“History isn’t kind to men who play God.”

December 4, 2019 11:17 AM

No Time To Die [YouTube][Official Trailer] “Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”
posted by Fizz (107 comments total)

They built some quality cars back in the day.
posted by Dumsnill at 11:29 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

The presence of Lea Seydoux and Christoph Waltz draws me back to Spectre, which...wasn't great. However, after seeing her in Captain Marvel I'll follow Lashana Lynch anywhere, and she looks supremely badass here.

In this interview Cary Fukunaga suggests that Ana De Armas' role had been a "cameo" that they beefed up after she was cast...And she's not in much of this trailer, so I'm thinking it's still a fairly small part. Which is a shame; she's fantastic in Knives Out.
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:30 AM on December 4, 2019 [6 favorites]

Also: Craig looks a little more engaged here than he did when sleepwalking through Spectre. Hoping that stretching out with things like Logan Lucky and Knives Out recharged him for Bond.
posted by doctornecessiter at 11:33 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

That car...MUST have an ejection seat.
posted by sammyo at 11:42 AM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

It looks like a Bond film. I'll go see it in the theater no matter what but I was hoping that Fukunaga might bring something different to the table.
posted by octothorpe at 11:43 AM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

The mission ... turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology

So... you're saying it's a Bond film then?
posted by GuyZero at 11:45 AM on December 4, 2019 [22 favorites]

As with most trailers these days it's overlong, but DAMN that looks fantastic. Glad that Cary Fukunaga has made it to the big leagues; he's really good. I thought maybe Roger Deakins was back on this one but unfortunately not. He was key to Skyfall being so amazing.
posted by zardoz at 11:50 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Not too happy that this is looks like a direct sequel to Spectre which did all that stupid re-conning that I'm still annoyed by.
posted by octothorpe at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Bond cars always crack me up, I understand in the abstract they're supposed to be really high-end luxury cars and all that, but just aesthetically they look like soccer mom hotwheels types of cars. If I saw that car with the guns in the streets I wouldn't give it a second glance, just a civic or tempo or whatever.
posted by GoblinHoney at 11:55 AM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Good to see Jeffrey Wright back as Felix. Frankly I could go for a Felix spin-off movie or two.
posted by jquinby at 11:57 AM on December 4, 2019 [20 favorites]

Me watching the trailer:

“Eh, it’s bond. Oh look a fancy car. And there’s a joke about how he says his name. Hmmmm, I don’t remember her, did I skip the last one?” (Rami Malek speaks) “OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HERE TAKE MY MONEY WHEN CAN I SEE THIS?!?!?!?”
posted by Frayed Knot at 12:08 PM on December 4, 2019 [7 favorites]

Good to see Jeffrey Wright back as Felix. Frankly I could go for a Felix spin-off movie or two.

That's what Westworld is.
posted by Fizz at 12:10 PM on December 4, 2019 [14 favorites]

I choose to believe it's the same universe and that he retires as a scientist. It's canon in my brain.
posted by Fizz at 12:10 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

How are they going to get around the storyline that this Bond was too shaky and old to do this stuff 2 movies ago? Mutter mutter yes I know Sean Connery...I just wish they hadn't done that.
posted by agregoli at 12:13 PM on December 4, 2019

I think Jeffrey gets together with Mads Mikkelsen, they have a baby, then they transport it for a while, meet Bond, then eat the baby, and maybe win a card game or two.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:17 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Chaingun headlights, eh? I guess plain old machine guns just don't cut it these days.
posted by Splunge at 12:21 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

The only thing that makes this mildly interesting is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's involvement, but I'm guessing it's pretty minimal.
posted by dobbs at 12:22 PM on December 4, 2019

>“History isn’t kind to men who play God.”

Isn't it? Seems to me there are plenty of recklessly arrogant people who are historically celebrated. I don't want to quibble but I don't understand this zinger; it is IMO not very zingy. Couldn't he have said 'hasta la vista' or 'you're fired' or something? Maybe they can reshoot.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:27 PM on December 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

It sounds like something one would like to believe but knows is not true, yeah.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:31 PM on December 4, 2019

If I saw that car with the guns in the streets I wouldn't give it a second glance, just a civic or tempo or whatever.

