Dr. No (1962) Review

 "That's a Smith & Wesson, and you've had your six."

-James Bond

When a British agent goes missing in Jamaica, agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery), is sent to investigate.  With danger around every corner, Bond quickly finds himself locked in a deadly battle with the nefarious Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman).

What Works:

This is the first Bond movie and you would think that Dr. No might struggle to find itself, and while it is a little unpolished, it's remarkable how many Bond tropes appear in this movie.  It gets so many things right out the gate that it's pretty remarkable.

Sean Connery will always be my favorite Bond.  I love the characterization he shows us from the get-go.  Bond is a charming womanizer and a gentleman spy, as we all know, but he is a cold bastard as well.  It's not as prevalent as it is in the Dalton and Craig films, but it's here.  Connery seduces an enemy combatant and has her arrested immediately afterwards and shoots an unarmed man in cold blood.  The cold brutality was always here, it just isn't as common and I love it.  Bond shooting Professor Dent is one of my favorite moments in the franchise and an awesome establishing moment for the character.

Bond isn't alone in his fight against Dr. No.  He has some great supporting characters to back him up.  We get the first appearance of Felix Leiter, played by Jack Lord.  He doesn't get a ton to do, but he's a solid presence in the film.  We also get Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a classic Bond girl who has some great dialogue with Bond.  Best of all is Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), a fisherman who assists Bond.  Kitzmiller is hilarious and has some of the best moments of the film.  Seeing him get burned alive by Dr. No's dragon is a massive bummer.

Finally, we have the titular Dr. No, the first Bond villain.  What's crazy to me is that Dr. No is only in four scenes of the entire movie, one of which he has no lines and another he is entirely off-screen and we only hear his voice, and yet he's an extremely iconic character and memorable Bond villain.  Joseph Wiseman is delightful in the role and makes the evil doctor seem almost alien with his cold mannerisms.  The dinner scene between No and Bond is one of the key highlights of the film.

What Sucks:

This is by far the slowest Bond movie.  It isn't an action movie by any means, so I would imagine people that grew up on the Brosnan or Craig films would find this one painfully slow.  I don't see it that way.  This is a very procedural film that shows Bond going through the various steps of his investigation.  It isn't sloppy and it certainly isn't rushed, and I enjoy a lot of the procedural stuff, but I will admit that occasionally the movie slows down too much.

The only other issue I have with this movie is Dr. No's evil plan.  He's using radio signals to throw American rockets off course.  That's it.  It's extremely low stakes for a series that so often has the fate of the entire world in the balance.  The movie needed to do a better job of explaining why it's so important to stop Dr. No.

Verdict:

Dr. No is a solid start of my favorite movie series of all time.  We have great performances across the board, some iconic Bond moments, and a memorable villain.  Sure, the stakes are low and the pacing is on the slow slide, but this movie has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good