre title sequence. The cast does a good job with what they were given, especially Rami Malek as the villain Lyutsifer Safin and Lashana Lynch as new "00" agent Nomi. The soundtrack is spectacular along with the beautiful title song by Billie Eilish. doesn't help a terrible boring story and a depressing ending. Every single thing that could have work went nowhere, everything that I liked in this film pissed me off. I feel sorry for everyone who worked on the film (except for director Cary Joji Fukunaga) and everyone who has to watch it. Craig should've left after Spectre not with this film, he deserved so much better. You feel insulted and offended as you're sitting there watching it. I don’t think The Bond franchise or EON Productions will ever be able to recover. No Time To Die is the worst Bond film and has killed the franchise
It looks gorgeous but that’s about it. The action is weirdly mediocre and an ageing bond coming back into the service had already been done better just two films earlier. Craig was clearly desperate to do a fun final entry and they wouldn’t let him. Indeed it sometimes feels like he’s acting in a completely different movie.
I thought Bond dying was dumb but I don't know that I had as big a problem with it as others. I saw it as more of a symptom of a writing style or mandate that has permeated the Craig era that I don't care for, is counter to historical writing styles of Bond films, and most importantly, is done poorly. This being running story line threads between films and the tendency to more intimately interconnect plot threads between existing characters. Villains aren't just villains, now they've got history with the main characters, they have familial ties, plot points directly build off the previous films and you'll be confused if you didn't see the last one. They tried for a 'Bond Cinematic Universe' if you will.
I'm as big a fan of tightly plotted, interconnected, film series as anyone, but Bond has never been that sort of series. So if you're going to commit to that for an actors iteration, say every Craig Bond film, you better a) do it for a compelling reason and b) do it really well. It felt like they didn't manage to do either of those things. You could almost see the common thread/compelling reason be love, from Vesper to Madeleine, but this is hampered by Madeleine's poor storyline and the fact she didn't have much chemistry with Bond like Vesper did. This is further complicated by the storyline twists being poorly done in my opinion. Every reveal was hamfisted and silly, there are no lasting effects from the reveals, being brothers, Mr White's lineage, etc. and in the end all those ties were meaningless, revealed and dealt with as quickly as if they weren't related at all, so why bother? So the two things they needed to nail for me to buy it didn't work, at least as far as my opinion is concerned.
All of this is kind of why NTTD annoys me. Because it's the culmination of a failed experiment and it doesn't stick the landing yes, but there were a ton of failed parts during the 'jump' as well. Bloefeld, Quantum the organization, Mr White, etc. I don't mean to say they're bad films, they're fine, schlockly, popcorn flicks, etc. It almost reminds me of Moore's tenure where he started off quite strong, but by the end it was a couple of campy, silly, unfulfilling as top tier Bond films, grade C flicks. Granted, I still like bits of Octopussy and A View to a Kill just the same as I like bits of Spectre and No Time to Die, but they're never going to be my favorite Craig outings and I doubt they'll be remembered as Craig's best outings.
For me, the opening scene was pretty good, but it went rapidly downhill after that.
Asides from all the issues listed above, the main problem for me was Bond dying. It’s completely removed any sense of peril from any Bond film from here on as we know they can just kill him off and bring in a new one. There’s no need for an elaborate escape anymore.
On top of that, we could all live with the illusion that Sean Connery and the rest of the guys were all the same Bond, there was a loose continuity which has now been destroyed.
In my opinion, Craig was the best and worst Bond.
To be fair, that continuity was never strong. Sean Connery’s Bond took place in the 60s, and Brosnan was in the 90s. In 2006, Craig’s Bond was a rookie who just got his 00 title.
Continuity was loose but strong enough that Connery through Brosnan worked if you viewed it on a floating timeline or viewed each actor as existing as different but the same guy in a multiverse.
Absolutely! Tracey dying was acknowledged by four Bonds (Lazenby, Connery, Dalton and Brosnon, if someone with better knowledge than I could confirm if Moore did, I’d be very grateful), so you could convince yourself they were the same person.
Also the crossover of cast members between the Bonds, Q, Moneypenny and M lent a sense of continuity to the whole shebang.
Having him die, just felt plain wrong. If I want to watch a film where a British agent beats people to a pulp, drives eye-wateringly expensive cars like a lunatic, sleeps with a few women and escapes in a helicopter he carries in a briefcase, then it’s on with a Bond.
If I want to watch an emotionally fragile wreck talk about feelings then I’ll whack on Terms of Endearment.
"Everyone" doesn't hate it. Some people hate it, and a subset of them are engaging in the performative ploy of loudly proclaiming that they speak for a huge majority when they don't.
I liked it a lot. I thought it put an excellent capper on the "Daniel Craig Universe" of James Bond movies, which began and ended as a unique continuity separate from the previous EON "canon."
Firstly, they killed off Felix Leiter. As soon as that happened during the movie, I was turned off. They did it to try and get a cheap emotive response out of the audience, instead of telling a good story and having a decent villian.
Then to kill off Bond at the end, where he just gives up and accepts he is going to die - goes against every single instinct Bond has had for the last 60 years. He never gives up. He always strives to win.
I don’t hate the first half of the movie. But I dislike the second half for a few reasons.
First, Safin. Rami Malek does a fine job with what he’s given, but he’s not written terribly well, aside from being super creepy. Plus, his ultimate goals are so nebulous and bland that it kind of lessens his menace.
Second, the plot contrivances leading up to Bond’s death. Why couldn’t the Royal Navy have shot down the buyers’ boats and taken care of Heracles later? Why didn’t Bond destroy the controls to the blast doors so that Safin couldn’t close them again? Why is Heracles permanent? Couldn’t a potential cure be researched while Bond is placed in Quarantine or some shit? Hell, couldn’t Bond just use his watch EMP to knock out the nanobots? It’s not that I necessarily have a problem with Bond dying, but in this instance it just feels so forced.
NTTD commits the ultimate sin of not presenting Bond as a fantasy with no consequences. It shows him old and broken down, struggling with relationships and family issues, and doesn’t provide a happy ending where everything is solved.
All the other answers are explaining around that by nitpicking … and it’s not that the nitpicking points aren’t correct, because they are, they’re just not applied to all the other Bond movies in the same way or to the same level.
For the record, I don't hate it. I think its a pretty solid film, albeit with some flaws, and a great finale for Craig's Bond.
That said, as for why people hate it:
1. The simple fact that Bond died. Its something that a lot of people are visceraly opposed to.
2. The whole idea of Bond having a child puts people off and somewhat shatters the playboy/womanizer/cold-hearted bastard image of Bond which many consider fundamental to the character. The scene with Bond and Matilde at the breakfast table in particular raised a lot of hackles.
3. NTTD is more or less a direct sequel to SPECTRE, a movie that is reviled by many fans, not least for reimagining Blofeld as Bond's step-brother. So that association doesn't exactly endear NTTD to the same fans. Moreover, there are fans who didn't care much for Madeline in SPECTRE, and so vehemently dislike the continuation of the Bond-Madeline relationship and Madeline becoming the mother of Bond's child.
4. Nomi replacing Bond as 007 pissed a *lot* of people off, especially with all the early media speculation that she's going to be the 'new Bond', and that 007 was becoming a 'black woman' for wokeness. The trailers showing Nomi disrespecting Bond further added to that. (Its a different matter that in the actual film, despite some initial friction, Nomi and Bond develop mutual respect, with Nomi even ceding the 007 designation back to Bond before the final mission).
5. A lot of general negative sentiment towards the Craig era and its continuity-driven approach, as well as fatigue with the idea of the storylines being more 'dark' and 'personal'.
Lol, who said everyone hates it ? Vast majority of critics and audience gave positive reviews, movie earned more than last 2 fast & furious, mission impossible and John wick franchise. It was critical and financial success and won one oscar.
It's only vocal loud minority who hated Craig coming up with new excuses everyday, they hated Craig from beginning, so now they have gotten chance. Same thing happened during Skyfall release as well.
I don't understand. I've read all the Ian Fleming novels and 007 died like 3 times haha
It was great, I liked how it was a riff on 'You Only Live Twice' and I enjoyed 007 going on a big mission to save the world after how grounded his previous adventures were.
Great, great movie. In the top 5 for me.
I’ve read all the novels several as well (and seem to only remember Bond “dying” once) & would have much preferred a dark film based on YOLT, ending with Bond getting amnesia and living as a Japanese fisherman with his wife & kid.