Well, Dr. McNinja drove an Accord...
posted by notsnot at 12:35 PM on December 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

Isn't it? Seems to me there are plenty of recklessly arrogant people who are historically celebrated.

I believe the original director's cut of this scene has Daniel Craig and Rami Malek spending the next 45 minutes arguing back and forth while pulling up different Wikipedia pages on their phones.
posted by mhum at 12:54 PM on December 4, 2019 [55 favorites]

If I saw that car with the guns in the streets I wouldn't give it a second glance, just a civic or tempo or whatever.

The car with the guns is from 1964, I would think that would be worth a 2nd glance if you saw it in 2019. I mean, the big chrome bumpers are kind of unique compared to modern cars.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:57 PM on December 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology

The real villain was the movies we made along the way.
posted by thelonius at 12:57 PM on December 4, 2019 [19 favorites]

Does Silicon Valley finally get swallowed by the ocean in this one?
posted by GuyZero at 1:01 PM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Couple things; This appears two be at least two, maybe three movies smooshed into one, and I can't help but notice the producers couldn't find any high-end marques to pony up placement cash. "Fuck you, Mercedes, we'll just go back to the DB5".
posted by Keith Talent at 1:14 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I can't help but notice the producers couldn't find any high-end marques to pony up pl

There is a brand new Aston Martin car in the trailer and the new 2020 Land Rover Defender..
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:18 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

GuyZero > Does Silicon Valley finally get swallowed by the ocean in this one?

The rest of our discussion must of course be confidential. Would you wait outside? May Day will provide you with a drink.

Does anyone else want to drop out?

posted by zooropa at 1:26 PM on December 4, 2019 [6 favorites]

Jeffrey Wright solo Felix Leiter Spin-Off Movie When?!
posted by SansPoint at 1:30 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Didn't Craig swear down that he'd rather gnaw his own foot off than do another Bond film? He was obviously made an offer he couldn't refuse.
..
posted by runincircles at 1:35 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Am I going to have to go watch Skyfall and Spectre and, uh, the other ones for this to make sense?
posted by sleeping bear at 1:50 PM on December 4, 2019

$25 Million seems to have convinced him to do one more movie.
posted by octothorpe at 1:51 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

I am in!
I am so in, that I would gladly exit, then come back in, just to show how in I am for this.
I guess it's only a matter of minutes until we start talking about who will take Craig's place.
posted by Bill Watches Movies Podcast at 1:56 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

He saw the house that it built.
posted by Dumsnill at 1:56 PM on December 4, 2019 [18 favorites]

It's a fucking Aston Martin DB-5. You'd notice it.
posted by Naberius at 2:02 PM on December 4, 2019 [31 favorites]

How are they going to get around the storyline that this Bond was too shaky and old to do this stuff 2 movies ago?

I'm usually the last person to say "just turn off your brain and enjoy the movie"...but forget about continuity when it comes to Bond films. It's like worrying about the quality of the tomatoes on a cheeseburger. It will inevitably leave you disappointed - the tomatoes aren't the point.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 2:02 PM on December 4, 2019 [16 favorites]

Metafilter: It will inevitably leave you disappointed - the tomatoes aren't the point.
posted by lalochezia at 2:04 PM on December 4, 2019 [7 favorites]

I missed the YouTube/official trailer annotations, so at first I thought this was someone cooking up a Bond short story or something. I hadn't realized they were going with the "Bond retires" angle for the beginning.

I never watched Spectre, and frankly the most interesting thing about Skyfall for me was the concept that actually yeah MI6 and Bond are dinosaurs, and the villain manages to get what he wants in the end. It's interesting to see No Time to Die flirting with some of those same themes: Bond has been out of the game for a while, and not only does he looked washed up, it's clear at least some people don't think he even needs to be there. I just hope they stick the landing better than Skyfall did; honestly it's hard to imagine them doing worse.
posted by chrominance at 2:05 PM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Didn't Craig swear down that he'd rather gnaw his own foot off than do another Bond film?

