SPOILERS

We are missing the no James Bond, my birthday weekend is still a long way away before we see in in October, so we best catch up & re watch Spectre i guess. Need some Ben in my life (no the other Ben not Mendelsohn i know its normally mr Evil but no its mr Bear today). Also i wrote that opening sentance last summer thinking we were still getting No Time to Die in 2020, this sentance is still applicable now in 2021, & theres also a chance we may not get it still.

There is now a huge issue with this film which is bloody obviously looking back now, this was Craigs goodbye. He was leaving Bond, hed got the girl, hed saved the world & M was going to clean it all up. We now know this isnt the case & the he is coming back to be Bond once more. This therefore makes the whole tying things up & putting it all together in this one film a waste of time. & that angers me. Craig should have left then. I mean he is a bloody brilliant James Bond, but he should have just walked away here.

There are now looking back at it a lot of issues with this film. The next one being that it was never going to be as epic as Skyfall or as stunning or brilliant as telling a story as Casino Royal. It wasnt going to happen & that is a bloody shame. & looking back & watching it now you can just sense from every scene but one that they are really trying to do it but dont quite pull it off (we will get to where they do in a bit).

Theres also the problem that Christof Waltz is underused & doesnt get to give it his full potential in this film. Christof was flavour of the month for being the ultimate bad guy when this film came out & the straight faced talking villain. & yet he turns up an hour through the film, which is fine actually, but then he just goes about it all to softly & like meh. Unless thats what they asked him to do, its a huge waste of potential & charisma to launch into the film. Its sad.

Dave Batista has one word in the entire film… SHIT! & then he flys off the back of a train. Hes bloody good as a henchman & he just throws Bond around & lays the smackdown on his candy arse. & then hes dead. Shame.

Right lets talk good stuff. The opening sequence where the Camera doesnt leave Bond at all & its uncut… looking back now that is so Medes going “i think we can do a whole film like this one day” which he has now done, but oh wow to do it on that scale at that time, amazing. Know when i say people do this after 1917, you do sit there a little & think ive seen a hole film done in 1 take so this isnt impressing anymore, but then it was fabulous.

as someone born on Halloween i aint bothered about fancy dress for my birthday & all that stuff. However on my bucket list is to go to Mexico for Day of the Dead & had an epic party there that weekend & this film si one of the things that affirms this for me. I am so up for that.

The helicopter barrel roll is bloody cool.

The film is vary slow paced & calm & then moves at 100mph & then back to nothing & then does it again, so much so that when you get to the end you think oh were going to 200mph… nah more like 70mph. I wanted more of a showdown at the end, if Craig was going to go out & “not die as Bond” it had to be bigger & louder than him shooting at a helicopter from a boat on the Thames. Okay we get the pay off that he goes back for the car, but we all knew that was going to be the case but i wanted more of an actual showdown between the 2 of them which we never get at all really. He just tortures him.

Keeping Dench’s cameo quiet was good i liked that.

Andrew Scott is bloody brilliant. I mean hes brilliant in everything if im honest, but oh god he is the actual glue in this film. He lines are brilliant. His Wit his style & the M straight up murders but doesnt murder him. Shame.

The other glue to the film is Q. You all know i love Ben. When he lies for Bond & then goes to pick him up & hes worried hes being followed, watching that in the cinema really made me worried. You cant stalk Paddington nonono. Leave him alone. I also liek the fact that he is there when Bond comes back.

The chase around Italy is better than the one in the snow & the MI5 run around, it is. It just feels more Bond. I know Bond & snow have previous & that is iconic but the Italy chase just felt more real & more like what would happen rather snow & planes & people not actually wanting help to get away.

There is no Chemistry between Madeline & James at all, even when they are desperately in love at the end & hes giving it all up for her, its not desperation or lust or joy in either eyes or soul that come across. The connection doesnt work at all. IT worked better when she was like nah fuck off mate, i dont need your help. The second sex & romance was brought into it, there relationship doesnt work. Hopefully it will in no time to die but i doubt it. There is more chemistry between Bond & Monepenny on the phone than they have.

The crater & meteor were cool, but thats now been blown up, so the world wont see it all. Also when these big places blow up & all the people without guns who are just doing there job die, does Bond not care? Does anyone in any film actually care? I mentioning this hear as it was watching this in the cinema that made me think of it. By day i am an accountant, lets say i got a job doing payroll for some big corporation & am just doing my job, & then it blows up because one of the partners in the company is evil & a spy wants to take his stuff out. I didnt sign up for this when i was doing their payroll no, its not fair. Its liek all the guys on the death star who were mechanics, bless them all.

I like the fact hes still got a cat. hehe, i mean its no flerken…

if im honest best bit of the film is Sam Smith singing the writings on the wall. Perfection

Its still a good Bond film. I mean were not talking the ones ive mentioned before or Golden gun or view to a kill or any Dalton bonds, but its good. I just wish now that he had walked away when he did walk away. I am really looking forward to No Time to Die, going to see a Bond film is a big event of the year, but i wish it was with the new incarnation of Bond. Craig should have walked off happily into the sunset.