Let's start with some positives:
The first hour of No Time to Die has some fantastic locations, setpieces and a great pace. Daniel Craig gives an abdolutely committed performance which is undoubtedly the best by an actor at the end of his run as Bond.
Unfortunately, after the Cuba-set sequence, the movie drastically loses its way, with about 45 mins where barely any action occurs, there is a lot of overly-complex exposition and the few action scenes that occur (a 4x4 chase sequence) aren't as well-staged as the opening sequences. I found myself snapping out of the film and realising I was getting bored.
That puts pressure on the final 30 mins to really deliver a big action finale and for me that fell flat too. There are big emotional notes in this finale, but juggling that and great action seems to have been beyond the director and editor. It doesn't help that the main villain (Rami Malek) is poorly written in terms of motivation (despite taking quite a but of time to establish his history).
I also felt the lack of a really good henchman, a key element of Bond films, was lacking. Instead we have a fairly non-descript character and actor who lacks genuine threat. Oh for a Dave Bautista or Robert Shaw in this film!
Without giving anything away the final element this film needs to succeed is for the audience to really buy into the Bond/Madeline Swan relationship. And between Spectre and this film, I just didn't really feel that chemistry and why this woman would have had such an effect on Bond. This is amplified by much more sizzle between Bond and Paloma, played with a real sense of fun by Ana de Armas in her cameo.
I'm ok with there this movie tried to go, it might not be my preference but I admire they tried to do something different. But this film needed a much sharper edit, better villains and stronger direction. It feels slightly done by committee, perhaps explaining why Danny Boyle didn't remain on board.
It's a 6/10 and to be honest I'm not sure after 25 films whether I'm really interested in seeing Bond rebooted again after this.
The first hour of No Time to Die has some fantastic locations, setpieces and a great pace. Daniel Craig gives an abdolutely committed performance which is undoubtedly the best by an actor at the end of his run as Bond.
Unfortunately, after the Cuba-set sequence, the movie drastically loses its way, with about 45 mins where barely any action occurs, there is a lot of overly-complex exposition and the few action scenes that occur (a 4x4 chase sequence) aren't as well-staged as the opening sequences. I found myself snapping out of the film and realising I was getting bored.
That puts pressure on the final 30 mins to really deliver a big action finale and for me that fell flat too. There are big emotional notes in this finale, but juggling that and great action seems to have been beyond the director and editor. It doesn't help that the main villain (Rami Malek) is poorly written in terms of motivation (despite taking quite a but of time to establish his history).
I also felt the lack of a really good henchman, a key element of Bond films, was lacking. Instead we have a fairly non-descript character and actor who lacks genuine threat. Oh for a Dave Bautista or Robert Shaw in this film!
Without giving anything away the final element this film needs to succeed is for the audience to really buy into the Bond/Madeline Swan relationship. And between Spectre and this film, I just didn't really feel that chemistry and why this woman would have had such an effect on Bond. This is amplified by much more sizzle between Bond and Paloma, played with a real sense of fun by Ana de Armas in her cameo.
I'm ok with there this movie tried to go, it might not be my preference but I admire they tried to do something different. But this film needed a much sharper edit, better villains and stronger direction. It feels slightly done by committee, perhaps explaining why Danny Boyle didn't remain on board.
It's a 6/10 and to be honest I'm not sure after 25 films whether I'm really interested in seeing Bond rebooted again after this.
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