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anotheruserwithnoname · 3 years

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Thoughts on No Time to Die

Finally got around to seeing the final Daniel Craig Bond film last night and for the most part I was impressed. I’m going to have to have a few spoilers in my thoughts (specifically ending spoilers), so here’s a break. One thing I will say in the clear: I agree this is a Bond film like no other.

The Craig era is going to stand alone from all the others as the first attempt at telling a single story arc. True, the Connery era (with the Lazenby film included) formed a loose arc involving SPECTRE (though Goldfinger was an outlier in this). But the 5 Daniel Craig films are the first to have a generally tight story arc. Which is all the more impressive when it becomes clear it wasn’t planned as such and for it working so well. One almost wishes the people behind the recent Bonds were in charge of the Disney Star Wars trilogy.

No Time to Die continues the Craig era’s tendency to invoke plot and story elements from the Fleming novels, something the Brosnan era tended to avoid except for a few small things, mostly in Die Another Day. (Spectre, the previous Craig film, even borrowed elements from the Kingsley Amis/Robert Markham continuation novel, Colonel Sun, something DAD coincidentally also did). In this case, NTTD is a stealth adaptation of the original You Only Live Twice novel (something that was expected ever since the working title, Shatterhand, was reported in early 2019 - that’s the name used by the villain of the book). One of the final scenes of the film even quotes directly from the novel.

A bigger surprise are the elements taken from the novel and film of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, including the use of the phrase “We have all the time in the world,” which becomes an “arc phrase” in this film. But more than that, although Hans Zimmer is credited as the film’s composer in the opening credits, so much is used from the late John Barry’s score from OHMSS, from its opening theme being referenced to the actual “We Have All the Time in the World” song, I’m surprised he wasn’t given an opening-credits acknowledgement. Sadly, I was less impressed with Billie Eilish’s theme song, which I literally had forgotten within minutes of it ending (something I can’t say for Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall from Spectre and Adele’s modern-classic Skyfall theme). One good thing I will say is it’s a better song than the misfire that opened Quantum of Solace.

NTTD has pissed a few people off for giving the 007 number to a female agent. (That’s not a spoiler as even the trailers mention this). In the film, it’s explained logically, and it’s another throwback to the novels that long ago established the 00 numbers as being passed on when someone dies or retires. And Lashana Lynch has the charisma and - important here - chemistry with Daniel Craig for it to work. Her character also respects Bond immensely - something that doesn’t come across in the trailer - and (spoiler here) even voluntarily asks for Bond to be redesignated as 007 at one point. Female 00 agents have been hinted at for decades, with ones appearing briefly during briefing sequences in Thunderball and The World is Not Enough, they have been featured in novels and comic strips since the early 1970s, and the movies have featured 00-equivalent agents numerous times (Anya Amasova, Holly Goodhead, Jinx). If I had one complaint about Nomi is that they allow her to be overshadowed by Ana de Armas’ CIA agent character, who appears in only one major setpiece (apparently she was added to the film at the last minute to cash in on de Armas and Craig working well together in Knives Out). The best action sequence in the film involves both de Armas and Lynch, but it’s Ana who outshines everyone. In any other film she’d have joined the ranks of Anya Amasova as a classic partner (never mind “Bond girl”) to Bond.

I’ve heard people criticize Bond’s characterization in the film. Actually, I think he was very close to the way the increasingly world-weary Bond was depicted by Fleming in the later Bond novels, and to a degree John Gardner in his continuation works in the 1980s as well as Amis’ Colonel Sun. Plus it has been 14-15 years (in movie time) since Bond was first referred to as “a blunt instrument” by M. The nature of his character has naturally changed.

I also liked seeing the return of the “save the world” plot line, one that admittedly might have been used a few times too often in the older films, but it still gave a nice callback to great films like The Spy Who Loved Me.

And then there’s the ending, which turns OHMSS’ finale on its head. There is clearly no way Bond 26 won’t be a reboot. Which may become an issue for those hoping to see more of Lashana Lynch’s 00 agent, the current versions of M, Moneypenny and Q, and even Ana de Arma’s character. Of course, there is precedent for legacy actors to cross over - Desmond Llewellyn returned as Q for the Brosnan films, and Judi Dench’s M was herself rebooted continuity-wise between the Brosnan and Craig films. The Connery to Dalton era was hardly air-tight in its canon either, given the wildly different interpretations of Blofeld and Felix Leiter from one film to the next (never mind the Bonds themselves who went from Scottish to Australian to English to Welsh to Irish to back to English again). So who knows? Some have suggested this might be the time to retire James Bond completely and either yield the floor to Lynch’s 00 agent (who may or may not be 007 again - the film does not indicate this and there’s a reference to retiring the number) or create someone new.

