NTTD press reviews
Number24
NorwayPosts: 22,424MI6 Agent
A few press reviews are in, but I haven't dared to read them in fear of spoilers. But Metacritic is a site that that weighs mathematically the thirteen reviewers they seen the most important and find a number from 0 to 100. Ten reviews are in and so far the verdict is 78, a very good result for an action movie. I may ad I skimmed the spoiler reactions thread in The Other Place. They are nice enough to use the spoiler function a lot, but there too the reactions seem to be really positive.
Comments
I'm tiptoeing around trying to find a spoiler free review. I'm not brave enough to really click on anything though 😂
90% on Rotten Tomatoes!
I'm scared to open threads all over the place at the moment!😂 But those scores sound fantastic. Fingers crossed.
Only another 60 hours to wait...😬
I'm scared to spot spoilers too, but I work around it. The BBC gives NTTD five stars, so does The Times. The Guardian calls it "epic" (I hear). Apparently The Independent is less impressed.
Both Empire and Premiere gives NTTD four out of five stars.
The press have been given specific instructions NOT to give any spoilers away in their reviews…so far, so good.
The podcast James Bond & Friends have posted a spoiler free first reactions episode I enjoyed a lot. That said, I skipped the last five minutters because I think they were about to hint too much. My advice is to hear it if you've followed the marketing and the chat in the non-spoiler threads here, but stop when they start talking about why it's mistake to have the US premiere a week later.
They give basic overviews of different press reviews without spoilers here. Typically, film critics haven't been kind to Bond because these movies are never not "over the top" in some way. You never know until you see a film what you think yourself anyways, and fan reviews tend to skew higher. Based on this feedback I can't imagine that the film stinks and it may be great.
If ever Bond was going to win serious awards for acting it's now.
Yes, I referenced Metacritic earlier. It's a good way to see how major critics are leaning without getting exposed to spoilers. Like you I think the signs are good.
Have you seen the movie?
yes. I was lucky to be at the RAH
Feel free to enjoy my envy. And I'm glad to hear the acting is that good.
I know other opinions are available about DC but for me he is the best he’s ever been in the role…everyone returning is the best they’ve been and new members more than pull their weight.
one of the stars of course is Norway which looks even more stunning than I recall! 😁
It must be the scenes shot with Scotland standing in for Norway. 😂
Ha…those were good too but I prefer the snow!
And the Atlantic Road?
Which stretches all the way to Scotland 😀
Amazing!
As these reviews roll in it’s interesting/funny to see the dichotomy between top British press and top American press. BBC, Guardian, Times, etc. all gave it a perfect score. NYT, Ebert, etc. are in that 2/4 camp claiming the character needs to go away. Hope the initial British reactions win out because it sounds like it’s right up there with Casino and Skyfall.
That sounds similar to how I remember the critical response to Spectre.
Great review (spoiler free, as far as I know) in, of all places, Bleeding Cool (a comics/movies/games rumours site for those that don't know it). I generally trust Kaitlyn Booth and agree with her on most movies, so I suspect my reaction will be akin to hers. Will let you know in a couple days.
https://bleedingcool.com/movies/no-time-to-die-review-great-action-dragged-down-by-a-muddled-story/
"The very words I live by."
I know they are not press reviews, but I just spent half an hour reading the reviews on imdb, and they are very mixed to say the least, veering from 10/10 and hoards of superlatives, to 2/10 and excessive disappointment. Quite a bit of anger. Quite a bit of non-specific praise (as I said, not critics). A lot of love for the look of the thing. Many comments about it being too long. A very mixed bag.
No Time to Die (2021) - No Time to Die (2021) - User Reviews - IMDb
Looking forward to seeing NTTD as soon as it opens in the States. Been avoiding most reviews as so many reviews these days have spoilers.
With regards to the apparent dichotomy between critics in the UK and critics in the US, IMO some critics in the US have an agenda when it comes to Bond and they take the position that they would like to see the series end and that's fine...it's their opinion but it certainly can skew a review to the negative. On the other hand, some UK critics may be influenced by a sense of National pride as Bond is seen as a National Treasure and that's ok too.
The other issue (and I am seeing this in some click bait headlines) is the relegating of any opinion of the film to a political view regarding gender, etc. It's too politically correct or it's a dinosaur, politically incorrect or whatever. These days, the fun police are very busy on both sides of the coin.
Also unfortunate are the so-called "critics" or social media commentators who basically do not give an honest opinion but are just looking to stir up a response with a "hot take".
Another issue I have with film criticism is how / where a film is seen by a reviewer. Was it viewed at a proper theater or at least a proper screening room or was it viewed via some form of media on a home TV or a computer monitor? This is something that has much more impact for an action film like Bond.
I'll form my own opinion after I've seen NTTD and of course that opinion could evolve over subsequent viewings.
At this point, I'm just happy to have the opportunity to see it at my local IMAX and that the reviews have been generally good so far.
Nerd alert: would someone please tell the press reviewers that Lashana Lynch isn't playing the first female 00 agent? Come to think of it, someone should have told her, too.
This. Nomi will clearly go down as one of the more notable characters, but Lynch’s red carpet interview led me to believe she wasn’t familiar with the franchise’s history. She’s not the Bond cast pioneer she imagines.
...but Casino Royale did begin a new timeline, so technically those other female double oh's no longer count
...so technically no other Bonds count then either? 😄
Lashana Lynch Said she's the first female 00-agent on Graham Norton too.
I said:
...but Casino Royale did begin a new timeline, so technically those other female double oh's no longer count
Cajun said:
...so technically no other Bonds count then either? 😄
Not unless you believe in the codename theory. All those other Bonds, and previously seen female double-oh's, existed at least one universe over.
But I assume that's not what Lashana Lynch meant, she might not even know about the new timeline thing. Why cant they hire Bond-actors who study screencaps of old films for clues as obsessively as we do?