The No Time To Die Trailer & Talking With DutchBondFan

It finally happened James Bond fans! We got our first real glimpse at No Time To Die with an official trailer!

No tabloid rumors, no paparazzi photos, no awkward ‘Reveal’ host asking silly questions – this is the real deal. It’s a real official trailer!

After the arduous and worrisome wait that Bond fans who have all lived through will always remember, the promotion train for No Time To Die has ignited. We got new character posters, new official photos, but the biggest deal is the trailer. Fans have been wondering if Daniel Craig would leave the role of James Bond on a high note or not and now we’ve gotten to see what his Bond swan song will look like.

Could one trailer possibly ease Bond fans mind after all they’ve experienced and read about the film that once was only known as ‘Bond 25’? Well, based on most Bond fans reactions to what they’ve seen, the trailer seems it did a lot of damage control and managed to spark enthusiasm for what was looking like one very troubled production that would result in a disappointing entry in the series.

There’s no point in recapping the Bond saga that has taken place over the past four and half years, so let’s talk about this trailer very briefly.

It looks good. I was very much on the skeptical side of the fence about the film for a long time, but I have to say I was very impressed with most of what I saw. Craig looks good. The stunts look exciting and appear they are going to deliver the thrills. The film itself looks beautiful and will go back to more of the colorful palette Skyfall had and not the brownish filter of Spectre.

We’ve known for a very long time they were bringing in the baggage that Spectre saddled the series with and it was going to stick with a film continuity, and it miraculously looks like they could turn some of Spectre’s cons into some pros. Léa Seydoux returns to the role of Madeline and this time it’s her past being something that will create conflict with Bond and being a key in the story. Hmmm…maybe they could make her character actually interesting in her encore appearance.

The return of the Aston Martin DB5 was one thing that I felt was getting tiresome in Craig’s films. I’ve repeatedly said ‘I’ve gotten tired of the filmmakers using it as a nostalgic prop to haul out and get a “oooh” reaction from audiences’. I knew it was going to be in No Time To Die and had just resigned myself that Craig would sit in it for a fourth time out of his five Bond films. But with them actually using the DB5 in some exciting car chase action and giving it some gadget fun rather than it just sitting there with Bond posing next to it like it was a car ad, I have to admit I did like how it looked

I am definitely intrigued and feeling a lot more positive about No Time To Die than I was before seeing the trailer. It does look more likely that Craig is going to depart the role of James Bond with an entertaining final film.

However, I can’t say I’m totally convinced and the skepticism about the film has been completely washed off me. No matter how good a trailer might look I am always in the mind that great movies have had lousy trailers and bad movies have had spectacular trailers. A film trailer doesn’t necessarily reflect on the quality of the film.

So, I’m not ready to go all in with this yet.

Lashana Lynch’ character of Nomi did not look good. In fact, I think she was the weak link in this trailer. She came off as very arrogant, annoying and already with this short glimpse we got of her, it was appearing she was a character that deserved to get a comeuppance in this story. Putting aside the whole thing of Lynch’s Nomi getting Bond’s 007 number and how you feel about that, she just came off as a very grating character and I didn’t see any real intriguing aspects about her.

It’s only a short look at the film and maybe she has more aspects to her than just throwing insults at Bond, but if this is the indication of how she’s going to be through the whole movie, then she won’t be a character I’ll be anxious to meet.

No Time To Die character poster James Bond — The No Time To Die character posters

There’s some brief thoughts, but I have plenty more to say about the trailer. What a surprise huh?

So, to mark this occasion of getting a film trailer for a new James Bond movie for the first time in nearly five years, I got to happily sit with my good pal and Bond fan Jeroen – better known as famed Youtuber DutchBondFan – to discuss some of our thoughts about the trailer.

I was really jazzed to finally get to do this collaboration video with Jeroen. We’ve known each other for years, have always wanted to do some kind of project together and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to talk about some new Bond material with each other.

We made a Two-Part Discussion video project about the No Time To Die trailer. It’s basically just two Bond fans – one in the Netherlands and one in New Jersey – talking, having fun and speculating about all manner of James Bond things. Hopefully some folks will enjoy listening in.