Lord, I forgot the drama around the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die. It was supposed to come out this spring, and the actors involved (Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas) had already begun to do press and promotion. Then the pandemic happened, and the release date kept getting pushed back. No Time to Die is in the same kind of situation as Christopher Nolan’s Tenet: the studios will be hit with an enormous financial loss if millions of people don’t see the movies in theaters. I mean, that’s true of most films too, but Nolan’s films and James Bond movies are set up as tentpoles for theaters and studios. I could even argue that NTTD is in a better position than Tenet, because Bond producers make tons of product placement deals which help offset studio costs. Anyway, sorry to get so “this is how the sausage is made,” but I have been thinking about it with regards to Tenet!
Anyway, No Time to Die is set to be released theatrically on November 20 now. I doubt it will change at this point – Tenet was the canary in the coal mine and other blockbusters will slowly be released to any theater which will have them. To celebrate, they released a new trailer, which shows even more of the insane stunts which broke Daniel Craig’s body, plus Ana de Armas and Rami’s villain character. You know what bugs me now, as a life-long Bond-movie fan? How often Bond villains have physical deformities or handicaps. The franchise is so ableist.
Some of the sequences look cool, I’ll admit it. Ana de Armas’ stunt work looks a bit…um… she’s a tiny little woman and she’s doing flying chest kicks which take down a fully armored dude? Okay! She looked super-sexy though, which is the point. Also: I wish we could see more of Ralph Fiennes’ M! I love him so hard. I would. I would shove Daniel Craig out of the way to get to Ralph.
Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, and Lashana Lynch make their 007 debuts in #NoTimeToDie, Daniel Craig's final Bond film. Watch the epic new trailer: https://t.co/zTqYXdtGnu pic.twitter.com/JQql1AJlBv
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) September 3, 2020
Photos courtesy of ‘No Time to Die’.
You have a very good point regarding the villains and their bodies. I just saw a show at the Tate in London (with mask and my dedicated time slot) about a Victorian artist, Aubrey Beardsley and in one of the drawings there was a dwarf as an evil creature. The accompanying text explained how people with dwarfism at the time were “used” (there is no other word) as the evil creatures in theatres and circuses. It’s quite appalling that we’re still doing this ableism.
Agreed. I feel like if it’s integral to the plot, then maybe it’s the wrong plot.
The ableism is the first thing I thought about when I saw Rami’s character. Not only is it just inappropriate, but they’ve done it before! You expect certain things in Bond movies, but the villain doesn’t need to have scars or whatever.
Looks pretty F#%*ing Fantastic to me, I’m in!
What bugs me, personally, is the mere sight of Ana De Armas. Way too many pap strolls, way too much thirst…now I just can’t buy her as anyone else.
Lucy, I feel the same way. I just can’t stand her. She’s so thirsty. Just looking at her makes me want to puke, but I’ll see it anyway for my boyfriend Daniel Craig.
To be honest I didn’t even realize she was in the movie until this post, lol. The pap strolls make so much more sense now.
I thought Lashana Lynch was the female lead, so why all the attention paid to de Armas? Is it that those ridiculous pap strolls actually…..worked? No do not tell me that please.
I read somewhere that Ana de Papwalk’s screen time is only like 10 minutes, so she’s gotta get attention in a different way
Yeah, Bond’s repeated ableism and the whole concept of “Bond Girls” grosses me out. As noted in this article, even when the women are given a moment to beat up the bad guys, it’s meant to look sexy, not to have any meaning or show them in power. I tend to fall asleep during spy movies, though, so this wouldn’t be my thing anyway!
My husband lives for these types of movies! He’ll be thrilled.
Wow does it ever feel like the moment for this is long past. Maybe it’s that Spectre sucked, the delay, or….everything…but this was a shrug from me. 🤷♀️
That’s how I feel about it too, and I think it’s actually more due to….everything…. This was a yawn from me.
So…super tiny women can be super tough. Go to any gym and you’ll see women of all
different sizes, lifting different weights. My best friend is half my size, but I would not want to run into her in a dark alley. Girl would kick my ass handedly.
She’s not that tiny – a little over 5’6″.
“She’s a disarming young woman” is both condescending and something an old fart would say. This is the kind of film that asks for such suspension of disbelief combined with the most boring people on the planet that I really can’t believe it exists.
Except Ralph Fiennes. He is indeed scrumptious. At any age.