Are we sure he still has both feet?
posted by kokaku at 2:07 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Are we sure he still has both feet?

He's definitely hobbling in at least one shot and Lashana Lynch's character does note that she'll shoot out the one good knee he has left. Maybe the money to come back was so good Craig gave them more than just a foot.
posted by chrominance at 2:09 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's official, Bond has gone metric.
posted by Dumsnill at 2:11 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Am I going to have to go watch Skyfall and Spectre and, uh, the other ones for this to make sense?

No but you should be familiar with the ORIGINAL 007.
posted by sammyo at 2:14 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's a sign of my elderly grumpiance that when his love interest is (apparently) half his age I immediately was "really?" C'mon.
posted by maxwelton at 2:18 PM on December 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

They uh, need to apply some of that Irishman de-aging to Daniel Craig, who is starting to look like a Bond who needs to settle down on his pension.
posted by dis_integration at 2:18 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

He could cling on to a balloon at the start of the next movie and then fall so fast that he relativistically ages less than his nemesis and romantic interest.
posted by Dumsnill at 2:23 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

dis_integration: "They uh, need to apply some of that Irishman de-aging to Daniel Craig, who is starting to look like a Bond who needs to settle down on his pension."

He's quite a few years younger than Tom Cruise or Keanu Reeves and they're still doing these kinds of films.
posted by octothorpe at 2:34 PM on December 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

> aesthetically they look like soccer mom hotwheels types of cars

WTF kind of suburb do you spend time in
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:39 PM on December 4, 2019 [37 favorites]

They uh, need to apply some of that Irishman de-aging to Daniel Craig, who is starting to look like a Bond who needs to settle down on his pension.

"Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help."
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:42 PM on December 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

God only knows what I'd be without you.
posted by Dumsnill at 2:44 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

> dangerous new technology.

Is it blockchain?!
posted by I-Write-Essays at 3:06 PM on December 4, 2019 [23 favorites]

Is it blockchain?!

NO TIME TO MINE

thrill as bond has to stop an evil corporation from stealing a valuable nonrenewable resource from an impoverished country that needs it for healthcare and heating its primitive housing .......and uses this resource to solve meaningless self-generated mathematical problems to enrich an elite cadre of scammers! watch in awe as he moves with deadly grace through this country's crumbling capital, dispatching baddies left and right and in a terrifying finale unplugs the biggest data center from its connection point at the top of big ben.
posted by lalochezia at 3:17 PM on December 4, 2019 [27 favorites]

Where's the modern day James Bond movie where he's struggling to deal with alt-right trolls on the internet and getting cockblocked by M because he's a cryptofascist
posted by boo_radley at 3:19 PM on December 4, 2019 [7 favorites]

The Shitcock Identity
posted by boo_radley at 3:20 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

It's been in development for a while, but it's a Ubisoft game and there's not enough level gating yet.
posted by Dumsnill at 3:25 PM on December 4, 2019

when his love interest is (apparently) half his age I immediately was "really?"

Same. I have a complicated relationship with Bond movies.

When they're good, they're supremely fun – some of the best Hollywood popcorn fare of all time.

They're also hella problematic, and deeply intertwined with the franchise's history of toxic masculinity and misogyny. I appreciate that they've been sort of trying to address that lately – but they're not exactly leading the way in this regard.

I'd never seen the early films from the 60s, so I recently watched a few. (If you want to talk about misogyny...hoo boy.) But this helped me to see what Bond movies are (or, at least, where they began): they're political fantasies about a world where the Empire never waned. The UK might no longer rule the seas, or govern colonized peoples – but privileged, ethnically British men can still project power across the globe (while enjoying the finest material luxuries the world has to offer). It's just, you know, clandestine now.

So, yeah. You can only remove so much of that stuff from a Bond film, before it ceases to be a Bond film. I don't mean that as a defense (or as an indictment, necessarily).

