The year’s biggest global theatrical release outside of China, “No Time to Die” (nearly $800 million worldwide by mid-December) delivers even more on Blu-ray this month in HD and 4K Ultra HD, including five impressive bonus features, four in 4K for the first time.
The movie itself — the fifth and final outing for Bond actor Daniel Craig (also by far the longest James Bond movie ever at a whopping 2-hours and 43-minutes), is an epic saga that has all the elements you want and expect in a 007 movie, as well as many unprecedented components for a 007 film – in a bonus feature of this disc, director Cary Joji Fukunaga calls it “emotion-driven rather than action-driven” (click here for my full review of “No Time to Die”). It looks and sounds great here in both 4K and HD, and the brighter default presentation on the Blu-ray disc even lends itself beautifully to viewing in 3D with glasses — for those who still have a 3DTV that can digitally convert 2D into 3D — perfectly re-creating the first-ever theatrical presentation of a Bond movie in 3D (click here for my review of the 3D presentation of “No Time to Die” in theaters).
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment‘s first home video release of a Bond film on Dec. 21 (4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition w/ 4K UHD, Blu-ray and digital copy – SRP $49.98; Amazon price $26.99; Blu-ray $24.98) includes a relative cornucopia of extras relative to the nearly barren Blu-ray editions of the previous Bond movie “Spectre” in 2015-16. (Bond movies have previously been distributed on home video in the U.S. by MGM, Sony, and Fox). For those new to 4K, Blu-ray features a picture resolution that is six times that of DVD; 4K Ultra HD takes that a step further with the combination of 4K resolution that is about double the quality of HD (3,840 x 2,160 pixels vs 1,920 x 1,080 pixels for full HD) and a High Dynamic Range (HDR) color resolution.
(Continue reading below the following trailer…)
- “Anatomy of a Scene: Matera” (11 1/2–min): Fascinating to learn and watch how the spectacular Triumph motorcycle jump wasn’t even contemplated until four weeks before it was shot, and the 35-40-foot nearly-vertical ramp that had to be built and made to look like a part of the design of the stone wall, and then how the wind prevented doing the jump on the first day of shooting. Also cool seeing 10 vintage Aston Martin DB5 cars used in the film (some replicas and stunt cars) driving in line up the winding and narrow cobblestone streets. Comments by Craig and director Fukunaga, plus on-set interviews with stuntmen and crew members.
(Continue reading below the following two photos…)
- “Keeping it Real: The Action of No Time to Die” (6-min 15-sec) – Filmmakers describe their pride in producing actual physical stunts rather than creating them digitally, including the giant explosions on the trawler as the seaplane departs, which were real explosions on a real boat that could not be damaged. We also see the sinking of the boat simulated in a huge rig in a water tank for a death scene that actor Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter) thoroughly enjoyed. Likewise, in videos of extensive physical and gun-shooting training for their fight and action scenes, actors Ana de Armas (Paloma) and Lashana Lynch (Nomi/007) describe how much fun they had doing that. The car chases across rough terrain of Scotland (doubling for Norway) and Bond’s final shootout on the steps in Safin’s lair are also discussed with fun behind-the-scenes footage.
(Continue reading below the following photo…)
- “Designing Bond” (11-min) From the subtle modifications to the offices of M and Q to the elaborate new creations of the lair of villain Safin inspired by legendary Bond set designer Ken Adams, NTTD production designer Mark Tildesley and costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb, along with cast and other filmmakers discuss concepting and making sets and costumes. It’s fascinating to hear and see that they built from scratch Bond’s home in Jamaica, on a beach with no road access — everything had to be brought in by boat, and the pier on which Bond is seen in the movie walking with the fish he caught was actually built to reach the boats delivering materials. Ana de Armas appreciates how accurate the movie captured the colorful and decadent vibe and aspects of Havana in her home island country of Cuba even though it was all shot in a film set where 12 buildings had to be constructed that included deco-esque designs with a Latin American feel and stylish staircases. Here in Cuba the costumes are described as particularly important – Bond’s in-development Tom Ford tux and the gown and diamonds of de Armas that allowed her to look elegant even while throwing her body around during fights and shootouts. Lynch praises Larlarb for taking into account every aspect of her personality, skin tone, and body shape in designing her clothing.
