In the world of action heroes, few are as universally recognizable or as beloved as MI6 Agent 007: James Bond. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first time the world met this dashing super-agent, and since then the role has been played by 6 actors across a staggering 23 films (7/24, respectively, if you count David Niven, which most don't). Those are the kinds of numbers that even slasher films would be envious of. And it's no surprise why they keep cranking out the Bond movies - They are awesome.
When the Bond series is at its finest, there are few films that can compare in the realm of the "fun action movie" department. There are fast cars, big explosions, pulse-pounding music, awesome gadgets, a bulletproof hero spouting almost-lame one liners, over the top villains, and lots of scantly clad beautiful women with ridiculous names that sound like a Bart Simpson phone prank. This is a perfect storm of awesomeness that, when done well, produce frankly some of the greatest films ever made in the action department.
And when they're done poorly, you get Roger Moore.
What most people never get around to seeing, however, are the far more subdued beginnings of the series. When Sean Connery first played the role in 1962's "Dr. No," it was not a Bond movie like we are used to seeing now. In fact, the Bond movies didn't really become anything like what we are used to today until a few films into the series. All the elements were there, and it's an interesting watch to see all the seeds that were planted but had yet to grow.
The big question though, is "Does that make it a good Bond movie or not?" And the answer to that really boils down to the matter of if you are willing to look at it separately from the rest of the series. If you are, "Dr. No" will be a somewhat passable little spy movie that is very VERY 60's to the point of being a little silly and, depending on your tastes, perhaps quaint or droll. But it won't really feel like a Bond flick. At all.
And if you can't help but compare it to the others, well, honestly this will probably be a pretty boring ride for you.
Right from the beginning, it's clear that "Dr. No" is going to be a very different experience. The opening gun barrel/montage tells us that straight off. Instead of a theme song sung by a soulful, sultry lady (or even Paul McCartney), it's simply the now-classic James Bond Theme played in all its glory while a lot of very 60's looking colorful dots play around on a black screen.
Pssh. He's wearing a hat. This movie's already lost me...
That's all well and good, but not too far past that it gets weird. A drum circle fires up and while we do get silhouettes of ladies dancing, it's just not the same with congas going on. And then we get a calypso band singing "Three Blind Mice." And yes, okay, the titular "mice" do actually have something to do with the opening scene of the film, but to say that song doesn't exactly scream "spy movie" let alone "James Bond" would be an understatement akin to saying Willy Nelson enjoys weed on occasion.
This brings me to the biggest complaint I have with the music of not only "Dr. No," but also the sequel, "From Russia With Love." In both of these films, the music is not edited in well. At all. It honestly comes off as at best amateur, and occasionally as downright embarrassing. And the biggest issue with it is that it really doesn't feel like the composer, Monty Norman, wrote any music specifically for any scene. There isn't enough change in tone, or composing the music to fit the feel of the scene, especially when the James Bond Theme is being used.
For instance, there is a scene in "From Russia With Love" when Bond checks into a hotel room. He walks around, checking for hidden cameras and whatnot. That's all he's doing. It's a quiet, investigative scene. In later Bond movies we might hear a quiet little ascending/descending bass line with some strings softly playing the motif. But in this scene we get the full blown, triple fortissimo swing band playing the theme with all their might. All to the image of Bond slowly walking around his room and checking behind a picture frame. This is the kind of music to play when Bond is driving an Aston Martin off of a skyscraper, not when he's tipping the bellhop.
It'd be like blasting Pantera while Bond is waiting for a boat.
*hums* Re...schpect...walk...what did you schay?"
On top of that the music has a tendency to start very abruptly and end in a very fast unprofessional fade out that just doesn't fit well at all. This nitpicking may come across as unfairly dogging on a movie that's older for not being as slick and polished as we're used to now, but just as a reminder to you, 1962 was also the year that "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Longest Day," "Cape Feare," and "The Music Man" were released. People knew what they were doing back then. Music was not a process that was still being ironed out. Hell, they had music properly reacting to what was on screen in 1933 with "King Kong." What excuse does "Dr. No" have?
There are also fewer action scenes than we are used to, and the ones that are there are much more subdued and tame than later entries are. The worst of the violence isn't even shown, as quick cutaways "spare" the audience from the sight of a man getting roasted by a flamethrower and the villain being boiled in super heated water, among other things. And the hand to hand fighting is fairly safe and choreographed, and has the tendency to come across as very original "Star Trek" looking.
Am I the only person who would have loved to have seen Shatner as Bond? Yes? Darn.
All this is due to it being a product of its time, and the movie truthfully has not aged well at all. But the story does have a tendency to override some of those annoyances, because it's not a bad little spy caper. In "Dr. No," two MI-6 agents in the Caribbean are murdered when they get close to uncovering an operation designed to sabotage the American space program. This operation is run by the enigmatic Dr. No, who is revealed to be a member of SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), the ludicrously named conglomerate of evil bent on world domination.