Given the history of Bond films, I suspect that this is a quip referring to the new OO7 (who looks like a bad-ass and I can’t wait to see more of her in action) probably breaking someone’s arm, shooting someone in the arm, etc.
More to the point then, I guess!
I would not like to be described as such in my new job. Confident, competent, impressive, woman yes, but not a “disarming young woman”.
Didn’t Phoebe Waller-Bridge get called in to fix the script?
Yes, she got pulled in to punch up the script and (it was widely assumed) to make the female characters less two-dimensional
I hope they release for home viewing, too. I have no interest in seeing it in theaters but I would shell out $20-30 to watch at home.
The trailer is too long. Craig was never my Bond, but I’ll see the film because I’m a James Bond completetist.
I don’t know much about Lashana Lynch, but she is gorgeous and incredibly fun to watch in the trailer as the new OO7. I can’t wait to see this movie (preferably at home).
She first caught my attention in Captain Marvel and I’m really looking forward to seeing her in this. She’s a total bad ass!
These Bond films need a true blue villain that is female. Who was the last one, Fanke in Goldeneye?
I think that is the problem for me, there is a ton of talent in Hollyweird where it should be no problem with Brocolli and company having a female villain.
There have been a few. Famke was more of a henchwoman in Goldeneye, IMO. Miranda Frost played by the sublime Rosamund Pike from the underrated Die Another Day was a pretty great villainess, although she’s likely more of a henchwoman too. Electra from The World is Not Enough was probably the closest thing to a female Big Bad that the Bond franchise has had in recent times, and even then there was another dude villain too who was arguably the final boss.
Lead villain then. The plot is around them and not a henchwoman,
Lashana Lynch was the only interesting thing in this trailer to me. Especially that scene with Naomie Harris, which seems like something Phoebe Waller-Bridge might have been involved in? It gave me Killing Eve vibes. But the rest of it… I’m here for Ralph Fiennes and Ben Wishaw but I’m tired of seeing Ana de Armas. I spent the entire time expecting her to fake laugh at Ben Affleck’s jokes. And I can’t believe they’re still going with this Spectre story. Like,guys,Spectre was a terrible movie and ,except maybe some hardcore Bond fans, everyone hated it. We just want to forget about it,move on. And Léa Seydoux was bad and her character was so boring but we’re now supposed to believe she’s James great love?
If you didn’t grow up with the franchise, I doubt it’ll have much love from a certain type of viewer lol. I can see the changes and growth. And I can see their loyalties. I’m totally in. I’m more excited about this trailer than the previous movie’s trailers. But these people just need to be badass –they’re not superhumans or wearing mech suits. Actors shouldn’t have to break bones for money.
I will be watching the hell out of it. I grew up going to James Bond film festivals (all hail the Silver Screen) and I’m sure I’ll love every problematic minute of it. I love cranky Bond and adore Ralph Fiennes’s M. I wish they’d hired someone who knows how to light Black women, though. As I said, problematic.
These movies are so boring. The need to reboot it with some different and more exciting elements.
I just fell asleep watching this trailer and couldn’t finish it. Looks boring and derivative. I’ll pass.
I love Fiennes and Craig has grown on me. I also love Wishaw, Naomie and Lashana. I think it’s the same old same old, but I love to suspend belief and enjoy myself. I was very much looking forward to seeing Ana in it until her BenAna crap. Ana could have been the replacement for Black Widow (for the next MCU reboot) but now when I look at her, I just see a thirsty twit. I am knocking her romance with Ben, we love who we love but she could have held some of the ‘mystery’ back and she’d get the fame she wanted after NTTD without looking like an idiot.
I have zero interest in seeing any new Bond movies.
They would need to pick a new actor as Bond, and it would need to be someone really interesting in order for me to even think about streaming it.
I watched 2 of Daniel Craigs outings as Bond on streaming, one because of Mads Mickelson as the villain but DC is just not Bond to me.
Pay to see Bond at a theater? Nope. I think I may never go to a movie in a theater again.
Local movie compound currently has 18 screens and has put in new leather reclining seats that are like giant airbags. Not comfy at all!
Is it just bad make up or is Daniel aging poorly? He looks pretty rough for 52. Compared to Colin Firth, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Mads Mikkelson, Robert Downey Jr., the Fiennes brothers, Denzel, Jimmy Smits, Antonio B, Damien Lewis, Ken Watanabe and many others who are even older, Danny’s not looking that great.