I haven’t seen this one yet, to my own consternation, but in Germany a new blu ray release is set for July, and I just discovered there already is a great blu ray with lots of extras:
https://diabolikdvd.com/product/crossplot-imprint-blu-ray-all-region/
Years ago I bought the dvd. It is a nice typical British movie more fun than a spy movie. Don’t expect to see Roger as a Bond like hero wearing a dinner jacket and walking cool with a Walter PPK like some of the posters or blu ray covers suggest, it’s nothing like that at all, it is also half of the time playing for laughs. Maybe you can say it is The Saint light, but that was already a lighter version ot the books. I didn’t watch it for twenty years so I don’t remember it very, very well.
Sounds like right up my alley.
More often I’ve felt protective of TMWTGG. When I think about the atmosphere of Scaramanga’s island and certain elements I reject the idea it’s a poor film.
I also push back at the idea Craig’s era didn’t have much traditional Bond flair and he was always a robotic thug. I don’t accept that at all and can cite various examples in my defence. It’s like the caricature of Dalton always being serious when he’s often smiling and being romantic.
TMWTGG is an absolute banger! Lee’s menacing villain, unreal locations and, imo, Moore’s finest Bond performance: not to mention THAT lair, which just screams classic Bond. Yes, it gets a little silly at points, but tbh I kinda want that in my Bond. Also, I second you opinion on Craig: Spectre is full of those little moments, my favourite of which is his landing on the sofa. I will also call out NTTD as being on my ‘protected’ list: it dared to plot a new course, while embracing traditional Bond elements with panache. The action in the Norwegian forest is up there with the best and beautifully filmed. I also reject the criticisms of Rami Makek’s Safin being weak with a plot that made no sense: sometimes, just being a mad b*****d is enough, as with Stromberg, Drax et al. Even Blofeld’s YOLT plot made no sense, given that there would have been no world left for him to spend his ill gotten gains in, but no one calls this out. Lastly, given that they decided to pull the trigger and kill Bond, they did so in a dignified and understated way that gave him a reason to bow out. The drinks in Ms office were a perfect tribute to the character. Given the current state of affairs and reports of Amazon being in creative paralysis, that decision looks a masterstroke!
NTTD is best of the franchise.
If Bond has to end. That is what he’d choose.
No offense, but I’m afraid I can’t disagree more. NTTD is the worst of the franchise. 
So glad you shared this, HockeyMask, as I’ve spent the last day or so wondering if I should bring it up myself.
On a technical level, NTTD excels. Things like locations, cinematography, set design, action, editing, pacing. All of these combine to form a film that is beautiful to behold and has a great flow to it.
But even beyond the technical, NTTD has an emotional core to it that really draws me in. Whether it’s the quieter moments like visiting Vesper’s grave (“I miss you”), or the heavier moments such as Felix’s death, reuniting with Madeline (“that was awkward”), or the heartbreaking finale, this film provides all the feels, all while still managing to feel Bondian and have some nice humorous and lighter moments as well.
When my wife and I went to see it two days after it was released (her first time, my second), she was sobbing at the end – and she is neither a big Bond fan nor a particularly emotional moviegoer in general. That’s when I could tell that the emotional beats really landed.
Relatedly: a lot of fans have pointed out over the last few years that the Craig era never quite fulfilled the promise of CR, that the reboot era peaked back in ‘06 and never regained the glory of its first installment. I too shared this view for some time, but I genuinely think NTTD came through in this regard. Imagine if, back in ‘06, someone showed you NTTD (as is) right after CR. I’m willing to bet most of us would have been thrilled that fifteen years later the Craig era would end on such an emotional cinematic high.
Yes, I know much of what I have written here is controversial. But it’s genuinely how I feel. NTTD is a top five entry for me for sure.
For me, all the Craig films are on the same level.
Absolute high points mixed with disappointing choices, never soaring to that greatness they aspire to. All of them are great entertainment - and QOS, in my mind, astonishingly so despite the production problems - but the ambition has a price: no comfort effect like the other films offer. Maybe that’s because every Craig film ends on a tragic beat (SPECTRE less so, but still, Bond leaving the service and no real conclusion to Blofeld‘s fate - hey, of course, he cannot remain in prison without still wreaking havoc).
As for defending Bond films - apparently, I don’t really think any of them needs my defense. If NTTD right now is the most controversial, then I will gladly say that I love Malek as an actor in everything and I find him extremely creepy as Safin, and even if he is not as imposing as other Bond villains it’s exactly that „wannabe king“-quality which adds to the tragedy of Bond being cornered and shot by someone like Safin.
It actually is a wise decision because this does not subtract from Bond‘s power as being shot by a Red Grant like villain would have. The fatal shots fired by Safin show that one moment of inattention can seal anybody‘s fate.