Hasn't there been talk of a female Bond? I'd eat popcorn to that, salted with the tears of butthurt MRAs.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:35 PM on December 4, 2019 [16 favorites]

The 007 amelia bond murdering everyone in the last two minutes was a surprise, but a welcome one.
posted by Dumsnill at 3:58 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

The Malek reveal scene looks a little too Watchmen in its abstract supervillian-lair-ness... I half expect Rami to say "I'm not a comic book villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my masterstroke to you if there were even the slightest possibility you could affect the outcome? I triggered it thirty-five minutes ago."
posted by GuyZero at 4:00 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

They're also hella problematic

So I discovered over the US Thanksgiving holiday that I had never seen Diamonds Are Forever before. And you know, I would have sworn I had seen it. But I had not. And HOO BOY PROBLEMATIC does not begin to cover it. But I too love them and I think you can love (well, like at least) things that are problematic as long as you're not kidding yourself about them.

The thing about the Craig Bond movies is that there's a lot of psychological drama (I don't know what to call it really) that is definitely new to the series. It's not bad, it's just different, I'm not sure I'm such a huge fan. It's less a humanizing of Bond than an attempt to make the movie seem upsetting in a different way than just by killing people. They know the formula requires the hero to be untouchable so they make him psychologically vulnerable. Versus the Moore or Dalton years where those guys were clearly not going to take more than a couple punches compared to Craig who seems a lot more physically invulnerable, dialogue about his age and bad knee notwithstanding.
posted by GuyZero at 4:06 PM on December 4, 2019

What is Freddie Mercury doing in this movie?
posted by Chuffy at 4:22 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Hasn't there been talk of a female Bond? I'd eat popcorn to that, salted with the tears of butthurt MRAs.

There was an attempt to bring Modesty Blaise into film as far back as the 60's. Sparks even wrote a song for the 80's TV pilot. Never really took off...
posted by Chuffy at 4:33 PM on December 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

My take on Diamonds Are Forever is that it's like the hangover one might expect after a three day bender drinking non-vintage single malt whisky and taking lots of cocaine. All dayglo and appalling nauseous headache. If it's on the TV I might watch it, but I'll feel like I need a shower afterwards.

The best 60s Bond movie is, of course, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

My wife knows a few Japanese Bond otaku. Sometimes, when they visit London, they'll go to the Portuguese cafe over the road from MI6 and drink coffee and eat the excellent custard tarts. One of her friends has published a fanfic manga called MI6, which is about the characters who aren't Bond, and features Q's cats. In fact, as far as I can tell, most of their excitement for the new film is the possibility of seeing Q's cats - it's rumoured you can see a cat tree in the trailer, but I'm not convinced.
posted by Grangousier at 4:36 PM on December 4, 2019 [15 favorites]

Prediction: Bond meets up with a scrappy young dude in the first act who gets caught up in the action and in the final scene a badly-wounded dying Bond anoints young Bond-bro as the new 007 while Lashana Lynch looks on with mounting incredulity.
posted by um at 4:47 PM on December 4, 2019

How has no one mentioned the f*cking motorcycle stunt yet?
posted by pjenks at 4:55 PM on December 4, 2019 [11 favorites]

The Shitcock Identity

From a certain angle, Trollface and Christoph Waltz start to look a bit alike.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:17 PM on December 4, 2019

How has no one mentioned the f*cking motorcycle stunt yet?

I'm still recovering from seeing how they shot the skydiving scene from MI:Fallout.
posted by fleacircus at 6:06 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

How has no one mentioned the f*cking motorcycle stunt yet?

OK so I'm editing this because wow that third link was not what I expected

OK mods, forgive me for abusing the edit button here - I paused the trailer and it looked very CGI and it's not hard to believe that it's CGI but it turns out that the motorcycle jump is the real part and it's the stonework that's CGI. So I was both right and very wrong.
posted by GuyZero at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

One of her friends has published a fanfic manga called MI6, which is about the characters who aren't Bond, and features Q's cats.