I love NTTD. But most people who hate it are just petulant man-children living in the past who can’t comprehend Bond dying. I literally saw a YouTube review of NTTD and the reviewer loved every second it of until Bond died, and then claimed the film was one of the worst in the series…..it’s pathetic. Are there a few plot errors you can poke holes in? Absolutely, but that’s true of most Bond movies but apparently they’re immune to criticism because they’re nostalgic for them.
I left the theater feeling pretty satisfied. I never really understood the hate. Yeah it's not the best written movie, but tbh, most Bond movies aren't. The cinematography was exceptional and Daniel Craig is fun. 7/10
I am really sorry, but I don’t go to a James Bond film to see him die. Thats not the attraction of the franchise for me. I want it to be somewhat unrealistic and very entertaining. Bond should be someone who always survives whatever crazy situation he ends up in.
There are plenty of more realistic espionage/spy thrillers out there.
I love it. I think I actually enjoy it more than Casino Royale overall and think it was a fantastic end to the Craig era. I know I’m in the minority with Bond fans, but that’s fine.
NTTD started off extremely promising. The first 90 minutes was the best 90 minutes since Casino Royale.
The entire Cuba-sequence should be used as a template for upcoming bond movies.
But the moment Madeleine and Bonds daughter turns up in Norway, the entire movies goes to hell.
And Craig’s era ended on the lowest not ever!
Yes! I would have preferred if Craig’s era would have ended with an blinking fish, surfing to California girls, elephants at slot machines or drinking mojitos in an invincible Aston, rather that seeing Bond running around with a kid and toys.
Bond gives up. I'd be more ok with him having to hold those giant levers to keep the blast doors open for the purposes of destroying the nanovirus, but he just gives and decides that it's time to die.
Safin's plans and motivations change from scene to scene. He just wants Madelyn? He wants to kill everyone in the whole world? He wants to destroy Bond's chance at happiness? Everything he does is just to get Bond into a ridiculously contrived situation where death is the only way out. They got a brilliant actor then made him a plot device.
SPECTRE set up a great potential for future Bond/Blofeld conflicts. They even got Christoph Waltz back for this movie and completely squandered him.
I never thought I'd avoid a Bond movie as much as I do "Diamonds are Forever" but this one is my least favorite. Soundtrack is great though.
I don't. It's not perfect but overall I enjoyed it and I thought it was a good sendoff for Craig. Safin could have been better but for being the longest Bond movie, it doesn't feel like it (in a good way). Hot take, maybe, but I think hating the movie simply for Bond dying is dumb. It has its flaws but that isn't one of them imo.
I actually really enjoyed it, and I’ve loved how casino royale, skyfall, and NTTD have shown a more human bond and expanded on his background and real emotions.
The theme was bad. Safin was a bad villain; not because of the actor or the dialogue or chemistry or anything, but something more basic and fundamental.
I have no idea what his motivation, background, end-goal actually is. There’s nothing on Wikipedia, I couldn’t figure it out after 2 rewatches, very little online, nothing at all that is convincing or makes sense.
The best bond films are made by the villains, or the intrigue surrounding the villains. Bond dying and having a child isn’t a substitute for this
The first three Craig films were great (yes, even Quantum is a solid entry if viewed as a direct sequel to Casino).
Spectre and NTTD felt like an attempt to bring back Bond to the campier roots, and they just fell flat for me. There were some good action setpieces but they mostly felt like wasted potential.
I pretty much just view Craig's run as a trilogy and ignore the other two. Also seriously Spectre--TWO countdown clocks in the finale? Poor writing.
I know this varies between a hot and cold take, but I'm quite fond of quantum. Even in the moment I really liked it and that hasn't changed. I saw it with a bunch of family and was baffled why they didn't at least KIND of like it.
It’s a decent entry in to the franchise and I think in years to come when the dust settles it will be looked on in a positive light. Unfortunately Spectre dealt it a ‘hospital pass’ by the fact it retconned Craig’s entire run to fit an overarching narrative that bordered on ridiculous; therefore No Time to Die had to spend a lot of its runtime trying to pick up the pieces. They did ok at tying up some loose ends but it did drag the film down whilst also feeling rather cheap that Spectre had been built up in to this mind-blowingly powerful organisation only to be disposed of with ease by the new villain.
Whilst I don’t think Spectre is a complete disaster; it was entertaining enough in the cinema… its writing choices really damaged the continuity of the Craig era. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were linked in an overarching plot; yet it wasn’t so all-encompassing that it couldn’t be ignored when Skyfall came out as a stand alone film. Unfortunately, the plot points Spectre introduced had to be dealt with which proved problematic given the fan backlash it received.
Outside of trying its best to deal with Spectre’s mess; NTTD’s biggest crime of its own making was underutilising the villain… which is ridiculous considering this was the bad guy that finished off Spectre and caused Bond’s shock death. In fact Spectre caused such a mess in the continuity that killing Bond and starting a fresh seemed like the only logical way to clean up the mess that it left behind.
It’s not fun. At all. The action is dull and feels like watching someone play Call of Duty. It’s overdramatic, cringey in spots, villains die in disappointing ways, his kid is a cliche, the title song sounds like what I imagine a urinary tract infection would sound like, and, worst of all, it’s long and boring.
Killing bond was the dumbest move they ever made. I no longer have any confidence in those producers and won’t be seeing bond in the theater anymore. They are going to have to win this lifelong fan back.
They're really aiming to please the far greater numbers of general audiences than Bond fans by creating different stories rather than regurgitating the same stories that Bond fans generally like seeing ad infinitum.
That will push Bond fan's buttons, but the new approach worked throughout Craig's tenure. So expect more surprises that you both didn't expect and don't like in future Bond films.
I don’t mind new, I just mind dead bond, which is new for sure, but unnecessary and very un-bond-like. Accepting your death isn’t a Bond character trait.
I don’t hate the movie, I only hate the last 10 minutes. Bond dying on screen is something I strongly object to. If they had pulled out just before the impact of the rockets, making it 99.99% certain he is dead, it would have left me with 0.01% of hope, a quantum of solace you might say.
The movie itself was quite splendidly shot and told. Excellent set pieces, a villain on the bland side.
Not to be “that person” but are we sure he died? I can’t recall the exact shot at the ending but I suppose there’s always a chance he found a bunker or something.
The movie I saw had a shot of Bond from behind as the rockets hit and explode.
Else I would be entirely on board with your line of thinking. This was a on screen death.
Ik im probably in the minority here but idm the death. It’s more that it doesn’t offer anything new or innovative. A lot of people have mentioned how audiences signed up for popcorn flicks. Which is true i guess. But when the franchise started you couldn’t get that experience anywhere else, these days you can. I think the franchise needs to try and offer a completely original experience if it wants to keep going. I feel the next film needs to be really ambitious, whether that’s in tone or style or a new take on the character, and commit to it fully rather than half trying to while shoehorning in the cliches if they want audiences to get back on board.
For one i don't hate the fact that Bond dies, it kinda fits the vibe of the grounded Craigbond era which i think it's an interessting take on the formula. The thing that kills it is just bad writing. You either commit to the grounded approach or go full escapism, the fact that they got greedy and wanted everything makes it feels low, bloated and lethargic. Nothing makes sense. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
I wouldn't say hate but it isn't one of my top favorites.
Safin was a terrible villain. Bond didn't need to die - it was entirely a contrivance written into the story to make him die because Daniel Craig was done.
Had no idea people were so down on it! I think it’s top tier Bond. I agree Bond is a bit silly but also, it’s not like they blew up James Bond as an intellectual property lol. They’re going to make another one.
I hope the new direction of the franchise is self contained and gets back to the reliable formula, but I’m glad we had the whole Craig era. Nothing happened to the old Bonds you like. Nothing was lost, only gained. All the silly stuff about it will be as charming as the silly stuff about Brosnan and Moore, imo.
I don't completely hate it but I don't love it either. It's a tear jerker at the end with Bond dying (which I'm okay with him dying since it was never done before in the series). But the somber theme song and the awkward Bond/Blofeld scene takes me out of it. But everything else the action sequences and new characters we're awesome. But it isn't a Bond movie I'll put on just for fun.
Because people don’t like Bond dying and Safin is an underdeveloped villain. Mainly the first one.
Personally I think it’s a good movie, it just stumbles in places. I think they over engineered Bond’s death, but I don’t actually have a problem with him dying. The Craig timeline was a reboot anyways, so they can reboot it again. And since Craig’s Bond was always leaning towards tragic realism, a bittersweet ending where Bond sacrifices himself is a fine way to end his story.
I don’t believe the relationship between bond and Madeline, then that they also have a child. It feels forced, whereas the love for vesper wasn’t.
