In preparation for the release of 'Spectre', the 24th installment in the 53 year-old James Bond franchise, I have chosen to watch every Bond film in chronological order. 'Spectre' releases on November 6, 2015 which stars Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, and Lea Seydoux.
This is where it all began, where Bond first began his days flirting with every female in sight, where villains were over the top and cheesy, where Bond delivered witty one liners, and where the James Bond craze has forever implemented itself as being a key staple of cinema. The character of James Bond is portrayed brilliantly by a relatively unknown actor at the time, Sean Connery. Connery brings the suave, witty, flirtatious spy to life in tremendous fashion, thus setting the tone for future actors to step into the role that Connery built.
Starting off with a surprising amount of blood for a PG film, 'Dr. No' begins with violence and intrigue. Women scream, bullets rip into the flesh of the innocent, windows are broken, and a file titled, "Dr. No" is taken. Our adventure begins and immediately I'm bought into this universe, sadly enough my excitement lessens as the film progresses.
With a run-time posted at 109 minutes (1 hr and 49 mins.) the movie drags and occasionally I lost interest into what Bond was getting himself into. Every so often you will get these spikes of intensity and when those moments came along I was drawn back in, and then I checked out short after. 'Dr. No' needed lengthier moments of action to keep the pace moving along methodically, instead we got quick, intense action and then not so engaging dialogue. Which led to the unevenness that is 'Dr. No'.
Let's discuss the titular character Dr. No, is he a good villain, a bad villain, what is he? To keep it short, he's the perfect Bond villain. The villain with the over the top motive, the cheesiest plan to destroy the world, a big fish filled aquarium, and an underground lair! Mwahahahaha. Dr. No is the perfect template of a cliche Bond villain and you notice a lot of the qualities in Dr. No in many other villains to this very day.
In conclusion, 'Dr. No' does a fine job introducing the James Bond character, the universe that he is apart of, the type of villains he will come across, and setting the tone for future Bond installments. The unevenness and choppy storyline presented in 'Dr. No' doesn't allow this Bond film to be considered one of the very best. 'Dr. No' isn't forgettable though, as it is a very key component to the Hollywood that we know today.
I give 'Dr. No' a 7/10