(Copy and pasted from my Instagram)
Casino Royale -
Alright, I just finished watching all five of Daniel Craig’s 007 James Bond movies. I’ve put them off for so long because I’m not the biggest fan of spy movies. But these five films are really good. I probably won’t be watching the movies before this because I just don’t care enough. But I did this because No Time to Die is nominated for a few categories at the Oscars. That being said, Casino Royale is my least favorite of the series. Fight me, sorry, I don’t understand shit about poker and this plot is poker heavy. Like, they’re playing poker to save the world. Craig is good here, I don’t have other Bonds to compare him to on his first outing as the character but it is my least favorite performance of his in the series. Eva Green does give a good performance as Vesper which is good since plot lines involving her appear in every film in the series. Mads Mikkelsen plays a pretty boring villain really well. He’s just the opening salvo of this Spectre organization that holds sway in the series. Judi Dench turns in a fantastic performance as M, making herself one of my favorite characters in the film. Jeffrey Wright’s character is so much fun who quickly becomes my second favorite character. Giancarlo Giannini is also really good here especially considering where they take his character after this movie. Jesper Christensen introduces us to Spectre as Mr. White in a pretty good way, but I’m a bit confused what happens to him at the end of this movie even after seeing all five. The Venice fight scene is super cool even if a little wacky, but the intensity of fighting in a sinking building is a lot of fun. The ending of this still confuses me a bit as well just based on the end of the second movie after what they say at the start of it. But I’ll avoid spoilers for this sixteen year old movie. Casino Royale is a good intro to this series and while it is a well put together movie that’s well acted with good action, it’s just a little boring compared to the others and my least favorite of them all. I’m giving Casino Royale a 7/10, I hope you’ll join me for this journey of reviews and don’t forget to be back here soon for Quantum of Solace, my third place film. -Tyler.
Quantum of Solace -
Daniel Craig returns two years later, in fantastic year for nerds 2008, as James Bond AKA Agent 007 in the second film of his series, Quantum of Solace which takes place immediately after the first film. Opening with a fun chase through the streets of Italy. I can see that this film is rated the lowest but again, fight me, I liked this movie and it takes my third place spot. Something about this one just really clicked with me. From the overhanging sadness left by Vesper’s betrayal and death, to the furthering of this Spectre plot. I like learning about shadow organizations. Craig gives a performance that’s pretty good here as the haunted Agent scorned by love who can no longer trust anyone. Olga Kurylenko is a delightful addition who becomes a badass on a dead set mission. Mathieu Amalric is the basic eco-terrorist villain of the early 2000’s who plays the role okay. Judi Dench turns in yet another amazing performance as do Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini who remain my second and third favorites respectively. Gemma Arterton gets undercut here as Bond’s rebound chick that doesn’t get anything to do. David Harbour is randomly in this and plays the other common early 2000’s character, the shifty American Agent that you can’t tell if you can trust or not. Rory Kinnear is introduced here as a great returning character that I’ve come to like a great deal. Jesper Christensen is back as Mr. White but not for very long, before disappearing until Spectre. Joaquín Cosío does a decent job at the run of the mill South American Dictator villain character, with the added addition that he would just be a puppet. I don’t get how people could hate on a movie with not just a land, but an air, and a sea chase sequence scattered throughout the movie. The fights are better, there’s explosions this time (huge ones too, RIP that sick desert hotel), and Bond gets fleshed out just a tad more. I found Quantum of Solace to be a lot of fun and I’m giving it an 8/10, get mad in the comments. Thanks for joining me in part two of this series, hope to catch you in part three in just a little bit for my second favorite in the series, Skyfall. -Tyler.
Skyfall -
After four long years of waiting, audiences finally got the return of Daniel Craig as James Bond AKA Agent 007 in 2012’s Skyfall. The third installment of the series is my second favorite also having a theme song I could finally sing along too. I was no joke waiting for this so I could sing with Adele. Sam Mendes directs the first of two movies in a row for this series, and really doesn’t hold back. Giving us a truly fantastic Bond film with lasting impacts on the series. Craig gives his first great performance of the series and turns Bond into a character I really like with this one. Judi Dench gives her best and sadly last performance as M (minus a few lines in the next one). M’s death is the one big spoiler I had for this series going in and I forgot about until I started this. Javier Bardem finally gives us a memorable villain with a decent back story. Not a fan of him with blond hair though. Ralph Fiennes enters the series as a character I went back and forth with a lot in the following two movies. Naomie Harris also enters the series as Eve, and I absolutely love her character. Wish we got to see her in action more but I get why she stops. Ben Whishaw also enters the series here as the fantastic Q. You know a movie is good when it introduces three characters that return in the following two movies. Albert Finney is easily a standout character here as Kincaid, I wish he had joined the film earlier. Rory Kinnear is back with a slightly stepped up role and he does good. I really like the locations visited in this movie. They usually do a good job saying where they are but this starts pretty quickly and never really says where they are in the opening scene but I have deduced that it’s Turkey, most likely Istanbul. But James’s childhood home of Skyfall is gorgeous but poses a lot of questions that I feel we never really get answers to and that contradict something from the previous film. The abandoned (Japanese?) city that Bardem operates out of is super cool but unused. All of that being said, Skyfall is a 9/10 movie. Just absolutely fantastic. Part three really delivers and I hope to catch you in Part four with my fourth ranked film, Spectre. -Tyler.