I can mostly get behind this. All the Daniel Craig trailers looked great and had me eagerly looking forward to each upcoming film, but when those films arrived, those “absolute high points” (i.e. Quantum Of Solace’s car chase, Skyfall’s motorcycle and train stunts, SPECTRE’s Hinx fight, and No Time To Die’s Aston DB5 smoke screened donut spin and fire) were greatly offset by those “disappointing choices” (QOS’s shaky cam and super quick editing and Bond’s callous treatment of Rene Mathis’ body, SPECTRE’s idiotic foster brother angle, and NTTD’s super weak villain as well as the killing of 007).
Every one of those decisions were critical to severely damaging one’s enjoyment for those films for those who had problems with them. Only Casino Royale and to a bit of a lesser extent Skyfall didn’t have those issues (and, as a result, they were the most successful and praised). And to top it off with those decisions, Craig’s Bond didn’t seem to have any fun other than in CR and SPECTRE–and even then it was less than with previous Bonds.
The Craig era was clearly its own thing in all that that entails–for better or worse–compared to the rest of the series and now it is done and gone. Time for a new (and hopefully return of the fun) 007. The king is dead. Long live the king.
It was always pretty clear a decision like that - to actually let Bond die - would be amongst the most controversial the series could ever take. In the gap between DIE ANOTHER DAY and CASINO ROYALE fans used to pitch that as a way out idea even here on CBn - freemo? Turn? Loomis? I forget - and even in those hypothetical scenarios reactions usually used to be heated. Even though back then probably nobody really expected it to happen. Goose, golden eggs and all that…
That said, after we (figuratively speaking here) left theatres to the end titles of DIE ANOTHER DAY fans seemed to expect in their majority things would just pick up two years later with Brosnan in DIE AND LIVE AGAIN (director Michael Bay) or some such title - and dreading the prospect. A frequently heard complaint during these years was that things had become too formulaic, foreseeable and creatively restricted.
On that front at least I think the Craig run delivered with a lead that actually looked like a bad customer, with a pretty strong adaptation of one of Fleming’s least ‘filmic’ books - guys playing cards largely, a bit of philosophy, a bit of torture pørn - with a Bond film where he’s not the central figure and M is the Bond girl. And with an aging, retired Bond with one last feeble chance at a semblance of a ‘normal’ life - for all of a few hours.
None of this would have been even remotely thinkable right after DAD. Yes, killing off Bond is still outrageous. But looking at the trajectory and the various previous decisions it seemed merely consequential to also break the ultimate taboo. It’s debatable whether this was necessary - a more ambiguous ending or even a happy one would have been at least possible - but however we look at it largely depends whether one accepts the general idea or not. NO TIME TO DIE is at least a film that doesn’t leave its audience indifferent.
And for me, looking at what happened afterwards to EON, letting Bond die was the best idea anyway.
They must have known, therefore wanted to really come to a close.
Whatever happens afterwards is a whole different ballgame.
The JW Pepper cameo is a bit much, but the connective tissue to LALD is pretty cool. It makes the first two Moore films feel like a package. The finale is one of my favourites because of the smaller stakes and the atmosphere. Scaramanga has his energy source plot, but it’s not about destroying the world with nuclear weapons. No private army or incoming rescue, just two assassins alone on an island stalking each other.
CR-SF-NTTD is a strong trilogy with a beginning, middle and end. I can always see them being high in my rankings. With those three I am satisfied a Bond of Craig’s quality wasn’t wasted. QoS and SP have positive elements but didn’t reach the same heights for me.
As I stated a few times before, CR and QOS being tied together at end and start of the films, I hate that Craig goes from rookie to home alone and then burned out in the next three films. Where are his cool films where he is on the top of his game, enjoying himself a bit?
So I go with QOS for defending, being the only Craig Bond I can watch more than once a year
You get shot and fall off an 80’ bridge and tell me you wouldn’t get burned out. 
That actually is a great explanation - Craig‘s Bond is haunted by tragedy, prohibiting him from enjoying his job like his predecessors could.
Yes, but we don’t see him in the years after Quantum, so we don’t know if he enjoyed his job or not in the years between rooky and older agent.
Agreed.
There’s so much missed opportunity in the time between the end of QOS and SF. I would assume that, on some level, Bond would have enjoyed going after Quantum after having been able to put Vesper behind him and allowing himself to focus primarily on bringing the people he saw at the opera meeting to justice. There’s definitely a massive missed opportunity in not following that thread and then having to very weakly retcon it into the Spectre story almost a decade later.
Mr White was a formidable villain and could have been good for two or three more films during which Bond deconstructs the Quantum cabal. Not only for the sake of those ‘missing’ links in CraigBond’s career but even adding import to White’s disappearance and final act in SPECTRE; start it with Bond tracking White down to that little chalet and witnessing as White kills himself: What is so powerful and vicious that even White runs for cover and rather dies than facing its wrath? Work back from there, with or without White’s daughter.