Fortunately - and I sat through the credits to confirm this - the very last thing shown on screen is “James Bond will Return”. He’ll be back. And I look forward to seeing who takes on the role from Daniel Craig, whose 5 films have been rocky at times and not always the best of the best, but deserve credit for trying new ideas. And I certainly found more good than bad in them, and I consider Casino Royale to be in the all-time Top 5.

If anyone cares, here is how I rank the Bond films under Daniel Craig:

1. Casino Royale

2. Spectre

3. Skyfall

4. No Time to Die

5. Quantum of Solace

Problem with such a list is it gives the impression I think NTTD is a poor film, especially when you consider I feel Quantum to be one of the lower 5 Bond films of all time. Hardly - it’s just that 1, 2 and 3 were such amazing films (and yes I did like Spectre, despite that being an unpopular opinion) that they managed to overshadow NTTD. But it’s still an excellent film, I think.

#james bond #no time to die

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marianaillust · 4 years

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🍸Major Anya Amasova

AKA Agent XXX from the KGB

Bond Girl from the film 'The Spy Who Loved Me'

#digital art #illustration #art #digital painting #Anya Amasova #Agent XXX #James Bond #Bond Girl #007 #Artists on Tumblr #Tumblr artist #The Spy Who Loved Me

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trulyinspiringmovies · 3 years

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The Spy Who Loved Me

“The Spy Who Loved Me” does what “You Only Live Twice” was trying to do and does it way better.

James Bond is tasked with investigating a Soviet Ballistic-missile submarine that seemed to have completely vanished without a trace. On his way to the briefing, he’s ambushed by a gang of men attacking on skis. Bond quickly disposes of the men and meets Anya Amasova, a KGB agent also known as Triple X. Anya is tasked with helping Bond on his mission, but doesn’t know that Bond is the one who killed the man she loved.

One thing right off the bat that makes this movie leagues better than the previous two is the lack of J.W. Pepper. Watching this movie felt like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders because of one decision to exclude him from the film. With that being said, I can review this film in peace. The opening shot is changed once again, but this time, it’s back to looking professional. The fact that this movie leads with a mystery was a nice change of pace. I didn’t realize it while watching, but the other movies never let the audience wonder about anything. We have all the pieces of the puzzle right from the start and we’re told to refer to them only when the movie tells us to. The opening ski action set piece was the best stunt I’ve seen from the series so far. It was a good mix of high-octane action, Bond-style gadgets, and a practical stunt that had my jaw-dropping. Speaking of jaws, I feel like this movie took major inspiration from the movie, “Jaws”. “Jaws” was the first summer blockbuster and was released two years prior. I can see why. There’s a character named Jaws and sharks are used heavily as threats. These things don’t really detract from the movie, but it’s funny to see the influences. This is the first movie where the theme song doesn’t match the title of the movie. I’m not complaining, however, because this song is hands down the best this series had so far. “Nobody Does It Better” is so good that I immediately added the song to my Apple Music. Karl Stromberg’s introduction as the movie’s main antagonist was simple, but effective. I really loved how we were put into the shoes of the two employees to emphasize the scariness of Stromberg. Then the twist revealed how smart he was. It’s just such a well-done introduction. Egypt is a cool new backdrop for Bond that hasn’t been used before. The choice doesn’t feel like the movie is trying to be grand by placing it in stereotypical places like New York, Las Vegas, or China. Instead, the grandness comes from the locations organically. This movie also finally makes reference to the single greatest Bond moment so far. Anya talks about how Bond’s newly-wed wife was murdered at the end of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and it was amazing to see that be confirmed as canon in this version of Bond. The fight scenes were nicely choreographed, especially the ones with Jaws. Jaws is physically stronger than Bond, so he has to come up with creative ways to defeat him. There are even times that felt like the odds were stacked against Bond. The relationship between Bond and Anya felt genuine this time. I would chalk this up mainly due to the fact that they’re equals in this movie. Anya isn’t just another plaything for Bond. He has to work towards getting to her, which was nice to finally see. Still, Barbara Bach isn’t the best actress. Most of the time, it felt like she was reading her lines off of a cue card behind the camera. Still, I think this movie does great. It adds mystery and drama in fun new ways. Lewis Gilbert has breathed new life into this series and I am here for it.

★★★★

Watched on October 5th, 2021

#The Spy Who Loved Me #July #1977 #Spy #Action #Science Fiction #Adventure #Thriller #PG #Lewis Gilbert #October 2021 #4 stars

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whippedcloudsofcream · 5 years

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Barbara Bach Bach as Major Anya Amasova/Agent XXX in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

#The Spy Who Loved Me #The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 #my photos

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lievbios · 5 years

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007 || James Bond

Name: James Bond

Age: 37

Relationship: married (verse depending)

Sexuality:

Job: Spy

Faceclaims: Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Idris Elba

In the novels, James Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond of Glencoe, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, from the Canton de Vaud. He acquired a first-class command of the French and German languages during his early education, which he received entirely abroad. Both parents were tragically killed during a climbing accident in the French Alps when he was eleven.