MI-6 sends an agent named James Bond, code name 007. As soon as he arrives, it's clear that there are people after him, as even the chauffeur picking him up at the airport has been sent to do him in. But Bond proves to be too clever and resourceful for their attempts, and after investigating with undercover CIA agents discovers Dr. No's island fortress and infiltrates it.
I found it interesting how "Dr. No" features Bond doing much more investigation than we're used to seeing him do in later installments. This is especially true in the first half of the film as he's getting to the bottom of the murders. But he's still using his charm, sex appeal and occasionally his Walther PPK to extract the information, so it's still familiar territory.
There is also a lack of zaniness in these earlier films, which really highlight the fact that in truth, Bond is a really cold blooded killer. I particularly like a scene where he sets up a trap for a scientist working for Dr. No using the old "fake body in the bed" routine. As he's waiting for the guy to show up, Bond calmly plays a game of solitaire. Then after the ruse has worked, Bond casually asks him a few questions at gunpoint. When the scientist goes for his gun again and pulls the trigger only to find it empty, Bond dryly states:
"That's a Smith & Wesson. And you've had your six."
And then he straight up shoots him twice. It's one of the more badass moments I've seen Bond have, and it's really cold and brutal. Sean Connery, of course being awesome, does give more of a thuggish quality to Bond than some later actors would. Then again maybe it's just the hairy chest, which you see an uncomfortable amount of, frankly. I mean I love Sean Connery and all, but for god's sake, the man is a yeti.
When the big hairy spider crawling on your shoulder appears more like a lion in the tall grass on the savanna, consider shaving.
Of course, no Bond movie would be complete without a Bond girl or two, and Ursula Andress made history by having the most famous introduction of all of them. The image of Honey Rider coming out of the surf in a white bikini became one of the more recognizable images of the entire series, and it's not hard to see why as she does cut quite a striking figure. As a character she's pretty decent as well. She's not too much of a damsel in distress, and in fact is a bit of a badass herself, but she does go from being ready to slice Bond's face off with her knife to clinging to him like saran wrap distressingly quick after Dr. No's people show up.
She just pulled her knife because the first time she meets Connery, he's singing.
We also find out that she's got a bit of a vengeful streak, as she once killed a man who raped her using a poisonous spider. She has little to no remorse for it, almost to the point of not even comprehending what she did as she asks Bond "Did I do wrong?" as she tells him the story. The way she says it is both childlike and cold, almost like a sociopath. It's like she's daring Bond to say that she wasn't justified. So she's got a bit more depth than the average Bond girl has, and I liked her as a character. And at least they're not trying to fool us into thinking she's a rocket scientist or something. Seriously, the amount of pornstar named doctors walking around in the Bond universe is staggering.
"Paging Dr. Crotchpound...you have an outside call on line 3. Dr. Crotchpound...line 3."
Speaking of dubiously awarded monikers, Dr. No, played by Joseph Wiseman, isn't exactly what I'd call a great villain. This is partly due to the fact that he doesn't show up until about the last 25 minutes of the movie, and also because he really doesn't do anything. The great villains in the Bond series should be threatening, and if they're not physically threatening, they are still dangerous because of other kinds of power they have, which usually amounts to resources.
But Dr. No isn't threatening at all. He doesn't have any hands, his "army" is easily routed and small, and even his secret base is designed so that the ventilation shafts in the jail cells are human sized, easily opened up, and lead directly to the top secret control room. How convenient for saboteurs and MI-6 agents.
Honestly, that's the biggest problem with the story of "Dr. No." When you have a Bond movie with a weak villain, it drags the whole operation down with it. But as long as you're watching it from the standpoint of it "not really being a Bond movie," and the comparison to guys like Blowfeldt and Sacramanga and Alec Trevelyn go away then Dr. No really just becomes another problem that Sean Connery needs to fix, and at that point it's easy to look at the movie as not having a central villain at all.
And apparently, Dr. No is supposed to be Chinese.
Uh huh.
Yeah, ok. What, did they think they could just do some half-assed eye squinting makeup and he'd look Chinese? The dude's as Asian as Sean Conne-
Oh. Well, that's awkward.
THE BOTTOM LINE - "Dr. No" is an historically significant film, being the beginning the Bond franchise. For that reason, it's worth watching if you're a fan of the series. If for nothing else it's cool to see where it all began, from the first "Bond...James Bond" to the first shaken vodka martini. That being said, it's probably the most dull of the franchise, and it really doesn't feel like a Bond flick at all. The best I can say about it is that "It's OK. Kind of." On the plus side, it sets us up for greater things to come...
JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN...FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
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