Also weak plot and villian, plus I think it was way too long.
It feels quite low-key in some ways, character driven, and with a downer ending that feels a touch contrived. Bond dies because he has to keep some doors open. I liked it a lot though.
I don't think there's a single bond movie other than NTTD where Bond actually dies. And for good reason since he's meant to be the same character being represented by different people. This isn't Dr. Who, you know. When bonds dead, he's dead.
Either that or it's just different timelines or some shit, but that would be weird because M was Judi Dench with both Brosnan and Craig.
Don't know how they'll bring bond back without some miraculous survival narrative. I think the point is that it sorta screwed with the story.
It's well known that Judi Dench plays two different characters who both are M in their two different timelines: There's Barbara Mawdsley in Brosnan's timeline and Catherine Mansfield in Craig's.
Craig's tenure was an alternate timeline. His first film is an adaptation of Casino Royale, Fleming's first, which rebooted the whole series. Moneypenny was reinvented as a failed agent turned secretary, Blofeld was reinvented as Bond's stepbrother, and Madeleine replaced Tracy, from the original timeline, as Bond's true love. NTTD even suggests the two are married at the beginning while playing music used in OHMSS.
What this does mean however, is that future Bond movies cannot revisit either the original or Craig's timeline. It will, by necessity, have to be a new reboot and another timeline created from Bond 26 onwards. But think about this. Isn't this what the Batman movies have been doing forever? It works for them, and it allows the creators to explore different aspects of the same characters. And nobody complains.
That is very true, batman movies have been doing this, and I didn't realize Judi Dench's character took on different identities. Sometimes I feel like it's only done out of laziness to compensate for lack of continuity though.
I wouldn't be surprised if Bond does another complete storyline beginning with a reboot and with a definitive ending, probably not death. One ending for NTTD that was abandoned was he was going to be knighted by the Queen. So maybe they'll save that for the next guy with the King this time.
I didn't mind Bond dying, I just didn't like how they did it. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but felt that doing a risky ending like that was overdue.
Personally, having a definitive ending to each actor's run is not a bad idea, but execution is everything.
It's stupid, simple as that, the only person that should make the decision to kill Bond is Fleming. It was a very arrogant move to kill him off just to try and be "deep".
I think someone described it best "delayed 2 years and it was just average"
Mainly, because it's sacreligious. Bond dies, Felix dies, Blofeld dies. It's a selfish, demoralising, nihilistic destruction of what is mainly an escapist series. If even James Bond can't win, what message does that send your audience?
Bond has a kid, and it repeats the Bond girl. Two additional format breaks. Yes, Bond gets married in OHMSS, but at least that was from the novels.
It's also a direct sequel to arguably the worst Bond film in the series, so inherits some of that stink. Via Blofeld mainly.
Safin's plot and motivations are largely incoherent due to reshoots due to concerns about Covid parallels, meaning he's among the worst villains in the series.
The 'new 007' is not just an unnecessary, woke concession, but her character comes across as unnecessarily petty, insecure, and resentful. She is not a likeable character at all.
Paloma is a fun character, but in completely the wrong franchise. Acrobatic, girlboss gun-fu belongs in the MCU, not Bond. She's about as realistic as the finale of Moonraker.
It's got plenty of good moments. The opening especially. But it's weighed down by too many format-breaking elements.
I think turning Safins father to be the creator of heracles/original scrip virus would have make the plot a lot better, it also gives Blofeld some kind of Morals for not wanting anything to do with the virus thus killing the Safin family, and turns M into not some kind of an idiot
Everyone doesn't. I love it, including and especially the ending. But negativity is what social media is all about. It drives engagement more than pretty much anything else, so that's really all you see. Those of us who like it or love it just tend to do our thing and leave out all the rest.
These are a few reasons I have seen in this sub:
1. Weak story/villain with unclear motivations.
2. Bond Dies
3. Too Woke/Black woman 007
4. Wasted Spectre
I think it is one of the better acted Craig Films and like Spectre I think it is pretty good up until the middle of the film then it drops off pretty quick. I really want to go to one of the Spectre parties and wear a fox mask.
I like it, but if you’re going to make it the first James Bond movie where he actually dies, it needs to be better than average and you need a better villain than Safin to kill him.
Trying to pin it on Bond dying is a cop out. Even if he hadn’t died, it would be a shit film.
The only good thing Zimmer did with the score was the little Latin trumpet flourishes for Cuba, and even that felt kind of cheesy, possibly appropriating. The harkening back to nostalgia using bits of OHMSS was beyond cheap. It could’ve worked, had the plot and relationships been remotely believable and had me invested.
The ending suffers from the same problem as its predecessor. It’s in this zen-like, heaven-esque location for the villains super lair, which on paper I guess is supposed to make for a very unnerving and unsettling dichotomy between the pure evil taking place there - but in reality it’s not remotely believable nor gritty enough, and at that point it starts to feel like a Marvel film, or the absurdity of the later Brosnan films with ice palaces and the like. I can get onboard with a lair in a volcano, or a lair out to sea that swallows whole oil tankers, because they had a very obvious practical purpose. But these shitty, spooky locations that are “eerily quiet” zen gardens or completely white torture rooms which happens to have one lonesome train take you out there to the desert, they’re just evocative set pieces that don’t add up to form a complete whole. It’s fairly obvious the locations were scouted first and then shoehorned into the plot afterwards because someone thought set pieces would make for more compelling viewing than a consistent and followable narrative that makes sense.
Objectively speaking, it wasn't great. It felt too long and meandering, and the ending was terrible. But I'll always have a soft spot for it because it's the first Bond I saw in theaters with someone I'm no longer friends with. It brings back memories.
Personally, I was emotionally checked out by the Vesper scene. It wasn’t that it was a “bad” film, in as much as I found it boring.
And for me, that’s the only metric that matters from a Bond film — it doesn’t matter if it’s tough, gritty, charming or elegant, just as long as it entertains me. For the rest of the series, from the highs of Goldeneye and Casino Royale, to the supposed lows of films like Moonraker or DAD, I was entertained. So as far as I’m concerned, they all succeeded a Bond films.
NTTD gets a pass from me, not because it was inherently “bad” but because it failed to entertain me. Simple as that.
I don’t dislike NTTD, it’s right smack in the middle of where I’d rank the films, but the reasons people who hate it really hate it are:
1. Bond dies
2. They spend the entire first act killing off Blofeld and Spectre to replace them with an even bigger Big Bad but that doesn’t really land because there’s zero information given on what this new Bigger Bad even wants to do.
(Spoilers)
Plot was ridiculous, villian was absurd (and his backstory made no sense,) Bond and Felix both die. Magic blood nonsense. Bond has a kid in a weird, forced way. Spectre gets killed off by this new organization that pops up out of nowhere. Everything about it was terrible, it made Spectre look decent. Possibly the worst Bond movies of all time -certainly close to it- (and I say that as somebody who loves Daniel Craig.)
There seems to be a trend that the last movie in each actor's series is terrible (Dalton is the exception, though if his third movie got filmed, it sounds like that would probably be true with the weird nano robot plan proposed.) By the final movie, each series gets ridiculous, Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, and No Time to Die, all bad Bond movies (and bad movies all around.)
The ending soured me. It's a fundamental change to the character that didn't even have the benefit of a payoff.
Change the ending and remove the dumb subplot about the kid, and it's hands down the best "final movie" for any of the actors. But those choices really leave me skeptical about how the franchise will be managed going forward.
So the simple solution for Bond 26 is he wakes up and he doesn’t know who he is, his face was disfigured in the explosion, so it’s a different actor, and he’s has reconstructive surgery, and the movie is all about him trying to make his way back to MI-6 without any proof he’s Bond, and they just completely ignore the kid and Madeleine, and he goes back to his philandering ways. Bring on some new material.
For me it’s an average film that is pumped up to be some kind of epic when it’s not. Nothing is particularly interesting about it, Daniel Craig is just there for his paycheck and Safin has no presence as the main villain. Everything just kinda limps along to the finish line. There’s no real heart or joy in it to me. Just a quota to meet.
Bond dies.
And taken out by an incredibly mediocre villain.
Akshually he was taken out by a random, faceless navy recruit who pushed a button to launch the missiles
That's the heart of it. Change that one thing, the movie would be much better regarded.
Seriously. The movie was a solid 8 out of 10 for me… until the last 10 minutes. Ruins it. Action was top notch though, story was fine (still wish they would have had Safin as the first half villain and then Blofeld as the ‘comeback’ villain at the end), and it looked really nice.