Spectre -
After a whole three years of waiting, Sam Mendes finally brings Daniel Craig back as James Bond AKA Agent 007 in 2015’s Spectre. This one is a little disappointing coming off of that Skyfall high and being the same Director. This is my fourth ranked film in the series, so yes, fight me, I like it more than the first one. Craig is back to just being good as he delivers a kind of cold performance. Christoph Waltz joins the series as the head of the Spectre organization who has been making Bond’s life a living hell all this time (kind of undisclosed how long it’s been considering they don’t have smart phones until the next one). Léa Seydoux also joins the series as Bond’s replacement Vesper. I thought she was good here but she falls for James so fast for no reason. Ralph Fiennes is upgraded to M status here and turns in a good performance as we wonder if we like him yet. Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw are back as Eve and Q and still just as great. Rory Kinnear gets a lot more to do this time and I appreciated that. Jesper Christensen returns as Mr. White one last time which is how we get Seydoux. Dave Bautista gets to be such a cool character that is shockingly boring with literally a single line of dialogue. Andrew Scott plays the most bland, copy and paste villain I’ve seen in a while. And after not being referenced in Skyfall we get a reference to Wright’s character who is finally back in the next one. I will never understand why these types of movies are OBSESSED with putting that god damn sepia filter over South American countries. Mexico is so pretty and the whole opening scene could have been so much better if it wasn’t edited to all hell. They do it again when they reach North Africa. I will give them this, the fight scene on the train is absolutely fantastic and really came out of nowhere. Despite all of that, I still had a lot of fun with this movie and jammed out with Sam Smith in the theme song being the third best theme of the series. I’m giving Spectre a 7/10 to match the first movie. Thanks for reaching part four. Hope to catch you in the final entry for this series with last years No Time to Die. -Tyler.
No Time To Die -
After a very long six year hiatus, Director Cary Joji Fukunaga brings Daniel Craig back as James Bond AKA Agent 007 one last time to end his tenure as the infamous Ian Fleming character. 2021’s No Time To Die takes the cake as my favorite film in the series as it neatly brings to a close all the ongoing plots of the series. Snatching itself up three Oscar nominations; Billie Eilish’s amazing “No Time To Die” theme song for Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects, and Best Sound. I think it very much deserves to win the song category, the others not so much. Craig delivers one last fantastic performance as Bond as he makes me feel the connection with Léa Seydoux this time. And she is great here, starting off with a great opening scene performance. Rami Malek is a pretty terrifying villain that I was really looking forward to but he ultimately just falls flat sadly. Lashana Lynch is fantastic here as the interim 007 while Bond is retired. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, and Rory Kinnear all return and are all fantastic with their final performances for the series. Jeffrey Wright finally briefly returns as Felix and I’m so happy with him here. Christoph Waltz also briefly returns making himself a better villain as well. Billy Magnussen was a good addition but I wish we had seen more. Ana de Armas is kick ass in her like, ten minutes of this long ass movie and I’m sad she didn’t stay for more of it. At nearly two hours and fifty minutes this movie will definitely feel long but you won’t care as it whips through with some great action and better performances as the stakes are at their highest. I felt they brought everything to a pretty satisfying and well earned conclusion that book ends Bond’s character development really well. You can really see how much he’s changed from start to end by the end of this movie. The gadgets are fun and provide some good action to offset the fact that the villain plot is pretty basic. But it does bring in some good political talk that’s a little relevant to the recent few weeks of global politics. I really wish I had seen these movies earlier so I could have seen this in theaters but they make for a great binge. 9/10. -Tyler.
My final ranking -
No Time To Die
Skyfall
Quantum of Solace
Spectre
Casino Royale
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