- “A Global Journey” (7-min 50-sec): Cast and crew describe how the exotic locations become like characters in the film, from the frozen tundra and lakes of Norway to the motorcycles and Land Rovers chasing, bouncing and crashing through the forests and rugged landscapes of Scotland, to the Old World beauty of the architecture and streets of Matera Italy. Jamaican Lashana Lynch describes the pride of being able to showcase the alternately gritty and spectacularly beautiful locations and the culture of her home country of Jamaica.
The most substantial of the bonus features (and only available with the 4K UHD set) is “Being James Bond,” a masterful and powerful 46-minute retrospective by filmmaker Baillie Walsh of Craig’s 15-year run as Bond that was presented for a limited time just before the movie’s theatrical release in October on cable network MGM-HD and streaming service Apple TV+.
Deftly blended with never-before-seen archival making-of footage and on-set photos, Craig and lifelong 007 movie producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli offer many reflective, funny, and sometimes poignant anecdotes about Craig’s journey as the British secret agent he admired as a child but never aspired to be. Having built a career in mostly quirky films, he could not imagine himself being, much less delivering the words, “Bond, James Bond.”
The film begins by recapturing the unprecedented backlash in 2005 – in large part due to the advent of social media – surrounding the naming of then relatively-unknown Craig as the new Bond mostly because he was blonde and had a shorter and stockier body build than the previous tall and darker-haired Bond actors.
Bond fans will love hearing the process stories for movies like his first, “Casino Royale,” which overcame the pre-release adversity to become wildly successful, and how it was Craig’s idea for he and Eva Green to remain clothed in the memorable emotional shower scene.
And they are remarkably candid about things like the second film, “Quantum of Solace,” a poorly-received episode which they admit they rushed due to the writer’s strike and looming actor’s strike. They began production without a completed script, “which is never a good idea,” Broccoli says. Craig recalls being personally shaken by suddenly becoming so famous after “Casino Royale” — “I was physically and mentally under siege” — and throwing himself so much into the physical stunts of “Quantum” that he hurt himself.
It was a play in New York that Craig did with Hugh Jackman for Broccoli that made a difference for him in how he dealt with fans and media attention.
“Skyfall” was about building the family again in 2012, Broccoli says, re-introducing the characters of Q and Moneypenny, who hadn’t been seen on screen in a decade, and giving Bond back his foundation. Craig suggested Sam Medes to direct, and it became the top-grossing Bond film ever. Broccoli recalls the studio trying to get them to cut the gay sexual innuendo line from Craig to Javier Bardem, “What makes you think this is my first time,” which they resisted and it wound up being one of the biggest laugh lines and one of the most memorable of the movie. The three of them discuss the emotion of saying goodbye to Judi Dench as M. Craig describes “Skyfall” as “ticking all my boxes,” and Broccoli notes that there were so many things related to “Skyfall” that were terrific, including having Adele sing the theme song and the tie-in of the movie with the 2012 London Olympics, featuring a fan favorite film piece during the opening ceremonies in which Craig as Bond escorts the actual Queen from the palace to the stadium where they are dropped in by parachute, which was “just incredible” (footage included).