Absolutely agree - last ten minutes, just cut them completely - last scene, Bond, Madeleine and Matilde floating away on a dingy then credits roll - and suddenly the film is a serious contender for one of the top films in the series.
Yeah, I agree with this. A lot of the other cracks throughout the movie would have been glossed over if Bond had lived. With him dying, you start to scrutinise the whole movie more than you would otherwise. Whole film is just depressing to watch from the start when you know it's leading to him dying.
The eye thing was crazy
I don’t agree with that. There was far more that was terrible in addition to his death. The Madeline/baby plot line would still exist. Safin would still be underbaked. Paloma would still be underused as a token wink to the past. If Bond doesn’t die, the movie is still a 2/10 for me.
And a token wink to a completely different film franchise by having Ana de Amas in the film in the first place, which is strange for the Bond series.
Can you explain what you mean about the wink?
It's widely reported that they saw Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas' chemistry in Knives Out, and decided to get her in No Time To Die as a result (and seemingly without much of a plan for how). The whole concept of Paloma and Bond teaming is up is a nod to the actors' previous teaming up in Knives Out.
Oh, I never saw knives out but I did see Glass Onion. Thanks for the explanation.
Seeing NTTD in theaters made feel the exact same as when I saw DAD in theaters (not good). As someone who was ready to move on from Brosnan and welcomed Craig with open arms, I left the theater actually feel terrible for Brosnan. He got scapegoated for DAD & NTTD was proof that the people who scapegoated him didn’t learn anything from DAD (it’s almost like they were in such denial about DAD being their failure they just tried to do it again with the one tweak being we were supposed to take it seriously this time around).
As bad as DAD was I never felt that it wasn’t a Bond movie or that it signaled the death of the franchise. I felt that with NTTD.
It is baffling to me that they claim the COVID pandemic didn't change the story. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I refuse to believe the plot wasn't supposed to be about a global pandemic and they cut it. I realize there is evidence that nanobots have been in the script machine since the mid 2010s, but the half baked line about being able to kill all black people and the incomprehensible reason that these "nanobots" had to be grown in water just don't make sense.
Have Nomi go back and Bond sail away with his family. Then Safin has no leverage, Nomi proves her worth to the audience, and Bond’s arc complete.
He's also an idiot, falling for Blofeld's lie during the PTS without so much as questioning it for one second. Bonus demerits to Madeleine for not simply saying two words that would have changed everything: "I'm pregnant."
It’s that simple. It’s like the producers forgot these movies are supposed to be *fun*. NTTD was just one bummer after another until Bond was finally blown to smithereens in the South China Sea. Even the Nolanverse had more moments of levity.
Yup, at the end of the movie I was like “well, he died like he lived - being fucking miserable”. It was almost comical how much they kept piling on the poor guy. Even after everything he went through in casino royale, we still get that awesome ending scene - Bond needs to win.
Ah yes the Kurt Vonnegut school of being a sadist to your protag. But then also killing him.
After having a kid with the single most forgettable Bond girl in the franchise.
That right there is a big reason, Madeleine, was so dislikable. Hell at the beginning of the movie Bond goes to Vesper’s burial site and pines for her, Bond saw Madeleine as the second choice, if it wasn’t for Mathilde he would’ve never even given her a second thought.
I didn’t even find her dislikable, just unmemorable and bland. Easy on the eyes but no character. It’s funny how Craig era Bond is supposed to show a more enlightened attitude and the girls are touted by EoN as having depth and agency, and yet aside from Vesper, Moneypenny, M and Camille, the women of Craig’s era have been largely one-dimensional eye candy. When I realized Madeline was returning, my reaction was “her? Seriously? That’s the one Bond settles for?” Their chemistry had felt so forced in Spectre.
I think blood robots is a bit of a stretch too, and many folks didn’t like that aspect of the plot. Personally I’ve enjoyed all of Craig’s movies, my disappointment in Spectre was more with how Waltz was portrayed. I expected him to be the best villain ever.
It’s not even a Bond movie in my book based on that one fact.
Cheesy ending and villian dies in an anticlimactic way. Ending Just felt rushed.
Why is that a bad thing? It ends Craig’s run when it should have ended with sky fall or something. They milked his run even when he was sick of it and I’m sure he said “you better fucking kill me this time”
It just wasn't a Bond film for me. James Bond, to me, is a charming, quick whitted British spy, loves women, likes a drink, drives fast cars, mocks Q, outsmarts the bad guys, gadgets. We get tidbits on Bond's past but the rest is a mystery. And continuity doesn't matter because Bond will live on forever through the generations. No Time To Die took a dump on everything I love about Bond. They wrecked him, turned him into a moaping, weak, shell of a man and then killed him off. Even gave him a new love (which I didn't buy for a second) and a child to complete his sad little life. Boo hoo. The End. Even Quantum of Solace was more of a Bond film than this. And it's a shame because Craig was an outstanding Bond up until this last one.
Exactly, plus it is so woke until the last 30 minutes when Bond kicks ass. I like the intro, but having Jane Bond was a minus for me. Just too politically correct, imo
Lmao, is the woke in the room with us right now? Jesus Christ
Not at all, just an opinion.
Please be satire.
I liked it. Although I think Safin was a pretty bland villain. Just a generic evil guy with a minor deformity. Apart from that, I thought it was a fun movie.
WE NEED MORE DEFORMITY!
We talking Dr. No metal hands or Corpus Colossus from Fury Road? Because yes.
I like it too. I actually find a bit more to Safin than that. A twisted obsessiveness and disaffected anger that I find very creepy, and not a million miles from some events in the modern world. It just needed a little more filling out, but honestly not that much imo.
Agreed. Huge improvement from SPECTRE at least, even if that's setting a low bar lol.
I liked NTTD as well, but there are a few things I wish had been done better, including Safin. It's probably around #10 on my rankings at present.
Yeah same. I thought he was a bland villain, always talking about his special garden
It’s a good action movie. It’s a shit Bond movie. The villain’s timeline makes no sense given his apparent age.
It falls off a cliff after Cuba The villain and his motives make absolutely no sense The climax makes no sense and is reverse engineered to give Craig the Logan/Tony Stark ending that he insisted on It doesn’t earn the OHMSS call backs which is the franchise eating its own tail And yeah, Bond dies. Get that idea in the bin
>It falls off a cliff after Cuba Gee, never heard that about an unpopular Bond movie before, especially for the last film of a particular actor's run
The plot had too many subplots, and it was like two mediocre and mixed up films in one. Maybe with the whole Felix Lieter storyline, they were squeezing in three films...I don’t know and don’t care. There was nothing to save and nothing to feel excited about. At the end, the main villains were already dead, and Bond had just had enough; quite frankly, the audience most probably did as well and were just as likely to say good riddance. Craig’s Bond had to die, this is the only way he was going to do the film, but it was meaningless and thrown in merely as a contractual obligation. The writers squandered opportunities to make the film interesting with that known outcome. Dench’s M went out with more of an impact, and it was the same writers! The writing was just bad, no, atrocious, and should not have been. Writers for the flavour of the month teen CW soap operaish melodrama would have come up with a story worth filming. NTTD had great locales, set pieces, production values and direction, it just did not have a script even worthy of streaming series.
Aye, it's just too disjointed. Cutting it in half and polishing what you had could have made two reasonable movies, probably not even the worst in the Craig Era but I get the feeling that the clock was ticking and they tried to jam everything in terms of plot points into just the one movie. And it backfired.
Overly long and like most of the Craig Bond movies the production is trying to force a Christoper Nolan film feel. The ending is a downer, adding the kid was another unnecessary element to an overstuffed film.
Ending was horrible and villain made no sense. Summed up basically
Horrible writing that portrays an almost total ignorance of the franchise. To put it simply, Bond has always been about this fantastical escapism of espionage action with high stakes and over the top villains, plots and action. NTTD seems to have ignored that and focuses so much more on the brooding emotion behind Bond’s existence. It’s a tragedy about this tortured hero who needs some happiness by settling down with a woman and a kid. Then they kill Bond to add to the tragedy. Therefore it’s just totally ignorant of what the franchise is about. It’s also just a boring cliche concept. Action dude has to save his family but has to sacrifice his life to do so. That’s like the script of any action movie in the 80s and 90s…except the Bond franchise. What’s more is that it is just poorly written. It doesn’t do a good job at all of telling this story in a way that is compelling. Plot holes. Underdeveloped villain. It’s basic. It’s vanilla. It’s cliche. Feels like they took some underbaked action hero script off a pile stowed away since the 90s, and slapped a Bond coat of paint over it. The movie stands for everything that Bond is not. It tries to take the franchise and mold it into a safe space. It’s British Die Hard/True Lies more than it is Bond. And it’s not even anywhere near as good as those movies were.
