The new James Bond movie “No Time to Die” featuring Daniel Craig’s last appearance as James Bond (as well as featuring Billie Eilish for the theme song) was released a couple weeks ago.
After seeing the full movie in theaters (which I highly recommend) it made me wonder;
How has the James Bond movie franchise changed after its first release in 1962?
I rewatched 1962’s “Dr. No” with the first James Bond being played by Sean Connery and the first thing I realised is that the movie has a much slower pace than other Bond movies. It builds up more and more with a lot more exposition and down time, almost being filler.
With an almost 2 hour long movie, it makes for a much more in depth watching experience. Dr. No was a much more different movie at the time and introduced a much more nuanced style of Action. Dr. No has a much more different approach to action and pacing.
When I watched No Time to Die (NTtD) at Will’s Big Day, I noticed that it is much more bombastic and “in your face” with its action and leaves little room for downtime. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it differs from Dr. No immensely with its overall style. It’s also over 3 hours long, it is much more in depth and has a lot more exposition and build up
Something I found interesting is that both Daniel Craig and Sean Connery’s acting is calm, witty, and focused. It’s good to know that Bond’s character has remained the same throughout all of the movies.
So, what did I think?
Personally, I think that both make for a very different viewing experience. I also think that it is important to watch both movies to see how much the film industry has evolved over time. It also shows how different film production and special effects are from the 60’s compared to today.
