Film: Bond 25 – No Time to Die

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It’s movie time for us again! 👍👍

Ahh, “No Time to Die“ (aka “Bond 25”), we’ve been expecting you (for quite a while, actually!). After five postponements because of you-know-what, it was finally here!

I don’t intend to give away the details of the film here, it’s more of a reflection, so you’re safe to read on!

The world première was a star-studded invite-only, red carpet event at the Royal Albert Hall here in the UK on Tuesday, 28th September. The event complemented a series of other premieres in 57 cities across the globe, including 10 in the UK and Ireland.

Up until then, no-one on the planet had seen Bond’s latest adventure. So, that night was going to be a busy one for those lucky film critics!

And when the public release date here in the UK was announced – Thursday, 30th September – the remaining media platforms queued up for a ticket – and then queued up again, to offer their opinion!

After the critical and commercial success of 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre, this one had a lot to live up to!

I tried to avoid any reviews whatsoever, anywhere (and you can imagine how easy that was!) I pretty much succeeded, but it wasn’t easy!

Numbers!

After a few days of deliberate avoidance, I did read that the UK box office took around £5m on its opening day (approximately 13% above Spectre and just 26% below Skyfall).

It also broke a record here in the UK, in that it was shown at 772 venues during its opening weekend. This beat Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opening at ‘only’ 744 cinemas in 2019!

The movie brought in £21m after only three days of release in the UK and Ireland, adding more than £10m on its first Saturday – making that day the highest single day at the box office in the history of the Bond franchise.

It beat Skyfall’s first weekend takings of £20.2m and Spectre’s £19.8m. Those films sit at numbers two and three in the all-time UK box office chart.

My Post about Skyfall is HERE (Seen: 28th October, 2012)
and
Spectre HERE (Seen: 30th October, 2015)

Let’s Go!

Fast forward a few weeks, all the fuss had now died down, as most fans had seen it. We were a bit ‘late to the party’ due to some other diary commitments.

We decided that we wouldn’t attempt to try our fave cinema CineWorld at Rushden Lakes – even excluding the Bond fans, we just knew it would be mobbed on a Sunday (because it always is!). Instead, we went (very) local and gave Odeon Kettering our patronage. We joined Jo, Janet, Carol & Helen there for the 3.20 performance.

3.20pm: Anyway, enough context, here we go – see you on the other side!

No Bond film would be complete without a hit title track. This time it was Billie Eilish, back in 2020, taking on the duties. Good grief! Cheer up luv! 😮. Give me Shirley Bassey any time!!

Back to the movie itself: It won’t be lost on those who have seen this blockbuster, that the fictional global threat that is the basis of the plot, is spookily similar to the real-world reason why the film was delayed in the first place!

Conspiracy theorists will be delighted!

6.35pm: Phew! Welcome back! At a whisper under 2¾ hours, it was certainly a long one! (I’ve got a numb bum!). Was it the longest Bond ever? – I shall have to investigate!* But even my numbness couldn’t ignore the action, the gadgets, the car(s) and the witty one-liners! In fact, it had everything anyone really wanted (and expected) from a Bond film, with the hype dialled up to 11…

…maybe even 12!

My verdict? After 15 years in the role, for me, disappointingly, this wasn’t the best Craig-as-Bond story (I still prefer his Casino Royale and Skyfall) but it was a fine exit for Daniel Craig. In some respects, my disappointment was reality not living up to the hype (does it ever?) and being a bit ‘talky’ for me, rather than ‘action-ey’. One of those times when the best bits were all in the trailer!

You WILL need a cushion and a supply of tissues though, and by the end, it does set things up nicely for the franchise to continue!

…or does it???

Make sure you stay RIGHT until the end – after the credits – to see an important announcement! But beware: like all modern releases, the credits are nearly as long as the movie itself!!

Still want more? For those who collect movie posters, there’s a whole ‘official’ series due out later in November!

Go see! 👍😀

Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz,
Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, David Dencik, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, Rory Kinnear.
Certificate: 12A cert,
Run time: 163 mins.

*Yes it is the longest Bond movie so far. ‘Spectre’ is second at 2 hours 28 minutes. Other Bond movie durations are HERE.