After the death of his parents, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmain Bond, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College at “12 or thereabouts”, but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father’s school.

Bond conducted his year of Sea Service with high recommendations from his Chief Petty Officers and Warrant Officers. He applied for and was uniformly recommended for work in Naval Intelligence. Bond served as an intelligence officer on HMS Exeter both before and during Operation Granby, and later was able to transfer to submarine service, touring on the HMS Turbulent. His natural abilities, mental quickness and confidence impressed his commanding officers. Within the year of being assigned to HMS Turbulent, it became apparent that Bond was not being sufficiently challenged with his duties, so Bond volunteered for the Special Boat Service. Bond excelled at SC3 and Underwater and Aquatic Warfare training. He constantly equaled or bested his superior officers and instructors in all areas after nominal experience.

Shortly before his next assignment, M, Bond’s superior in MI6, gave him the choice of either selecting a new weapon on a mission to investigate the recent disappearance of British Secret Service operative John Strangways or to return to standard intelligence duties. He was then given a choice of using a Walther PPK or a Smith & Wesson .38 Special 5-round hammerless revolver. Bond reluctantly decided to take the weapons on the mission and the Walther proved valuable in Jamaica, where Strangways had gone missing.

Bond later returned to London but, six months after he had left the city, he was sent on a mission to Istanbul in an attempt to obtain a lektor decoder device from a stunning Russian cipher clerk named Tatiana Romanova, who had supposedly fallen in love with a photograph of him. Yet Tatiana had unknowingly been set up by the No. 3 of the criminal organization SPECTRE, Rosa Klebb who sought to avenge the murder of their operative, Dr. Julius No. Bond was aided by Kerim Bey, who helped the British agent bring both the device and Romanova from Istanbul to Venice.

In Miami, Bond was instructed to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger, who was staying at the same hotel. However, Bond became romantically involved with Goldfinger’s girlfriend, Jill Masterson, who later died of skin suffocation as a result of being entirely covered in gold. Bond returned to London, where he was ordered to investigate Goldfinger’s involvement in the possibly illegal transportation of gold, but he was warned that, if he treated the assignment as a personal vendetta, he would be replaced on the mission by 008.

In France, James Bond fought and killed SPECTRE operative Colonel Jacques Bouvar, avenging the murder of two of Bond’s former colleagues. After encountering several SPECTRE agents at a health spa in the south of England, Bond investigates the hijacking of an Avro Vulcan loaded with two atomic bombs, which had been taken by SPECTRE. The organisation demands a ransom against Britain and the United States for the return of the bombs. Bond follows a lead to the Bahamas, where he meets up with his CIA counterpart and friend Felix Leiter.

Bond trains with Tanaka in ninjitsu who changes his appearance to be Japanese as cover and weds him to Kissy Suzuki. Bond and Kissy find Blofeld’s lair in a Volcano. Tanaka’s ninja troops attack the island, while Bond manages to distract Blofeld and create a diversion which allows him to open the hatch, letting in the ninjas. During the battle, Mr. Osato is killed by Blofeld, who activates the base’s self-destruct system and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas escape through the cave tunnel before it explodes, and are rescued by submarine.

Looking to avenge his wife, Tracy, Bond raced around the globe looking for Blofeld until he found him during a plastic surgery operation. After a fight, Bond apparently killed the SPECTRE head by melting him in hot mud.

James Bond is sent to investigate the murder of three British MI6 agents, Dawes, Hamilton and Baines (who in fact shared the same bootmaker with Bond), all of whom have been killed within 24 hours. He discovers the victims were all separately investigating the operations of Dr. Kananga, the dictator of a small Caribbean island, San Monique. He also establishes that Kananga also acts as “Mr. Big”, a ruthless and cunning gangster in the United States.

After receiving a golden bullet with James Bond’s code “007” etched into its surface M relieves Bond of a mission locating a British scientist, Gibson, who has invented the “Solex agitator”, a device to harness solar power, thereby solving the global energy crisis. The bullet signifies Bond is a target of hired assassin Francisco Scaramanga and Bond sets out unofficially to find him. From a spent golden bullet, Bond tracks Scaramanga to Macau, where he sees Scaramanga’s mistress, Andrea Anders, collecting golden bullets at a casino. Bond follows her to Hong Kong, where he witnesses Scaramanga murder Gibson, the theft of the Solex agitator and kidnapping of Mary Goodnight.

