Dr. No Film Review

There are some films out there that right away capture the publics imagination and because of that they can spawn an entire franchise. This was the case with the film that i'm about to review for you all today as while this is a film that was adapted from book it's the film version that launched an entire franchise that is still going strong to this very day and one that is still beloved by thousands of people across the globe ad so then join me as I review that saw James Bond leap onto the big screen for the first time with the film in question being called simply just "Dr. No" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a secret agent is killed in Jamaica it's up to Bond to not only find out who killed him but to put a stop to there scheme as well. Now the  interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good and is a really solid plot to start this franchise out on as it's the closest to the books that the films will ever be and it's the closest that we get to see Bond act like the Bond from the books as well with this films plot being cinematic enough to be worthy of being the plot of a film even without the James Bond elements in it but at the same time it has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing on what's going to happen next regardless if this is the first time that your seeing this film or if it's the hundredth time either way there is something that's in this films plot that makes it feel special and while yes the plot of this film could be seen as being a rather cookie cutter and stereotypical James Bond plot at this point in the franchise there wasn't any James Bond films and so by default this kind of plot hadn't been seen before now either with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

This is of course the first James Bond film to feature the first ever James Bond that being Sir Sean Connery as James Bond. Also starring in this film is Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with all of the James Bond MI6 regulars really turning in some solid performances something that would become somewhat of a series mainstay during these early years and it is nice to see that Sean had alot of chemistry with both Bernard Lee as well as Lois Maxwell as while he was known for having chemistry with Lois he wasn't that known for having chemistry with Bernard and yet here it is present and correct in this film with Sean himself being rather cool in his role as James Bond and while his performance as the character would of course get better over the time his performance in this film was already a really good performance and yet it makes you wonder how you can improve on something that was already so good in the first place and heck his performance as the character that even convinced Ian Fleming himself to give Bond a Scottish heritage as a tribute to the actor and his wonderful performance in this very film.

Also starring in this film is Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder and James Bond regular Nikki Van Der Zyl as the voice of Honey Ryder. Also starring in this film is Joseph Wiseman as Dr. Julius No , Jack Lord as Felix Leiter , John Kitzmiller as Quarrel , Anthony Dawson as Professor R. J. Dent , Zena Marshall as Miss Taro , Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench , Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd , Timothy Moxon as John Strangways , Robert Rietti as the voice of John Strangways and Marguerite LeWars as Annabel Chung. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with all if not most of this films actors turning in some really good performances as while Peter Burton would be replaced as Major Boothroyd by the far better Desmond Llewelyn his performance in this film does leave much to be desired and while the acting from alot of the films actors is indeed really good there are one or two performances from the other actors that do help to lower this films acting quality quite a bit with the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance really will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

We do technically have two Bond Girls in this film with the first one being Sylvia Trench who was played by the seriously stunning Eunice Gayson. With her character not really being given alot of screen time in this film which is something that really does make alot of sense given that the plan was to have her character only appear at the start of each Bond film and be Bond's girlfriend before then taking on the mantle of main Bond Girl and to be fair she does make the most of her screen time in this film with her coming across as being resourceful and willing to do whatever it takes to get whatever and whoever she wants but at the same time tho it is hard to see where they could take her character should the makers of his film have stuck with the original plan as her scenes would in the end start to feel the exact same and there's no way that you could get around that without doing something to her character and so while she would have made a great character for Bond to talk to she wouldn't have made a great recurring character this is despite the fact that her character does come across as being well written and likable as well but at the same time tho it just wouldn't do the character any kind of justice if you had Bond getting it on with all of his beautiful women in every film whilst he had a girlfriend waiting for him back at home and while the character was beautifully acted by Eunice Gayson she is just a character that was never meant to to last that long.

