Blackleiter wrote:Generic title. Disappointing. Yes, I was an advocate of “Shatterhand” as the title. “No Time to Die” could be anybody. “Shatterhand” is Bond!
No offense to Matt S, but I don't think "shat" or "shat her hand" when I hear Shatterhand any more than I think "lice" or "lice incense to kill" when I hear "Licence to Kill." People can make puns or jokes out of the Bond titles pretty easily and without much effort -- just add "with Lesbians," for instance, to the end of any title and see what happens. (No, that's not a swipe at sexual orientation; I'm just saying you can completely change the context of the title with a few words, and that change can be so distracting, it's funny.)
Speaking of adding a few words, that's the problem my ear has with "No Time to Die." It's a very plain title. Fleming's titles often either were a twist on common phrases -- Live and Let Live or You Only Live Once -- or names or inventions that by themselves were intriguing -- Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Hildebrand Rarity. Sometimes he used unusual terms, like Risico or Moonraker.
Take a generic title of his that is enhanced with one word: The Man with the Golden Gun. Take Golden out, and it's incredibly plain. The Man with the Gun. Even one of his best titles, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, is improved because of the preposition On, which changes the context from a simple thing -- Her Majesty's Secret Service -- to an implied action -- "(Bond is) On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
No Time to Die has none of this. It suggests an obvious spy movie theme, I suppose, and it sounds Bondian in a formulaic way. That's why it could easily work as a parody of Bond titles. But adding even one more word to the title could punch it up, especially given that the four-syllable phrase doesn't really have any rhythm to it.
No Good Time to Die
No More Time to Die
No Better Time to Die
No Proper Time to Die
No Other Time to Die
I'm not saying any of these titles is better in terms of how they sound because I've just thrown them together, without much wordsmithing. And I'm sure some people would say they're worse for any number of reasons. But my larger point is what makes No Time to Die so bland and generic is there's no hook right now. There's no commentary, no insight. From Russia with Love is ironic; Diamonds are Forever at least lampoons an advertising phrase; From a View to a Kill is something an assassin or a sniper would say. No Time to Die is on the order of Die Another Day in the sense that it doesn't really say anything other than what it's literally saying.
Of course, all this is moot because A) People will still go see a Bond movie even with a plain title -- we're well into the franchise, not at the beginning, and arguably they don't have to try as hard, and
Many people will end up liking the title if they like the movie, a sort of backwards reaction, as titles are really intended to get the audience's positive attention and not the other way around.