I would read this comic.
posted by Aznable at 6:10 PM on December 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

Rami Malik seems like he could be a good villain.
posted by chaz at 6:13 PM on December 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

fizz you tricked me i thought this was a VIDEO GAME

"wow it's so realistic" i said stupidly
posted by poffin boffin at 6:33 PM on December 4, 2019 [8 favorites]

Chaingun headlights, eh? I guess plain old machine guns just don't cut it these days.

That shot in the trailer actually understates the cartoonish violence of a minigun. Bond's car's guns make a rat-a-tat sound. Real miniguns sound like a swarm of angry bees because at 70 rounds per second it's not possible to hear the individual gunshots.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 6:38 PM on December 4, 2019

This looks like an awesome sequel to "Knives Out."
posted by thivaia at 6:47 PM on December 4, 2019 [8 favorites]

As long as he's going for people far too young for him, I'd like to see James Bond hook up with a hot young twink about 20 minutes in. No explanation, just sort of like "yeah, Bond is bi, you didn't know that?" and then the movie continues as usual.

But I suppose I'll settle for fanfic.

sigh
posted by sugar and confetti at 7:11 PM on December 4, 2019 [12 favorites]

This was hinted at in Skyfall if that helps.
posted by Naberius at 7:15 PM on December 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

As long as he's going for people far too young for him, I'd like to see James Bond hook up with a hot young twink about 20 minutes in. No explanation, just sort of like "yeah, Bond is bi, you didn't know that?" and then the movie continues as usual.

That's actually hinted at in Skyfall. Silva tries to rattle Bond by touching his chest in a seductive manner, and Bond quips something like "what makes you think this is my first time?" Could just be banter, but whatevs.
posted by Chronorin at 7:26 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Does Silicon Valley finally get swallowed by the ocean in this one?

That'll be the day I go back to Annandale.

As long as he's going for people far too young for him, I'd like to see James Bond hook up with a hot young twink about 20 minutes in. No explanation, just sort of like "yeah, Bond is bi, you didn't know that?" and then the movie continues as usual.

Bond James bones whomever needs James boning.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:26 PM on December 4, 2019 [9 favorites]

I don't understand folks who say they want Bond to be female/POC/queer. As a queer POC from a colonized country, I see imperial military/police/dirty-tricks forces as the enemy and there is nothing I seek to emulate in such characters. Keep him white straight male, please.

(That's not to say I don't enjoy Bond movies on occasion. My favorite Bond film is Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. )
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:31 PM on December 4, 2019 [9 favorites]

PS: Also, making him bi doesn't make him less rapey.
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:33 PM on December 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

My favorite Bond film is Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

That's a Matt Helm/Flint movie.
posted by GuyZero at 10:26 PM on December 4, 2019

“History isn’t kind to men who play God.”

Well, except, for you know, that whole mass genocidal British empire thing that is at the very core of the James Bond fantasy world.

After all, how many people still cite Winston Churchill as a hero and an inspiration?
posted by Ouverture at 11:09 PM on December 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

After all, how many people still cite Winston Churchill as a hero and an inspiration?

Well...
posted by kirkaracha at 11:16 PM on December 4, 2019

I would read this comic.

So would I if I could read Japanese.
posted by Grangousier at 12:29 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

"History isn't kind to men who play god"

They're cloning James Bond. It's metal gear and Malek is Liquid.
posted by Chaffinch at 12:42 AM on December 5, 2019

My favorite Bond film is and will always be The Matador. Brosnan FTW.
posted by Harry Caul at 3:10 AM on December 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

I'm gonna guess we'll be able to tell who the villain is because it's the dude with a disfigurement.

I love a good action movie, but certain things are ... annoyingly predictable.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:33 AM on December 5, 2019 [5 favorites]

I'm gonna guess we'll be able to tell who the villain is because it's the dude with a disfigurement.