Our second Bond Girl is of course Honey Ryder who is played by the seriously stunning Ursula Andress. With her character being one that very easily could have appeared in more Bond films even with her taking on the role that Sylvia Trench was meant to play as she is just a fun and tough as nails character and while both character are indeed very easy on the eye it's Honey that does come of as being the better character which is something that really does make alot of sense as we the audience do get to spend alot of time with her character and while we don't get to find out alot about her that is something that does work to the films benefit as just like how men get to picture themselves as James Bond women in this case get to picture themselves as Honey Ryder as she is a strong a confident character who knows how to handle her self in dangerous situations which could also be argued makes her an qual to Bond as just like Bond in this film she also has to use her wits to help to navigate certain situations during the films third and even tho the film takes a long time to get to her character when she does first appear in the film not only is it one of the most iconic entrances in all of film history but it's also something that does show us the audience that she has hobbies and interests and doesn't just exist when the plot of the film demand that she does but at the same time tho it would gave been nice if we did get to find out more about her character as this would help to make her seem like a more fully developed character.

Out of the two characters the better Bond Girl in this film is obviously Honey Ryder just because of the fact that we the audience do get to spend more time with her character. Even taking into account the original plan for the Sylvia Trench character she just doesn't hold a candle to Honey as while both of them are well written and well acted it's Honey that gets more of a chance to shine due to the fact that she's in the film longer and because of that we get to see her relationship with Bond develop slowly instead of having that development not only off screen but also between films as well and while the Sylvia Trench character does get the honor of being the first Bod Girl that Bond gets with that doesn't make her the better character as that's an honor that should always go to the better written character which in this case does happen to be Honey who yes granted might come across as being the stereotypical Bond Girl but given that all good things have to start somewhere it does mean that Honey would always come across as being the stereotypical Bond Girl and while yes there are other better Bond Girls out there Andrea Anders being one them Honey is still a good character in her own right even if there's nothing that's all that interesting abut her character but it still would have been nice if the Honey Ryder character had something about her character that made her character standout a bit more as that is something that not only make her a more memorable character but it's also something that if doe correctly and rightly could also make this film all the more memorable as well.

Doing the production design for this film was the great Sir Ken Adam who always does some really top notch work in all of the Bond films that he worked on. With the same also being true for this film as well as all pf the sets for this film looked really good which is impressive when you take into account that he barely had alot of money to spend on the sets and yet he made each set look grand whilst at the same time creating a look for the Bond films that is still seen in all of the James Bond films to this very day where in this case bigger is better as James Bond himself lives in this rather outlandish world and as such t really would make alot of sense to have the sets big and outlandish as that would fit the world that these films take place in with the best looking set in the whole entire film being the laboratory set just because of the fact that it is a really huge set and can see everything that's going on in the frame which has the added effect of making the world of James Bond which could be seen as being a fantasy type of world also feel real and lived in as well with there being alot of attention to detail that you really don't get in modern sets with alot of the more modern production designers really overthinking everything and yet here it comes across as Ken Adam really didn't over think every single aspect of the set and just made what he thought would look good with him even being brave enough to go and ask for money because he knew what he wanted to make for this film would cost more then what the budget would allow and thank go that the producers did give him more money because we got some truly wonderful sets out of it.

While it is understandable that some people might find this film to be a bit bland as this film does do alot of things that the other James Bond films not only but do better as well. With the best example of this being the fact that really only gadget that Bond gets is a gadgetless car which again is something that would be done just two films later in Goldfinger but at the same time tho nobody knew that there was going to be a second Bond film after this one and so the makers of the film just set to make the best film that they possibly could have die and while yes the film does indeed have some issues like the fact that it plays the James Bond theme every single chance that it gets or that some of the characters aren't that well thought out when the film des indeed get something right like the casting if James Bond himself then it does help the film to be a really good entry in the franchise and whist yes there are a ton of better James Bond films out there it' also important to remember that without this film being as good as it is that we wouldn't ave any of the films to watch and love but at the same time tho even without the added benefit of hindsight this film could have fixed some rather basic issues like the fact that the film has far to many double agents which does make it hard to keep track of who is working for who and the fact that not alot of this films characters including Quarrel aren't that well thought out and some of them aren't even that memorable either.