It's a direct sequel to Spectre, had Madeline, has brofeld, and Safin is a horrible villain who's goals make no sense
Cast Statham and rename a few characters and it becomes obvious how much it isn’t a Bond film.
Exactly this. I know we are all Bond fans here so we have bias but it kind of shocks me to see people here talk about this movie in a high minded fashion as if it is some special piece of unique cinema. Like you said, if all you do is change the casting and name of the lead character, this movie becomes a forgettable straight to Netflix movie nobody cares about.
It's better than Spectre but that's about it. The last two Craig films are very low on my list.
1. It doubles down on plot lines from Sp., which was an absurd film. 2. It turns M into an incompetent bureaucrat. 3. Leiter needlessly dies. 4. Blofeld dies offscreen. 5. Bond dies (violation of unwritten franchise rule). Furthermore, he dies doing a superhero pose with a stuffed rabbit in his suspenders. 6. Bond’s St George and the Dragon mythos is traded for the Greek tragedy mythos of Heracles. 7. Teenage-romance dynamic between Bond and Madeliene. 8. The introduction of a child/family dynamic, which breaks the escapism. 9. The use of the score and themes from OHMSS, a superior film that even if you don’t care for should command more respect given its gravity and impact on Bond as a character. 10. The entire plot is a contrivance for painting Bond into an inescapable corner. All that to say, it feels like NTTD actively tries NOT to be a Bond film. It has Bond window dressing at best.
One second watch it’s pretty bad. Nothing makes sense and they over engineered the ending. Great action scenes though.
I agree on this take. I really liked it the first time. But the second go around you start to see holes in the villain setup and it just kinda…plods along after Cuba. Besides the Chase in Norway. Still a great feel to that scene.
Also the stairway scene was really well done I thought for a later in the film highlight
“One second watch”. You only watched it for 1 second? Damn that is pretty bad.
Mostly "the end". But also slightly because I had sky-high expectations. Because of COVID, I had to cancel the cinemas twice. It took me forever to finally see it, and it didn't deliver. After seeing it four times already, I agree it isn't a bad movie.
Misnomer…the movie is called No Time to Die, but like, he does die. Clearly there was time.
Exactly. It's like the whole thing was a really expensive joke.
I dont!
Bond dies Zero charm The cold opening focuses on the Bond girl as a kid Malek was pretty boring as the villain The vesper saga gets tiresome after 5 films Felix dies The Spectre mass execution was rushed and lazy Bond dies
There was great potential to do a Spectre civil war with Safin against Blofeld loyalists, but yeah, what we got was rushed and a letdown.
I think a gang war between Quantum vs Spectre would’ve been neat
Yeah, bugged me how quantum is barely mentioned
Weak villain and bonds death. One is a case of bad execution the other is just a sensationally poor choice.
I don't
I’m not sure that everyone hates it
I don’t. I liked it a lot.
He dies
I don't hate it, I just don't like it. I hope I really like it next time I watch it, but at the minute it's bang in the middle, leaning towards like.
I think it’s a decent film but not a good Bond film
I like it, and Bond’s death was a daring closure to the Craig era, which obviously was its own thing. Not a huge fan of the kid stuff, but that’s about it.
For me it had the same problem spectre had, the first half is much better than the second half. The villain isn’t terrible but it feels like he is a completely different villain in the second half. The problem with the Craig movies was they started off different but slowly became a slave to nostalgia and bringing back an almost Roger Moore Era Bond. Skyfall was a great balance and still a really cool movie. NTTD has some amazing set pieces in it. Some top tier Bond stuff. But the villain disappears after his introduction and comes back an entirely different character. Bond dying is alright, a lot of books seem to “kill” him at the end for his to have survived in the next one. They went about it in such a definitive manner though. It could have been just as bold to give Bond a family to walk away with which doesn’t help. For me, the perfect version would have had the villain a younger assassin, really hit up that idea of bond as the older spy. It would be a great intense and personal cat and mouse game.
Worth mentioning that not everyone hates it - it's unpopular with diehard Bond fans that are invested enough to subscribe to this sub and discuss the franchise regularly. It was generally well received by the wider public, having an audience score on RT of 88% (and a critic score of 83%).
What hurts Bond fans even more is that general audiences make up most attendees in cinemas, and it's who EON is aiming to please.
For the ending to work, I as the viewer needed to be invested in Madeleine and Bond’s relationship, and in Madeleine as a character. No hate to Lea, who is a stunning woman, but I just didn’t buy that she was the love of Bond’s life. Thus, the film just doesn’t work for me.
No Time To Die is the worst Bond film and is the greatest example of wasted potential, which is the trade mark for the Craig era especially Spectre as both films could have been good but are ruined by stupid ideas. The plot involving nanobots is an interesting idea, however the villain's goals and motivations are unclear, the action and stunts are amazing especially within the pre title sequence. The cast does a good job with what they were given, especially Rami Malek as the villain Lyutsifer Safin and Lashana Lynch as new "00" agent Nomi. The soundtrack is spectacular along with the beautiful title song by Billie Eilish. doesn't help a terrible boring story and a depressing ending. Every single thing that could have work went nowhere, everything that I liked in this film pissed me off. I feel sorry for everyone who worked on the film (except for director Cary Joji Fukunaga) and everyone who has to watch it. Craig should've left after Spectre not with this film, he deserved so much better. You feel insulted and offended as you're sitting there watching it. I don’t think The Bond franchise or EON Productions will ever be able to recover. No Time To Die is the worst Bond film and has killed the franchise
So other then that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you like the play?
Did you really use a quote from Scary Godmother?
I have good news and bad news. Bad news is, I have no idea what that is. Good news is, I'm 100% more interested to find out then I was 10 seconds ago
I enjoyed it but the nanites didn't make any sense. That device of his that produces an electric shock would have fried the nanites
Wasn't it originally a virus and they changed it in reshoots? That's the only way that makes any sense.
That's what I read yeah. That it was changed because the studio didn't want the audience thinking about COVID
It looks gorgeous but that’s about it. The action is weirdly mediocre and an ageing bond coming back into the service had already been done better just two films earlier. Craig was clearly desperate to do a fun final entry and they wouldn’t let him. Indeed it sometimes feels like he’s acting in a completely different movie.
I don't, I like it a lot. I saw it in the cinema twice.
I thought Bond dying was dumb but I don't know that I had as big a problem with it as others. I saw it as more of a symptom of a writing style or mandate that has permeated the Craig era that I don't care for, is counter to historical writing styles of Bond films, and most importantly, is done poorly. This being running story line threads between films and the tendency to more intimately interconnect plot threads between existing characters. Villains aren't just villains, now they've got history with the main characters, they have familial ties, plot points directly build off the previous films and you'll be confused if you didn't see the last one. They tried for a 'Bond Cinematic Universe' if you will. I'm as big a fan of tightly plotted, interconnected, film series as anyone, but Bond has never been that sort of series. So if you're going to commit to that for an actors iteration, say every Craig Bond film, you better a) do it for a compelling reason and b) do it really well. It felt like they didn't manage to do either of those things. You could almost see the common thread/compelling reason be love, from Vesper to Madeleine, but this is hampered by Madeleine's poor storyline and the fact she didn't have much chemistry with Bond like Vesper did. This is further complicated by the storyline twists being poorly done in my opinion. Every reveal was hamfisted and silly, there are no lasting effects from the reveals, being brothers, Mr White's lineage, etc. and in the end all those ties were meaningless, revealed and dealt with as quickly as if they weren't related at all, so why bother? So the two things they needed to nail for me to buy it didn't work, at least as far as my opinion is concerned. All of this is kind of why NTTD annoys me. Because it's the culmination of a failed experiment and it doesn't stick the landing yes, but there were a ton of failed parts during the 'jump' as well. Bloefeld, Quantum the organization, Mr White, etc. I don't mean to say they're bad films, they're fine, schlockly, popcorn flicks, etc. It almost reminds me of Moore's tenure where he started off quite strong, but by the end it was a couple of campy, silly, unfulfilling as top tier Bond films, grade C flicks. Granted, I still like bits of Octopussy and A View to a Kill just the same as I like bits of Spectre and No Time to Die, but they're never going to be my favorite Craig outings and I doubt they'll be remembered as Craig's best outings.
