Dr. No (1962)

User Review

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  Barneyonmovies

  7 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: 'Dr No,' may be the film that introduced the world of Ian Fleming's James Bond to the big screen, but in itself it's actually a rather breezy and slow-paced affair compared to most of its successors. It just has us watch Bond slowly unravel a simple mission following up on a missing agent's trail about some mysterious happenings in Jamaica, and all he has to do is make a few reckless jabs into the leads until he inevitably comes face to face with the brilliantly menacing villain. Other than that, we find him enjoying the local pleasures and swaggering on through it all with very little concern, and that makes for an easy and enjoyable watch with little personal jeopardy or tension.
  What means it's so watchable though is almost exclusively the commanding screen presence of Sean Connery, who establishes his Bond perfectly as an ape in a tux. Here he seems in full control of every situation and is almost always completely self-confident, but he also behaves in an extremely rash way and his actions are always fairly thoughtless and foolish as he enjoys provoking the situations around him. He gets by on quick whit and the way others underestimate him, but the way the script paints him and the way Connery portrays him is largely as a bit of a brute in a gentleman's world. That gives him a plucky likeability, and as a result of that, when there are brief moments of jeopardy and Connery is forced to break the veneer, you really do root and care for him. If nothing else, 'Dr No,' deserves credit for establishing all that within its leading man, and it's most certainly the thing that it does best.
  
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Because the mission is so easy, and because Bond does swagger through the whole thing, there's not much tension or excitement to keep you truly hooked. Also, when the mission is finally solved and we meet the villain, there is a brief moment of uncertainty, but then Bond resolves it all rather glibly.
  
  VERDICT: 'Dr No,' sees Bond established as a brute in a suit swaggering through a pretty simple mission. The result is an enjoyable introduction to the character that set the longest-running franchise throughout the history of cinema in motion.

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