Villain wise this films villain is a somewhat interesting character who like all of the James Bond film villains after him has something that ultimately leads to his defeat. Which in this case is his metal hands which while that is a cool idea to give this villain he really didn't need them as he was already the smartest person in the room to begin with him thinking several steps ahead of everyone else and he therefor wouldn't be willing to get his hands dirty and actually fight people which is something that he does in this film which is something that makes Dr. Julius No seem like a stereotypical bad guy type of character when it should have been the opposite that's true as we see him constantly manipulate people and in some cases even have people killed off in cold blood just because they got two close to his island base and that's more the enough to make him standout as a villain it's not something that makes him a good villain for that matter as he could be seen as a being a very note character with the character coming across as being really bland and boring at times but it could also be argued that that's the point of the character and while the character very well might have been written better in the book in this film he feels like a really underdeveloped character this is despite the fact that the film is quite literally named after him but when he does get time to shine he can come across as being quite a menacing villain and while he's not as memorable as Blofeld he's very easily a much more better and more competent villain then Stromberg was.

For some strange the makers of this film thought it was a good idea to have the James Bond theme play over scenes that don't require it and have music play REALLY LOUDLY at certain points in the film. With the theme song even been played when Bond exists a lift / elevator to go back to his apartment that song should really only be used to make something that's already cool and exciting even more cool and even more exciting as it would hit home just how big of a moment that it really is and having the theme play as often as it does in this film does kind if lesson it's impact when it's played over more important scenes in the film and while yes the James Bond theme is a really great piece of music no one is ever going to dispute that fact but there also has to be a time and a place where it's important to use that theme song and while granted this film was the first one in the franchise they still should have known during the editing process that they were relying on this theme a bit to much and used another piece of music in it's place and top of that is the fact is the fact some pieces of music in this film are played really loudly for no reason whatsoever which might have been great when this film was first being released but nowadays it's something that does age the film quite badly and on top of that it can be quite deafening as well which can make those scenes very hard to here which wouldn't be a problem were it not for the fact that we also get some plot relevant information during some of those scenes as well.

One of the things that can be seen a being quite an issue is the fact that very early one there alot of very noticeable jump cuts. Which by today's standard are nothing new but back in the early sixties they were a very new thing hence why alot of the early James Bond films have them in them as they pretty much came out of this franchise but at the same time tho the makers of this film could have made them a bit less noticeable as it is something that does make alot of the early parts of the film very unwatchable at times which usually wouldn't be that big of a deal but it's during those early scenes that we get to see what happened to the agent that Bond is sent to track down and so it is kind of a plot relevant scene and yet because of the the fact that the jump cuts are that noticeable it can come across as being off putting this is despite the fact that the entire idea behind them was to make the scenes more exciting but credit where it's due the film really doesn't make use of jump cuts all that often and as such the editing of the film can really good with it making scenes that might seem dull and boring n the paper suddenly either be exiting or scary but it's just those early scenes which are rough to watch as it makes it appear as if they couldn't film key parts of those scenes and so they just threw in a jump cut in there to hide that fact when it fact it was always the intention to use them in those scenes in a bid to make the action in those scenes appear to be more exciting then it actually is.

