Spoilers (& i mean spoilers if you have not watched no time to die, please go away & then come back)

& we made it to the end of the James Bond Marathon… Ahhhhhhhh & its time for No Time To Die. The finale, for now.
I haven seen this since i saw it twice in the cinema & was still a little hmmm about it & i had promised to watch it a year later but knowing i was going to watch all of Bond i decided not to, so here i am 18 months later watching it. Lets see if its improved or not shall we.

Lets start as i have been doing this series with the song, Billie did a haunting job with no time to die. She deserved her oscar for it. IT captured the haunted shadows we see in the movie & the dreed which follows everyone around. Its a good song but its very much in the vein of the film, its Bond song because of the film its the music for.

Which brings me to the main issue with this film & ive had a long time to think about this… THIS IS NOT A JAMES BOND FILM!
Its not.
Its too many things & it fails to commit to a main one & the one you wanted it to connect with felt lacking. It was like they suddenly went ahh best get Q or Moneypenny in for a minute or two. It missed its identity. It was a love letter & thank you to craig, it was trying to finalise his story, it wanted to be bond, but it also wanted to still be like the most recent set of action films that changed the way we saw bond. Its disjointed & when i have since doing this ranked my Bond films its come 19th out of the 25.
Craig Bond should have driven off in Spectre having turned a new leaf & happy with his life & then we could have got a new Bond.

That all being said, the best bits of the entire film are the two most bond scenes of the movie. The opening before the title crawl chase, which is really long so much so that you then like what do you mean were getting the song now. But that whole chase was batshit & crazy & so well choreographed & cars went everywhere. & then the best moment of the entire film is that bar fight with Ana. She is a modern bond girl. She looks the part. She isnt embarrassed. She wears that dress so well. & she fucking kicks arse. For the 15mins shes on screen & shares it with craig its phenomenal. He has more chemistry with her in that time that he does Lea for nearly 2 movies. So much so his face when he parts ways with her & she hands him the cigar & wishes him luck he looks her up & down winks & say “you were great”. I dont think he was acting, i think he had a fucking fantastic time filming that with her. Its the best scene of the film for sure. Even the part poisoning was cool, Waltz was a better villain here than he was in the film before.

We had half baked characters. When i heard Billy was being cast in this i was like ooooohhhh yes i like him hes an underrated actor. Hes in 3 scenes, overconfident in the first, betrays in the second, dead in the third. I wanted to know more about why be sold them out. Why did he do that.
Lashana as the new 007 (which a European trailer ruined for everyone) she was a good spy, but only turned up when Bond needed help. She did kick arse too, but it was never set up for her to take over a mantel we didnt spend enough time with her at all. Although she looked fucking cool every time.
The other henchman who is Bonds last real kill, we see him 3 times & then Bond uses an EMP on him (he had a blue tooth eye) that was a fun death.
& then Remi villain which i had to just google the fucking name of thats how bad a villain he is. Safin kills the mum, save the little girl, then doesnt turn up again for another hour 15 & then lives in a artsy garden harvesting genetic poison. He puts up no real fight to bond. His speech isnt iconic. Hes weak. Most of Craigs villains have been weak, is that to make Craig look better & stronger? Also meets the crappest death ever. Hes just a bit lame.

Then there is the killing off of main staples. Waltz does then come back(thats what i was most pissed off about that the trailer spoiled, imagine seeing that for a first time) but Bond didnt mean to kill him but due to the poison he unintentionally had on him, hes dead.
The theres felix, again brought back to remind you he was in it after not being in the last 2, & then he was shot & drowned not a nice way to go.

Epic spoiler coming up now last chance to stop scrolling
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THEY BLOODY KILLED JAMES BOND!
I get then it stops craig coming back but no, just no. It was like come on mate seriously, you cant kill him off. Especially as youve made sure it is his actual name in the films not just a code name that they give them. Im sorry its bollocks. It was a shock when i saw it first time in the cinema & then second time it was weird watching others react but this time, its not right. Im sorry im standing on this hill.

Its also the fact that he dies because he cant touch Madeline or his kid, which lets be honest the moment you saw her you were like ahh shes his 100% dont even try & not tell shes not his. Its obvious. But for 5 years he had lived off the grid & not seen them & if he hadnt seen her at that holding cell, he would have never gone back for them. I get love makes you do crazy things but considering 48hours before you had no idea about them it was a bit like what. It would have been better for him to be put in a research facility or maybe try & donate his blood to find a cure for it. But no he stands on an island & lets a fuck ton of missiles at him. Im sorry he didnt deserve that. & again he has no chemistry with them.

You know who gets me when Bond dies… Q… Watching Bens face & how hes trying to hold it all together, thats more painful then anyone else sorrow watching or hearing him die. I also love that Q is gay & that we finally get to see his Cats & how much a goofball he really is. Thats the saddest part of Bond being in its own bubble with this franchise cos they close Craig off, that Ben, Rory, Naomie & Finnes wont be returning.

I get why this was so delayed. Releasing a film about contamination &touch killing people during a global pandemic, really bad idea. Im actually amazed we got it September 21 & not in like spring 22, i am glad we did get it but it still was really close to it all going on.

Bond really does jet set everywhere in this film he really is a continental man. But obviously he gets to stay at golden eye.

The barrel shot in his way to destroy the base at the end thats very cool. Thats when we knew the writing was on the wall that he wasnt getting out of it.

We reference a lot of bond films in this a lot, so much so that when my sister rewatched it, she had a list of stuff to check with me to make sure it was bond linked which i confirmed with her entirely & she was very happy to realise she had got most of it right.

It is a slog. Its a very long film. There are some films which are long but fly by (Dunes, Potter, Tarantino etc) but there are points in this were you do sit there going are we going to get to act 3 in a minute come on movie please please please. There not enough action to keep you going. Considering this is the end to a huge chapter of bond (yes i know craig isnt young anymore) but still he could have kicked a bit more arse or been in a few more car chases. It just feels drawn out so that Craig can be Bond for all of 5 minutes more.

Did M get away with murdering C from the last film? thats never brought up.

As you can tell im conflicted with this Bond movie. Its a good film at points & when it owns it, no body does it better (completely pun intended) but when its just filling its just for one more moment with craig. I dont think making craig his own cannon & completely linking every aspect of all of them makes it a better set of films.

I think Bourne, Bauer & Wick made Bond have to catch up & we miss some of its charm, but it didnt stick with the vide of Casino Royale or Skyfall which were absolute spectacles. Id take them over this every day of the week.