kriskennedy-79484

After a near two year delay in getting this movie out we've only had trailers to tantalize what we could look forward to with No Time To Die but I have to say there is a big disconnect between what we were previewed and what I saw last night.

My view is that this film doesn't feel like much of a Bond flick simply because it was too emotional and yes, depressing. Introducing a family element to Bond I think was quite unnecessary and really provided little additional substance to the plot. I also feel that the villain was one of the weakest I've ever seen in the 26 Bond movies I've seen that makes Christopher Lee's portrayal of Scaramanga in The Man With The Golden Gun look positively competent by comparison. Rami Malek is a good actor and I feel his talent was wasted in this role given how high the expectations were for Daniel Craig's last outing as 007. The plot itself seemed rather confusing although the motives for Safin made some sense in losing his family to Spectre and his revenge on that organization but it just isn't enough to rescue this movie.

Last, but not least, the ending here was a huge disappointment and not something I would've expected. How this franchise carries on from that is a mystery to me, especially given how the Daniel Craig era was almost a prequel to the films of his predecessors. Every actor brings something unique to this role, and while I wasn't a big fan of Craig initially, I think he held up well and kept the franchise going strong. However, this film along with Quantum of Solace remain the weak links in his five film tenure and I was hoping for so much more but alas it fell way short for me. Certainly not a Bond movie I'd be interested in watching more than once.

This film had so much potential to tell Capone's life story against the backdrop of his final years sinking into the oblivion that dementia and syphilis did to him. Instead, we get a film that more or less showcases a mumbling, catatonic Tom Hardy sitting around staring into the abyss chomping on cigars and carrots while the supporting cast does very little to keep the story going. What was missing here was something similar to the first two Godfather films that showed flashbacks of an earlier time and how the characters came to be as they were in the present, and with Capone's history there was much material to work with to make this movie work if they had tried the same. Clocking in at just over 90 minutes there was never enough time in this movie to do anything on that scale or perhaps the budget but it's a wasted effort given this is Hardys second attempt to play Capone which makes we wonder how he could accept this script given the lack of depth. Robert DeNiros portrayal in The Untouchables from 1987 is still the gold standard after more than thirty years

I have to admit after reading certain reviews here that I was skeptical about this movie but as a fan of Omar Sharif's work in many seminal 1960's films such as Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia I have to say I wasn't disappointed with this movie in the least.

The Appointment is the kind of film that keeps the viewer guessing as to whether Frederico's worse fears about his wife are about to come true and the story of a man who pushes it all to the brink only to realize the truth at the end which he was so certain of. I was actually a little surprised with the ending because right up until that point you could easily believe the obvious was about to be revealed and so to those saying it was too 'cryptic' I say that was the one asset this film had going for it. Anything less and the story told would've been far less effective.

Just reminds me to be wary of user reviews and reaffirms my appreciation for films of this generation that are often overlooked but so much more compelling than a lot of what passes in the movie theatre today.