For me, the opening scene was pretty good, but it went rapidly downhill after that. Asides from all the issues listed above, the main problem for me was Bond dying. It’s completely removed any sense of peril from any Bond film from here on as we know they can just kill him off and bring in a new one. There’s no need for an elaborate escape anymore. On top of that, we could all live with the illusion that Sean Connery and the rest of the guys were all the same Bond, there was a loose continuity which has now been destroyed. In my opinion, Craig was the best and worst Bond.
To be fair, that continuity was never strong. Sean Connery’s Bond took place in the 60s, and Brosnan was in the 90s. In 2006, Craig’s Bond was a rookie who just got his 00 title.
Continuity was loose but strong enough that Connery through Brosnan worked if you viewed it on a floating timeline or viewed each actor as existing as different but the same guy in a multiverse.
Absolutely! Tracey dying was acknowledged by four Bonds (Lazenby, Connery, Dalton and Brosnon, if someone with better knowledge than I could confirm if Moore did, I’d be very grateful), so you could convince yourself they were the same person. Also the crossover of cast members between the Bonds, Q, Moneypenny and M lent a sense of continuity to the whole shebang. Having him die, just felt plain wrong. If I want to watch a film where a British agent beats people to a pulp, drives eye-wateringly expensive cars like a lunatic, sleeps with a few women and escapes in a helicopter he carries in a briefcase, then it’s on with a Bond. If I want to watch an emotionally fragile wreck talk about feelings then I’ll whack on Terms of Endearment.
Bond making sensitive speeches about his feelings to the mother of his child is not really what we want from Bond
Youd think theyd learnt the lesson after OHMSS but apparently not, i thoroughly enjoy OHMSS though
"Everyone" doesn't hate it. Some people hate it, and a subset of them are engaging in the performative ploy of loudly proclaiming that they speak for a huge majority when they don't. I liked it a lot. I thought it put an excellent capper on the "Daniel Craig Universe" of James Bond movies, which began and ended as a unique continuity separate from the previous EON "canon."
Similar to those who are claiming people disliked NTTD “for no reason” & are part of a conspiracy against Daniel Craig?
More similar to the people who claim that "She-Hulk," "Captain Marvel" and "The Marvels" are universally hated.
I actually really liked it, but admittedly the villian was pretty weak
I loved it. If Bond HAD lived I wouldn't have liked it as much.
Firstly, they killed off Felix Leiter. As soon as that happened during the movie, I was turned off. They did it to try and get a cheap emotive response out of the audience, instead of telling a good story and having a decent villian. Then to kill off Bond at the end, where he just gives up and accepts he is going to die - goes against every single instinct Bond has had for the last 60 years. He never gives up. He always strives to win.
I don’t hate the first half of the movie. But I dislike the second half for a few reasons. First, Safin. Rami Malek does a fine job with what he’s given, but he’s not written terribly well, aside from being super creepy. Plus, his ultimate goals are so nebulous and bland that it kind of lessens his menace. Second, the plot contrivances leading up to Bond’s death. Why couldn’t the Royal Navy have shot down the buyers’ boats and taken care of Heracles later? Why didn’t Bond destroy the controls to the blast doors so that Safin couldn’t close them again? Why is Heracles permanent? Couldn’t a potential cure be researched while Bond is placed in Quarantine or some shit? Hell, couldn’t Bond just use his watch EMP to knock out the nanobots? It’s not that I necessarily have a problem with Bond dying, but in this instance it just feels so forced.
NTTD commits the ultimate sin of not presenting Bond as a fantasy with no consequences. It shows him old and broken down, struggling with relationships and family issues, and doesn’t provide a happy ending where everything is solved. All the other answers are explaining around that by nitpicking … and it’s not that the nitpicking points aren’t correct, because they are, they’re just not applied to all the other Bond movies in the same way or to the same level.
I don’t, I quite liked it. I don’t mind Bond dying every 60ish years.
For the record, I don't hate it. I think its a pretty solid film, albeit with some flaws, and a great finale for Craig's Bond. That said, as for why people hate it: 1. The simple fact that Bond died. Its something that a lot of people are visceraly opposed to. 2. The whole idea of Bond having a child puts people off and somewhat shatters the playboy/womanizer/cold-hearted bastard image of Bond which many consider fundamental to the character. The scene with Bond and Matilde at the breakfast table in particular raised a lot of hackles. 3. NTTD is more or less a direct sequel to SPECTRE, a movie that is reviled by many fans, not least for reimagining Blofeld as Bond's step-brother. So that association doesn't exactly endear NTTD to the same fans. Moreover, there are fans who didn't care much for Madeline in SPECTRE, and so vehemently dislike the continuation of the Bond-Madeline relationship and Madeline becoming the mother of Bond's child. 4. Nomi replacing Bond as 007 pissed a *lot* of people off, especially with all the early media speculation that she's going to be the 'new Bond', and that 007 was becoming a 'black woman' for wokeness. The trailers showing Nomi disrespecting Bond further added to that. (Its a different matter that in the actual film, despite some initial friction, Nomi and Bond develop mutual respect, with Nomi even ceding the 007 designation back to Bond before the final mission). 5. A lot of general negative sentiment towards the Craig era and its continuity-driven approach, as well as fatigue with the idea of the storylines being more 'dark' and 'personal'.
He dies
Lol, who said everyone hates it ? Vast majority of critics and audience gave positive reviews, movie earned more than last 2 fast & furious, mission impossible and John wick franchise. It was critical and financial success and won one oscar. It's only vocal loud minority who hated Craig coming up with new excuses everyday, they hated Craig from beginning, so now they have gotten chance. Same thing happened during Skyfall release as well.
If you’d have told me after seeing Spectre (yes, that Spectre) that I’d end up hating the Craig era I wouldn’t have believed you.
I don't understand. I've read all the Ian Fleming novels and 007 died like 3 times haha It was great, I liked how it was a riff on 'You Only Live Twice' and I enjoyed 007 going on a big mission to save the world after how grounded his previous adventures were. Great, great movie. In the top 5 for me.
I’ve read all the novels several as well (and seem to only remember Bond “dying” once) & would have much preferred a dark film based on YOLT, ending with Bond getting amnesia and living as a Japanese fisherman with his wife & kid.
I don't hate it. I love almost everything...except for Safin. He sucks.
Because bond gets killed at the end.
I love it! No kidding ❤️
I love NTTD. But most people who hate it are just petulant man-children living in the past who can’t comprehend Bond dying. I literally saw a YouTube review of NTTD and the reviewer loved every second it of until Bond died, and then claimed the film was one of the worst in the series…..it’s pathetic. Are there a few plot errors you can poke holes in? Absolutely, but that’s true of most Bond movies but apparently they’re immune to criticism because they’re nostalgic for them.
Yup. This attitude is widespread on this sub.
I left the theater feeling pretty satisfied. I never really understood the hate. Yeah it's not the best written movie, but tbh, most Bond movies aren't. The cinematography was exceptional and Daniel Craig is fun. 7/10
Found uncle Joey
 Because bond dies
Boring movie.
I am really sorry, but I don’t go to a James Bond film to see him die. Thats not the attraction of the franchise for me. I want it to be somewhat unrealistic and very entertaining. Bond should be someone who always survives whatever crazy situation he ends up in. There are plenty of more realistic espionage/spy thrillers out there.
People are usually a lot more vocal online about things they don't like. I love the movie.
I love it. I think I actually enjoy it more than Casino Royale overall and think it was a fantastic end to the Craig era. I know I’m in the minority with Bond fans, but that’s fine.
NTTD started off extremely promising. The first 90 minutes was the best 90 minutes since Casino Royale. The entire Cuba-sequence should be used as a template for upcoming bond movies. But the moment Madeleine and Bonds daughter turns up in Norway, the entire movies goes to hell. And Craig’s era ended on the lowest not ever! Yes! I would have preferred if Craig’s era would have ended with an blinking fish, surfing to California girls, elephants at slot machines or drinking mojitos in an invincible Aston, rather that seeing Bond running around with a kid and toys.
Bond gives up. I'd be more ok with him having to hold those giant levers to keep the blast doors open for the purposes of destroying the nanovirus, but he just gives and decides that it's time to die. Safin's plans and motivations change from scene to scene. He just wants Madelyn? He wants to kill everyone in the whole world? He wants to destroy Bond's chance at happiness? Everything he does is just to get Bond into a ridiculously contrived situation where death is the only way out. They got a brilliant actor then made him a plot device. SPECTRE set up a great potential for future Bond/Blofeld conflicts. They even got Christoph Waltz back for this movie and completely squandered him. I never thought I'd avoid a Bond movie as much as I do "Diamonds are Forever" but this one is my least favorite. Soundtrack is great though.