The backstory for disfigured villains is that German aristocrats used to like to get their faces carved up in macho sword dueling clubs and the scarring was a badge of honor and a sign of aristocratic social status. Then they went and holocausted and the scars became a social stigma revealed by the egalitarian countries that defeated them in WWII. Sort of funny now that Bond is the agent of a Western power that along with it's special partner is actively working on the restoration of an aristocracy via ever increasing income inequality. Even weirder is that Bond has morphed from the personification of an effortlessly elegant and lucky aristocrat who succeeded despite his poor decisions to a hard-lucked pragmatic effortful brawler who is constantly on the verge of failure despite his very best efforts.
posted by srboisvert at 7:07 AM on December 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

Frankly I feel like the last three Mission Impossible movies are better Bond movies than the actual Bonds will ever be.
posted by octothorpe at 7:33 AM on December 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

I'm still trying to get over the discovery that Ken Burns, at age 16, appeared in Octopussy as an East German border guard.
posted by Naberius at 8:25 AM on December 5, 2019 [6 favorites]

I'm still trying to get over the discovery that Ken Burns, at age 16, appeared in Octopussy as an East German border guard.

Wait, what???
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:27 AM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I know, right?

On the Blu-Ray from the Roger Moore Collection (and maybe other releases; I don't know) there's a bonus feature with Burns telling about how he talked his way into an extra role when they were shooting the sequence where Bond steals the bad guy's Mercedes and chases the circus train down the tracks. They shot at a rail museum near where he lived that had European looking rail cars. Apparently a lot of films shot there. And, being Ken Burns, he even managed to convince them to let him shoot behind the scenes footage on his Super 8 camera. The bonus feature is him telling the story over that footage. It's pretty cool.
posted by Naberius at 8:39 AM on December 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

Frankly I feel like the last three Mission Impossible movies are better Bond movies than the actual Bonds will ever be.

Is there where we can talk about Tom Cruise running in those movies but never actually catching anyone he is chasing? Like he's chasing an old man in one scene and the old man leaves him in the dust.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:45 AM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

Frankly I feel like the last three Mission Impossible movies are better Bond movies than the actual Bonds will ever be.

Bond movies would never change if they could, but of course the world keeps changing around Bond movies. Thus we get Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker the latter of which isn't bad per se, but definitely a reaction to Star Wars, the former of which is terrible and a reaction to other films that themselves are reactions to Bond films. It becomes impossible to separate the web of influences.

The MI movies are great spy-oriented action films, which yeah, is a pretty big overlap with Bond, but I think Bond is more about the glamour and "exotic" locations. Except as the world has shrunk those aren't what they used to be. I think there is a distinctiveness to the Bond formula (although I can't really define what that is) but that has really become much less distinctive over time. Craig is part of this - Bond has gone from a tough but normal guy to more of a stock action hero with the associated growth in physical stature.

Anyway, I disagree that Bond has been out-Bond-ed, which is not to say that the successors aren't better in lots of ways.
posted by GuyZero at 10:54 AM on December 5, 2019

Bond movies would never change if they could, but of course the world keeps changing around Bond movies.

Remember when parkour was cool for a minute and then they made James Bond do parkour? That was fun. I hope he floss dances for a Tik Tok in this one.
posted by mhum at 11:25 AM on December 5, 2019 [6 favorites]

Fleming nicked "James Bond" from the author of "Birds of the West Indies," a detail he confirmed in 1961, when Mary Bond, James's wife, wrote Fleming "to jokingly chastise him for stealing her husband’s name for his 'rascal' character." He also invited the Bonds to his home in Jamaica, which they took him up on a few years later. During the Bonds’ visit, Fleming gave James a copy of his latest novel, You Only Live Twice, inscribed with the message “To the real James Bond from the thief of his identity.” (MentalFloss, Dec. 4, 2019).

The kicker close:

Young women would often prank call the Bond house late at night asking to speak to 007, to which Mary would reply: “Yes, James is here. But this is Pussy Galore and he's busy now."
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:36 AM on December 5, 2019 [8 favorites]

I'm still trying to get over the discovery that Ken Burns, at age 16, appeared in Octopussy as an East German border guard.