Bond is tasked with investigating the disappearance of British and Soviet ballistic missile submarines and the subsequent offer to sell a submarine tracking system. Bond works alongside Major Anya Amasova of the KGB. The pair track the plans across Egypt and identify the person responsible for the thefts as shipping tycoon, scientist and anarchist Karl Stromberg.

Bond travels to Brazil looking for Drax’s research facility, where he is captured. He and Goodhead escape and pose as pilots on one of six space shuttles being sent by Drax to a hidden orbital space station. There Bond finds out that Drax plans to destroy all human life by launching fifty globes containing the toxin into the Earth’s atmosphere. Bond and Goodhead disable the radar jammer hiding the station from Earth and the U.S. sends a platoon of Marines in a military space shuttle. During the battle, Bond kills Drax and his station is destroyed.

After a British spy boat sinks, a marine archaeologist, Sir Timothy Havelock, is tasked to retrieve its Automatic Targeting Attack Communicator (ATAC) communication system before the Russians do. After Havelock is murdered by Hector Gonzales, a Cuban hit-man, Bond is ordered to find out who hired Gonzales. While investigating, Bond is captured, but Gonzales is subsequently killed by Havelock’s vengeful daughter, Melina and she and Bond escape. Bond identifies one of those present with Gonzales as Emile Leopold Locque and so follows a lead to Italy and meets his contact, Luigi Ferrara, and a well-connected Greek businessman and intelligence informant, Aris Kristatos. Kristatos tells Bond that Locque is employed by Milos Columbo, Kristatos’ former partner in the Greek resistance during World War II.

Bond infiltrates the circus, and finds that Orlov replaced the Soviet treasures with a nuclear warhead, primed to explode at a U.S. Air Force base in West Germany. The explosion would trigger Europe into seeking disarmament, in the belief that the bomb was an American one that was detonated by accident, leaving the West’s borders open to Soviet invasion. Orlov is revealed as a traitor and is shot by Soviet troops under General Gogol. Bond deactivates the warhead and then he returns to India, leading an assault on Kamal’s palace. He chases after Kamal who has kidnapped Octopussy in his plane, where he saves Octopussy and causes Kamal to crash.

Bond investigates into the operations of millionaire industrialist Max Zorin, who is trying to monopolize the world market in microchips. He establishes that Zorin was previously trained and financed by the KGB, but has now gone rogue. Zorin unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley which will give him a monopoly in the manufacturing of microchips.

Bond investigates into the sinking of a British warship in Chinese waters, the theft of one of the ship’s cruise missiles—and the shooting down of a Chinese fighter plane. He uncovers a link to media mogul Elliot Carver which suggests that Carver had purchased a GPS encoder on the black market, finding it in his headquarters in Hamburg.

Bond visits Valentin Zukovsky and is informed that Elektra’s head of security, Davidov, is in league with Renard: Bond kills Davidov and follows the trail to a Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan. Posing as a Russian nuclear scientist, Bond meets American nuclear physicist Christmas Jones. The two witness Renard stealing the GPS locator card and a half quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from a bomb and set off an explosion, from which Bond and Jones escape. Elektra kidnaps M after she thinks Bond had been killed and Bond establishes that Elektra intends to create a nuclear explosion in a submarine in Istanbul in order to increase the value of her own oil pipeline. Bond frees M, kills Elektra and then disarms the bomb on the submarine and kills Renard.

Bond investigates North Korean Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, who is illegally trading African conflict diamonds for weaponry. Moon is apparently killed and Bond is captured and tortured for 14 months, after which he is exchanged for Zao, Moon’s assistant. Despite being suspended on his return, he decides to complete his mission and tracks down Zao to a gene therapy clinic, where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring. Zao escapes, but the trail leads to British billionaire Gustav Graves.

After shooting Mr. White in the leg, Bond has captured Mr. White and manages to evade pursuit by his various minions in a chaotic car chase in his Aston Martin DBS V12 painted in black. After interrogating him with M at a closed off location, Bond and M are both betrayed by a disguised minion (Mitchell) who, after a toss and tumble, is later dispatched and killed by James. Mr. White takes this time to vanish and is never seen or heard from again (except for being briefly spotted at the opera among other Quantum members.)

Bond and M return to London and search Mitchell’s flat, discovering through tagged banknotes that Mitchell had a contact in Haiti. Bond tracks the contact, Edmund Slate, and learns that Slate is a hitman sent to kill Camille Montes at the behest of her lover, environmentalist Dominic Greene. While observing her subsequent meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping an exiled Bolivian General Medrano—who murdered Camille’s family—to overthrow his government and become the new president in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.

VERSES

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