It was time to get all the tropes back in the Bond movies — the big explosions, car chases, gadgets, according to Broccoli, and Craig agrees that he always wanted to do that in an original way. The big hook of the next movie, “Spectre,” was the first return of Blofeld as the main villain in more than 40 years. It took a lot of convincing to get Raimi back to direct “Spectre,” and Craig suffered a broken leg early on that should have been surgically repaired with a minimum nine-month recovery period. Craig says he didn’t want to shut down and delay production that long, so he shot “Spectre” wearing essentially “a bionic leg” and being in excruciating pain, according to Broccoli. As Craig describes his walk along the edge of the top of buildings in the opening pre-title sequence, hoping his knee won’t give out as he steps down to each ledge, we see the cable line harness hooked from his back to a crane. The planned shots following Craig stalking his prey through the Día de Muertos parade in Mexico were altered to disguise his difficulty in walking. Referencing his infamous interview declaration after “Spectre” that he would rather “slash my wrists” than do another Bond film, Craig says “Spectre” was “tough” and “I needed a break, to kind of switch off; I needed to get away.” Having approached the role from the beginning of his tenure with great physical tenacity, he admits to having had doubts about his ability to continue at that level, and to do otherwise would have “felt completely wrong. I felt, psychologically, at the end of that film, maybe I’m just too old. Genuinely, I had convinced myself, that was it.”
Of course, ultimately Craig decided to do one more, but right away production had to be shut down again when he injured his ankle during shooting in Jamaica. Bond 25 (later to be named “No Time to Die”) was beset with issues, starting with the replacement of Danny Boyle as director over script disputes, and additional script issues that went on and on and on, Wilson recalled, noting it was also “emotionally tough,” knowing it was Craig’s last Bond film. Craig said “No Time to Die” was harder than most but everyone involved “just bought into it” and they got it done. “No Time to Die” is the culmination of Craig’s five films as Bond, Broccoli says, and the last night of shooting — the last shot (Bond in his tuxedo running away from the camera down an alley towards an effects green screen and out of the shot) — was “deeply emotional; everyone was sobbing.” With Wilson describing and the video showing an unusual number of the cast and crew having come down and stayed for the filming of the last shot on a night shoot, and gathered around Craig afterwards, the man who played Bond for 15 years gets choked up as he tells them that working together with them has “been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
As we watch his work mates cheering on set, and Broccoli hugging him, we hear Craig say in the film interview, “I look at what I’ve done and go, that’s part of Goldfinger; wow, I mean I’m connected to Goldfinger. I’m connected to ‘Dr. No,’ I’m connected to ”Live and Let Die’. My tenure is only part of something bigger.”
Says Broccoli: “I cannot imagine Bond after Daniel.”
“It’s tough to walk away from,” Craig says. “But I think it’s OK now; I do. And that’s because we did this movie. I just think, it’s alright now.”
A beautiful montage of highlights of Craig as Bond follows, set to a lovely orchestral arrangement of John Barry’s Bond song “We Have All the Time in the World” from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” that is poignantly reprised in “No Time to Die.”
It would have been nice to have the music video of the Billie Eilish theme song and at least a fifth mini-documentary about the score by one of the great and most successful and prolific composers of all-time, Hans Zimmer. And, given how “No Time to Die” breaks so many Bond molds, including the shocking and controversial ending, and given all the pre-production drama involving a high-profile director being let go and the many script changes, which led to months of delays that resulted in another 18-month delayed release due to the Covid-19 pandemic, plus production accidents, it would have been great to have a separate docu and an audio commentary or two discussing these things and the decision-making for numerous surprise scenes in the film, not to mention helping explain the convoluted plot.
With some streaming services offering the IMAX film presentations in the taller 1.90:1 aspect ratio now (instead of the widescreen 16:9 / 2.39:1 of this and most films), it would also have been nice to see that expanded film frame available here on this 4K UHD set since 40-minutes of the movie, including the spectacular scenes in Matera and the entire first 23-minute pre-title sequence, were filmed in this format with IMAX cameras, which can be plainly seen in many of the behind-the-scenes shots during the bonus features.
(Continue reading below following photo montage…)
But Bond fans will never get enough and those are quibbles about an otherwise laudable and well worthwhile home video presentation of this groundbreaking 25th movie in the 59 year-old James Bond franchise.
— By Scott Hettrick
It was Sam Mendes who directed “Skyfall” and “Spectre” and not Sam Raimi…
Good catch; thanks, I have corrected it