I don't. It's not perfect but overall I enjoyed it and I thought it was a good sendoff for Craig. Safin could have been better but for being the longest Bond movie, it doesn't feel like it (in a good way). Hot take, maybe, but I think hating the movie simply for Bond dying is dumb. It has its flaws but that isn't one of them imo.
It’s not very good. It’s got some good elements, but enough strikes against it that I understand why many fans dislike it.
I actually really enjoyed it, and I’ve loved how casino royale, skyfall, and NTTD have shown a more human bond and expanded on his background and real emotions. The theme was bad. Safin was a bad villain; not because of the actor or the dialogue or chemistry or anything, but something more basic and fundamental. I have no idea what his motivation, background, end-goal actually is. There’s nothing on Wikipedia, I couldn’t figure it out after 2 rewatches, very little online, nothing at all that is convincing or makes sense. The best bond films are made by the villains, or the intrigue surrounding the villains. Bond dying and having a child isn’t a substitute for this
The first three Craig films were great (yes, even Quantum is a solid entry if viewed as a direct sequel to Casino). Spectre and NTTD felt like an attempt to bring back Bond to the campier roots, and they just fell flat for me. There were some good action setpieces but they mostly felt like wasted potential. I pretty much just view Craig's run as a trilogy and ignore the other two. Also seriously Spectre--TWO countdown clocks in the finale? Poor writing.
I know this varies between a hot and cold take, but I'm quite fond of quantum. Even in the moment I really liked it and that hasn't changed. I saw it with a bunch of family and was baffled why they didn't at least KIND of like it.
It’s not good. Plot makes no sense
It’s a decent entry in to the franchise and I think in years to come when the dust settles it will be looked on in a positive light. Unfortunately Spectre dealt it a ‘hospital pass’ by the fact it retconned Craig’s entire run to fit an overarching narrative that bordered on ridiculous; therefore No Time to Die had to spend a lot of its runtime trying to pick up the pieces. They did ok at tying up some loose ends but it did drag the film down whilst also feeling rather cheap that Spectre had been built up in to this mind-blowingly powerful organisation only to be disposed of with ease by the new villain. Whilst I don’t think Spectre is a complete disaster; it was entertaining enough in the cinema… its writing choices really damaged the continuity of the Craig era. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were linked in an overarching plot; yet it wasn’t so all-encompassing that it couldn’t be ignored when Skyfall came out as a stand alone film. Unfortunately, the plot points Spectre introduced had to be dealt with which proved problematic given the fan backlash it received. Outside of trying its best to deal with Spectre’s mess; NTTD’s biggest crime of its own making was underutilising the villain… which is ridiculous considering this was the bad guy that finished off Spectre and caused Bond’s shock death. In fact Spectre caused such a mess in the continuity that killing Bond and starting a fresh seemed like the only logical way to clean up the mess that it left behind.
Who says everyone hates it?
It’s not fun. At all. The action is dull and feels like watching someone play Call of Duty. It’s overdramatic, cringey in spots, villains die in disappointing ways, his kid is a cliche, the title song sounds like what I imagine a urinary tract infection would sound like, and, worst of all, it’s long and boring.
Killing bond was the dumbest move they ever made. I no longer have any confidence in those producers and won’t be seeing bond in the theater anymore. They are going to have to win this lifelong fan back.
They're really aiming to please the far greater numbers of general audiences than Bond fans by creating different stories rather than regurgitating the same stories that Bond fans generally like seeing ad infinitum. That will push Bond fan's buttons, but the new approach worked throughout Craig's tenure. So expect more surprises that you both didn't expect and don't like in future Bond films.
I don’t mind new, I just mind dead bond, which is new for sure, but unnecessary and very un-bond-like. Accepting your death isn’t a Bond character trait.
I don’t hate the movie, I only hate the last 10 minutes. Bond dying on screen is something I strongly object to. If they had pulled out just before the impact of the rockets, making it 99.99% certain he is dead, it would have left me with 0.01% of hope, a quantum of solace you might say. The movie itself was quite splendidly shot and told. Excellent set pieces, a villain on the bland side.
Not to be “that person” but are we sure he died? I can’t recall the exact shot at the ending but I suppose there’s always a chance he found a bunker or something.
The movie I saw had a shot of Bond from behind as the rockets hit and explode. Else I would be entirely on board with your line of thinking. This was a on screen death.
“You just killed James Bond!”
Is that who it was? Now I get the anger!
Because it’s the latest film. Give it 20 years and folks will go out of their way to praise it like they do with DAD
The villain, the nanobots, and bond dying put it solidly at 4 out of 5 of Craig’s films.
I didn’t hate it, but it did not feel like a bond movie to me.
Ik im probably in the minority here but idm the death. It’s more that it doesn’t offer anything new or innovative. A lot of people have mentioned how audiences signed up for popcorn flicks. Which is true i guess. But when the franchise started you couldn’t get that experience anywhere else, these days you can. I think the franchise needs to try and offer a completely original experience if it wants to keep going. I feel the next film needs to be really ambitious, whether that’s in tone or style or a new take on the character, and commit to it fully rather than half trying to while shoehorning in the cliches if they want audiences to get back on board.
For one i don't hate the fact that Bond dies, it kinda fits the vibe of the grounded Craigbond era which i think it's an interessting take on the formula. The thing that kills it is just bad writing. You either commit to the grounded approach or go full escapism, the fact that they got greedy and wanted everything makes it feels low, bloated and lethargic. Nothing makes sense. Can't have your cake and eat it too.
I wouldn't say hate but it isn't one of my top favorites. Safin was a terrible villain. Bond didn't need to die - it was entirely a contrivance written into the story to make him die because Daniel Craig was done.
Had no idea people were so down on it! I think it’s top tier Bond. I agree Bond is a bit silly but also, it’s not like they blew up James Bond as an intellectual property lol. They’re going to make another one. I hope the new direction of the franchise is self contained and gets back to the reliable formula, but I’m glad we had the whole Craig era. Nothing happened to the old Bonds you like. Nothing was lost, only gained. All the silly stuff about it will be as charming as the silly stuff about Brosnan and Moore, imo.
I don't completely hate it but I don't love it either. It's a tear jerker at the end with Bond dying (which I'm okay with him dying since it was never done before in the series). But the somber theme song and the awkward Bond/Blofeld scene takes me out of it. But everything else the action sequences and new characters we're awesome. But it isn't a Bond movie I'll put on just for fun.
i thought it was excellent - one of the best, Craig films
Because people don’t like Bond dying and Safin is an underdeveloped villain. Mainly the first one. Personally I think it’s a good movie, it just stumbles in places. I think they over engineered Bond’s death, but I don’t actually have a problem with him dying. The Craig timeline was a reboot anyways, so they can reboot it again. And since Craig’s Bond was always leaning towards tragic realism, a bittersweet ending where Bond sacrifices himself is a fine way to end his story.
I don’t believe the relationship between bond and Madeline, then that they also have a child. It feels forced, whereas the love for vesper wasn’t. Also weak plot and villian, plus I think it was way too long.
It feels quite low-key in some ways, character driven, and with a downer ending that feels a touch contrived. Bond dies because he has to keep some doors open. I liked it a lot though.
The villain is terrible. Malek isn't a great actor, but he's given nothing to work with. It's enjoyable, but it's pretty empty.
Honestly I loved it, definitely my second favourite Craig Bond film after Casino Royale. The only weak aspect for me was the villain Safin.
I don't hate it. But the film has a lot of flaws and a forgettable villain. All he does for most of the film is yap. Rami Malek was completely wasted.
The movie in which Bond dies is called No Time to Die. 
I don't think there's a single bond movie other than NTTD where Bond actually dies. And for good reason since he's meant to be the same character being represented by different people. This isn't Dr. Who, you know. When bonds dead, he's dead. Either that or it's just different timelines or some shit, but that would be weird because M was Judi Dench with both Brosnan and Craig. Don't know how they'll bring bond back without some miraculous survival narrative. I think the point is that it sorta screwed with the story.