IMDb says this Ken Burns is not the American documentary filmmaker.
posted by pmurray63 at 1:21 PM on December 5, 2019

Also Ken Burns was 30 in 1983.
posted by octothorpe at 1:41 PM on December 5, 2019

For anyone less than enthusiastic about Bond films, I recommend Renegade Cut's video, James Bond Examined which looks at how the films celebrate imperialism, misogyny (including corrective rape), and anti-intellectualism. The modern Bond films don't fall far from the tree, either.

I also recommend the video for everyone else too.
posted by AlSweigart at 1:44 PM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

BADDY: "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. We are the deities of the future, Mr Bond and you....you are history."

[BADDY points INSANE RUBE GOLDBERG NEBULISOR at BOND]

BOND: “History isn’t kind to men who play God.”

[BOND shoots BADDY with LASER EYEBALL]

Soz for the spoilers.
posted by Sparx at 3:07 PM on December 5, 2019

[BOND shoots BADDY with LASER EYEBALL]

Soz for the spoilers.

This makes me...more likely to watch this movie.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:08 PM on December 5, 2019

I'm really disappointed with how the Daniel Craig Bond movies turned out. He was great in Layer Cake and I thought at the time he'd make a good James Bond. I loved his Casino Royale and how it showed Bond early in his 007 career. Also the Connery and Moore movies diverged pretty quickly from the books so I felt like there was an opportunity to make new movies based on updating the original book stories.

But then the writers' strike happened and we got the crappy Quantum of Solace. Skyfall was good, but in two movies (and six years) we go from him being a rookie to being old and ready to retire. And the ending is basically Home Alone. Spectre had some moments but the whole Blofeld + tie all the movies together stuff was dumb. I like the more standalone aspects of the earlier movies.

The trailers for the new one look great and I'll see it in the theaters because I have to, but I'm ready for Craig to go. At least his last movie will probably be better than Pierce Brosnan's.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:27 PM on December 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

It's kinder to consider "The Matador" as Brosnan's last Bond outing.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:27 PM on December 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

And the ending is basically Home Alone.

So, we've seen young Indiana Jones. Maybe it's time for young James Bond? Terrorists invade Skyfall while his family is away; plucky young James fights back with lots of wacky neck-snapping and improvised razor-wire traps.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:39 AM on December 6, 2019

The best 60s Bond movie is, of course, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

The scene at the very beginning where Tracy slaps him and runs off rather than falling into his arms, whereupon George Lazenby breaks the forth wall by looking into the camera and deadpanning “This never happened to the other fellow” is brilliant.

Some of you other old folks out there may find the font on the title card is oddly familiar. Knowing this changes the whole tone of the trailer.
posted by TedW at 4:17 AM on December 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

To be absolutely clear, I'm not really gunning for bi Bond for representation's sake, just for the sake of the sex scene.
posted by sugar and confetti at 6:10 AM on December 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

So, we've seen young Indiana Jones. Maybe it's time for young James Bond?

You mean like this series?
posted by happyroach at 8:36 AM on December 6, 2019

I disagree that Bond has been out-Bond-ed, which is not to say that the successors aren't better in lots of ways.
Hiddleston in LeCarre's The Night Manager came well . . pretty dang close. It's one of the best Bond films in a long time, except for not being one.
posted by Harry Caul at 9:29 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Skyfall was good, but in two movies (and six years) we go from him being a rookie to being old and ready to retire.

His job seems pretty demanding physically with all of the explosions and if he's drinking, smoking and gobbling speed off screen anywhere near the rate that he does in the novels then early retirement seems reasonable.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 10:52 AM on December 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Skyfall was good, but in two movies (and six years) we go from him being a rookie to being old and ready to retire.

They hired a 38 year old actor to play "Rookie Bond" for Casino Royal and then have made only three more movies in the next fourteen years. In contrast, they made the first four movies in the franchise in four years ('62, '63, '64 and '65). By the time fourteen years had elapsed, they're produced nine films with three different actors. The contract negotiations for each of the new movies now take longer than the entire production time did in the '60s.
posted by octothorpe at 2:12 PM on December 6, 2019 [5 favorites]

Is Rami Malek on Jared Leto's Blade Runner 2049 set?
posted by pykrete jungle at 9:38 PM on December 6, 2019