“No Time to Die” — Good movie, bad media

[Bob Blaylock]

First of all, I want to warn everyone against buying this package…

Of the three different media I was suppose to get, two are defective. Only the DVD works.

The streaming version is not offered through any of the usual sources, and the redeem code included in the package is not recognized by any of them. Instructions are given for redeeming it through ITUNES but these instructions simply do not work.

And the main Blu-ray containing the movie will not play in my player. My player just puts up a message saying that the disk is incompatible with it. Nothing on the disk itself, the packaging, or the listing on Amazon indicates that it should take anything other than a standard basic Blu-ray player to play it, no reason at all why my player should not be able to play it. A second Blu-ray, containing bonus material, appears to play just fine on my player, but not the main Blu-ray containing the movie.

So, I paid to get the movie in three forms, and only got one that is usable. It seems likely that many other who buy this same package will have the same experience.

At least the DVD works.

 

[MisterBeale]

Damn that.

I return that shit.


. . . after I burn a copy of the movie to an SD card.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Now that I have that out of the way, I'll say what I thought of the movie itself.

Came at it with very low expectations. I'd read several reviews that led me to expect that I would not like this movie. I bought it only to complete the Daniel Craig portion of my James Bond movie collection.

As it happens, I liked this movie very much. I thought it told a very good story, with all the elements that you expect of a James Bond movie.

The first time I watched Spectre, when I got to the end, I felt certain that it was going to take the same twist that On Her Majesty's Secret Service took, but it didn't.

I guess they decided to save that for a whole movie of itself, giving us a very intense James Bond type of adventure leading to the tragic ending.

Spoiler

James Bonds' wife doesn't die at the end, James Bond himself does, leaving behind a widow and a young daughter.

They even made references back to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, more specifically, the statement “We have all the time in the world.” James Bond says it to his wife, at some point early in the movie, before all the solid digestive waste his the rotating air circulation device; and he says a variant of it near the end, as the tragic outcome is impending; and over the closing credits, we hear Louis Armstrong's performance of the song with that title, as he originally performed it for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

The ending to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Even when I know what's coming, it hits like a hard punch to the gut to watch this.



As Spectre ended, as I was watching it for the first time, I felt almost certain that it was going to end the same way, but it didn't.