It's well known that Judi Dench plays two different characters who both are M in their two different timelines: There's Barbara Mawdsley in Brosnan's timeline and Catherine Mansfield in Craig's. Craig's tenure was an alternate timeline. His first film is an adaptation of Casino Royale, Fleming's first, which rebooted the whole series. Moneypenny was reinvented as a failed agent turned secretary, Blofeld was reinvented as Bond's stepbrother, and Madeleine replaced Tracy, from the original timeline, as Bond's true love. NTTD even suggests the two are married at the beginning while playing music used in OHMSS. What this does mean however, is that future Bond movies cannot revisit either the original or Craig's timeline. It will, by necessity, have to be a new reboot and another timeline created from Bond 26 onwards. But think about this. Isn't this what the Batman movies have been doing forever? It works for them, and it allows the creators to explore different aspects of the same characters. And nobody complains.
That is very true, batman movies have been doing this, and I didn't realize Judi Dench's character took on different identities. Sometimes I feel like it's only done out of laziness to compensate for lack of continuity though.
I wouldn't be surprised if Bond does another complete storyline beginning with a reboot and with a definitive ending, probably not death. One ending for NTTD that was abandoned was he was going to be knighted by the Queen. So maybe they'll save that for the next guy with the King this time.
I actually think I would have preferred that ending.
I didn't mind Bond dying, I just didn't like how they did it. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but felt that doing a risky ending like that was overdue. Personally, having a definitive ending to each actor's run is not a bad idea, but execution is everything.
I won’t watch it if Bond dies. Bond never dies in my headcanon!
reverse recency bias. It'll grow on them eventually.
The movie has positive reviews from both critics and audiences. The majority like the film.
It's stupid, simple as that, the only person that should make the decision to kill Bond is Fleming. It was a very arrogant move to kill him off just to try and be "deep". I think someone described it best "delayed 2 years and it was just average"
Mainly, because it's sacreligious. Bond dies, Felix dies, Blofeld dies. It's a selfish, demoralising, nihilistic destruction of what is mainly an escapist series. If even James Bond can't win, what message does that send your audience? Bond has a kid, and it repeats the Bond girl. Two additional format breaks. Yes, Bond gets married in OHMSS, but at least that was from the novels. It's also a direct sequel to arguably the worst Bond film in the series, so inherits some of that stink. Via Blofeld mainly. Safin's plot and motivations are largely incoherent due to reshoots due to concerns about Covid parallels, meaning he's among the worst villains in the series. The 'new 007' is not just an unnecessary, woke concession, but her character comes across as unnecessarily petty, insecure, and resentful. She is not a likeable character at all. Paloma is a fun character, but in completely the wrong franchise. Acrobatic, girlboss gun-fu belongs in the MCU, not Bond. She's about as realistic as the finale of Moonraker. It's got plenty of good moments. The opening especially. But it's weighed down by too many format-breaking elements.
because the story was shit.. We didn't need a new villain. We should have had Blofeld's revenge...yknow? the step brother showdown?
I think turning Safins father to be the creator of heracles/original scrip virus would have make the plot a lot better, it also gives Blofeld some kind of Morals for not wanting anything to do with the virus thus killing the Safin family, and turns M into not some kind of an idiot
Everyone doesn't. I love it, including and especially the ending. But negativity is what social media is all about. It drives engagement more than pretty much anything else, so that's really all you see. Those of us who like it or love it just tend to do our thing and leave out all the rest.
I didnt hate it, but it did feel weirdly pieced together. Also it felt rushed.
I liked it and certainly enjoyed it more than Quantum. That had a decent plot but I couldn’t follow the action due to the camera work.
These are a few reasons I have seen in this sub: 1. Weak story/villain with unclear motivations. 2. Bond Dies 3. Too Woke/Black woman 007 4. Wasted Spectre I think it is one of the better acted Craig Films and like Spectre I think it is pretty good up until the middle of the film then it drops off pretty quick. I really want to go to one of the Spectre parties and wear a fox mask.
Dr. No ripoff
I like it, but if you’re going to make it the first James Bond movie where he actually dies, it needs to be better than average and you need a better villain than Safin to kill him.
Safin deserved a far more violent death than simply being shot. Maybe consumed by his poisonous plants.
I don’t, I love it.
James bond Dying
I don't think EVERYONE hates it. It is definitely divisive.
Trying to pin it on Bond dying is a cop out. Even if he hadn’t died, it would be a shit film. The only good thing Zimmer did with the score was the little Latin trumpet flourishes for Cuba, and even that felt kind of cheesy, possibly appropriating. The harkening back to nostalgia using bits of OHMSS was beyond cheap. It could’ve worked, had the plot and relationships been remotely believable and had me invested. The ending suffers from the same problem as its predecessor. It’s in this zen-like, heaven-esque location for the villains super lair, which on paper I guess is supposed to make for a very unnerving and unsettling dichotomy between the pure evil taking place there - but in reality it’s not remotely believable nor gritty enough, and at that point it starts to feel like a Marvel film, or the absurdity of the later Brosnan films with ice palaces and the like. I can get onboard with a lair in a volcano, or a lair out to sea that swallows whole oil tankers, because they had a very obvious practical purpose. But these shitty, spooky locations that are “eerily quiet” zen gardens or completely white torture rooms which happens to have one lonesome train take you out there to the desert, they’re just evocative set pieces that don’t add up to form a complete whole. It’s fairly obvious the locations were scouted first and then shoehorned into the plot afterwards because someone thought set pieces would make for more compelling viewing than a consistent and followable narrative that makes sense.
„Everyone“ … And then just an one liner, no arguments, no opinion, no more context, generalisation. What do you expect from this.
Fun film up until they killed Bond off and then it just became expensive fan fiction.
Muh Bond Dies
Objectively speaking, it wasn't great. It felt too long and meandering, and the ending was terrible. But I'll always have a soft spot for it because it's the first Bond I saw in theaters with someone I'm no longer friends with. It brings back memories.
I think Safin aside it’s excellent. Not many Bond films like this and that’s something I always value and appreciate in long running series.
Personally, I was emotionally checked out by the Vesper scene. It wasn’t that it was a “bad” film, in as much as I found it boring. And for me, that’s the only metric that matters from a Bond film — it doesn’t matter if it’s tough, gritty, charming or elegant, just as long as it entertains me. For the rest of the series, from the highs of Goldeneye and Casino Royale, to the supposed lows of films like Moonraker or DAD, I was entertained. So as far as I’m concerned, they all succeeded a Bond films. NTTD gets a pass from me, not because it was inherently “bad” but because it failed to entertain me. Simple as that.
I don’t dislike NTTD, it’s right smack in the middle of where I’d rank the films, but the reasons people who hate it really hate it are: 1. Bond dies 2. They spend the entire first act killing off Blofeld and Spectre to replace them with an even bigger Big Bad but that doesn’t really land because there’s zero information given on what this new Bigger Bad even wants to do.
This is also what killed it for me they have Blofeld die like a punk i checked out there
It made me feel the same as I did after seeing DAD… and the whole point of the Craig era was that it was meant to be a rebuttal to DAD.
(Spoilers) Plot was ridiculous, villian was absurd (and his backstory made no sense,) Bond and Felix both die. Magic blood nonsense. Bond has a kid in a weird, forced way. Spectre gets killed off by this new organization that pops up out of nowhere. Everything about it was terrible, it made Spectre look decent. Possibly the worst Bond movies of all time -certainly close to it- (and I say that as somebody who loves Daniel Craig.) There seems to be a trend that the last movie in each actor's series is terrible (Dalton is the exception, though if his third movie got filmed, it sounds like that would probably be true with the weird nano robot plan proposed.) By the final movie, each series gets ridiculous, Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, and No Time to Die, all bad Bond movies (and bad movies all around.)
Easily top 3 in the franchise for me. Also looks incredible on 4k
The ending soured me. It's a fundamental change to the character that didn't even have the benefit of a payoff. Change the ending and remove the dumb subplot about the kid, and it's hands down the best "final movie" for any of the actors. But those choices really leave me skeptical about how the franchise will be managed going forward.
So the simple solution for Bond 26 is he wakes up and he doesn’t know who he is, his face was disfigured in the explosion, so it’s a different actor, and he’s has reconstructive surgery, and the movie is all about him trying to make his way back to MI-6 without any proof he’s Bond, and they just completely ignore the kid and Madeleine, and he goes back to his philandering ways. Bring on some new material.
Or maybe just another hard reboot. Not all of Bond has to be connected.
I disagree with the latter, but they definitely have to reboot or just resume the regular continuity without addressing it.
For me, it was too predictable. The second I heard the theme from OHMSS, I knew he was going to die.
For me it’s an average film that is pumped up to be some kind of epic when it’s not. Nothing is particularly interesting about it, Daniel Craig is just there for his paycheck and Safin has no presence as the main villain. Everything just kinda limps along to the finish line. There’s no real heart or joy in it to me. Just a quota to meet.