This film does have plenty of twists and turns in it all of which do make you wonder who you can really trust in this film. Which is a good idea but at the same time tho it's something that gets played quite alot in this film and it ends up having the opposite effect as instead of making the film more thrilling it does instead make those twists and turns meaningless and less impactful as very little to none of them have any impact on the plot of the film while the reveal that Felix is a good guy was a good reveal it's something that plays a part in the plot of the film as it's Felix that goes to rescue Bond and Honey at the end of the film something that wouldn't be possible if the two hadn't become friends but one of the ones that doesn't have any impact on the plot of the film is the reveal that Miss Taro is a double agent as that reveal has next to no impact on the plot of the film and was mostly likely included in the plot of the film because it's something that may or may not have been in the book but what might work for a book where storylines can develop for longer doesn't always work well for a film and here the makers of the film should have kept the fact that not everyone is a good guy to those that are important to the main plot of the film as that would make it all the more impactful when a character that we either love or hate turns out to be someone that we can either trust or not trust instead of having it be for characters that aren't all that important to the actual main plot of this very film. 

This films opening actually doesn't have a theme song as it just has the classic James Bond theme song by Monty Norman play other the opening titles which were done by Maurice Binder. With both the opening titles and the theme song itself being nothing short of iconic and heck even the opening titles for this film are so iconic that they were brought back for a part of the opening titles in No Time To Die with both the opening titles and the James Bond theme song perfectly matched together but where the opening titles start to go downhill is the fact that it suddenly switches from circles to rotoscoped women dancing while another song plays over it and it switches again when The Three Blind Mice appear and the song "Three Blind Mice" starts playing which doesn't really match the awesomeness of the James Bond theme song as that song is more then enough to get you excited for the film and yet for some strange reason Maurice thought that it was a good idea to keep on switching up styles all throughout the opening titles when the circles would have worked just fine and while he might have learned that lesson when he came back to do Thunderball it still doesn't change the fact that it now makes these opening titles look like an unfocused mess when it actuality they are quite artistically pleasing to look at and while yes there are better opening sequences even in the Sean Connery era that doesn't change the fact that when these titles work they really do work really well.

Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this films grand total running time even was I do know that this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty nine minuets and fifty seconds. Which does make this film one of the shortest official James Bond films out there and to this films credit this film rally does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that large amount of running time with alot of this films running time being spent advancing the plot of the film and even tho Honey Ryder herself doesn't debut until about the one hour mark of the film you really don't miss her as there's still so much going on to keep you invested until she turns up in the film but with that being said tho this film could have used it's running time a bit more wisely just by fleshing out some of it's guest characters as characters like James Bond , M and Moneypenny and even to a much lesser extent Felix Leiter himself get more development over the course of the films it's characters like the titular Dr. No and Quarrel that don't get much in the way of character development and while giving characters development is really only something that's been done in the Daniel Craig era of James Bond films it's also something that could have been used to great effect in this film as well but at the same time tho there's no way to give those characters development and not have it feeling like padding as none of those scenes would be important to the actual plot of the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Even for this franchises first film they still managed to have some really good action in it all of which really do serve to highlight just how much danger that Bond himself is in as from the second that he arrives in Jamaica he gets into a fight with someone who is secretly working for Dr. No and that's something we see all throughout the film with the films best action being the fight fight between Bond and Dr. No as it's there that we get to see that not only is Dr. No a really smart person but that he can also hold his own in a fight and while granted that's not something that lasts very long it is still something that makes it exciting to see as very few of the Sean Connery era Bond villains and yet it's something that's here in this film but at the same time you never really get the impression that Bond is in any real danger as Dr. No is a really small and skinny person with it not even being in his character that he would fight anyone let alone James Bond but that's not something that keeps it from being the best action scene in this whole entire film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this is pretty much THE stereotypical James Bond film it is something that's a really fun film to watch as it has everything that the rest of the James Bond films have as well just on a much more smaller scale and while this might sound cliché but this is the perfect film to show people who want to get into the James Bond films but have no idea of were to start in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , the official James Bond fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personal favorite website to use to get the images that I used in this very review being the official James Bond fandom wiki page just simply due to the fact that pretty much all of the images that are featured / presented to us and are currently up and also on the official James Bond fandom wiki page are all fairly high quality and as well as being fairly high definition and well then boys and girls just freaking like James Bond I will return.