The James Bond franchise is one of the most successful and lucrative in film history. When you look back on Bond's first film salvo, Dr. No, it is a little hard to imagine that all that success would follow down the decades. Because truth be told this is not a very good movie. It may work as a nostalgia trip, as a bit of film history. There is an undeniable curiosity to seeing the first Bond film. Watching this film may satisfy that curiosity but that's about it. If you ignore the billion-dollar franchise it spawned and take the film on its own merits Dr. No just doesn't work.
Perhaps the movie's biggest flaw is that the story is incredibly simple and not particularly interesting. Our villain, Dr. No, is, from his Jamaican lair, using radio waves to jam American rockets. If this doesn't strike you as being that big a deal you're right. There's very little sense of drama here. Bond villains in films to come had grand plans with undeniable high stakes. This villainous plan, and the villain himself, come off as a bit of a dud. So, lacking that drama any good movie needs, the movie slogs along towards its finish. There are some good moments sprinkled throughout. But in this case good moments do not a good movie make. And in the end comes a big letdown. Because for all its failings you hold out hope throughout that perhaps the movie will at least have a smashing conclusion. But sadly that is not to be. The big climactic final scene is more farcical than powerful. It all comes off as being a little silly. And silly is not really the effect you're looking for in a James Bond movie.
Yes, Sean Connery is a terrific James Bond. And it is interesting to see so many Bond firsts. There's the first appearance of that now so familiar musical theme. The first appearances of characters we would come to know and love in the films to follow. The first "Bond, James Bond." The first shaken martini. The first Bond girls, with bonus points for the famously memorable way in which Ursula Andress, as Honey Ryder, is introduced in the film. And so many other firsts, too numerous to mention. So go ahead and watch Dr. No for its place in film history, for the nostalgia trip it provides. And then go watch a better James Bond movie.
Perhaps the movie's biggest flaw is that the story is incredibly simple and not particularly interesting. Our villain, Dr. No, is, from his Jamaican lair, using radio waves to jam American rockets. If this doesn't strike you as being that big a deal you're right. There's very little sense of drama here. Bond villains in films to come had grand plans with undeniable high stakes. This villainous plan, and the villain himself, come off as a bit of a dud. So, lacking that drama any good movie needs, the movie slogs along towards its finish. There are some good moments sprinkled throughout. But in this case good moments do not a good movie make. And in the end comes a big letdown. Because for all its failings you hold out hope throughout that perhaps the movie will at least have a smashing conclusion. But sadly that is not to be. The big climactic final scene is more farcical than powerful. It all comes off as being a little silly. And silly is not really the effect you're looking for in a James Bond movie.
Yes, Sean Connery is a terrific James Bond. And it is interesting to see so many Bond firsts. There's the first appearance of that now so familiar musical theme. The first appearances of characters we would come to know and love in the films to follow. The first "Bond, James Bond." The first shaken martini. The first Bond girls, with bonus points for the famously memorable way in which Ursula Andress, as Honey Ryder, is introduced in the film. And so many other firsts, too numerous to mention. So go ahead and watch Dr. No for its place in film history, for the nostalgia trip it provides. And then go watch a better James Bond movie.