Dr. No (James Bond 007)

The movie did a few things starting off that I disliked (the main title was outright WEIRD) but you know what? It's actually pretty good. Dated yeah, and James Bond is kind of creep. But he strikes me as less of a creep than Captain Kirk, which is something.

Basically when Bond drives up and hands the keys to the valet, and asks him to take care of his passenger, only for the valet to realize it's a dead body, I was like, "I get the appeal of this."

The climax is kind of clunky, and the movie seems to end a bit abruptly, but whatever. My bigger complaint is how transparently awful the greenscreen was on the car chase. Yeah, it's 1964, but still, I was a bit shocked at how bad it looked.

Speaking of shocking, I was pleasantly impressed that the movie had some actual nudity for Ursula Andress. I had been under the impression the franchise was the sort of thing to play on Family Guy's "Frustrating Side-Boob" Theater.

Quarrel dying was both predictable and annoying.

I'm not happy that Dr. No is played by a white dude, but it's to the movie's credit that it explains how he looks by suggesting he's not fully Chinese and is half-German. It's definite white-washing. But I'd be far more disturbed if they were trying to pass of Joseph Wiseman as fully Chinese, especially since the beautiful, bland, friendly, and somehow sinister Hostesses in the lair are actually Asian.

Didn't get Bond actually saying the line about it being shaken, not stirred, but it's still pointed out to be his favorite drink.

The blood on the woman at the beginning suspiciously looks like spaghetti sauce. It's like the producers don't know the actual color of blood.

A moment I really like is one I like because it occurred in 1964. I like that Honey points out Bond's hand is sweating and he admits he's afraid. I would have thought something like that would be unthinkable in the 1980's, and to have a character like James Bond admit that in the 1960's is like the most refreshing thing ever. I'd give the movie a positive review just for that.

So yeah, I wasn't happy with everything, especially the sexism and racial portrayals, but it's a lot more solid than I was expecting. I guess I expected the franchise to be worse to start out with simply because I found Daniel Craig's tenure so hit and miss. But Sean Connery's first outing is a hit. Not a perfect one, but a hit nonetheless. ****.