The new James Bond has arrived.
Dying Can Wait
, Daniel Craig's latest film in the skin of the British spy, finally arrives this Wednesday, October 6 in French theaters.
Six years after
Specter
, this new component is an announced commercial success.
The French press has delivered its verdict.
A review divided by the more personal approach to the character, but generally convinced by the farewell to the franchise of Daniel Craig.
Eric Neuhoff, film critic of
Le Figaro
, is shared on this episode of almost three hours which responds to the canons of the saga, nothing more.
“Bond is wise, philosopher, disillusioned.
(...) Daniel Craig, fake Steve McQueen ravined, has a knee that shows signs of weakness.
Retirement is not enough. ”
Read also Eric Neuhoff's chronicle of the Figaro:
Die can wait
, last stand or arm of honor of James Bond?
"Sublime and heartbreaking"
In rave reviews,
Les Inrocks
hails a new
“brilliantly staged” film
in the form of a
“heartbreaking twilight and dazzling dawn.
(...) A thousand miles from the virilist, racist and misogynistic clichés which have been at the heart of the James Bond in the past, this latest opus ends with a love tragedy, both sublime and heartbreaking ”
.
Read also James Bond, the eternal rebound
In the same vein,
Liberation
salutes a James Bond vintage 2021, which has been able to change its image, until then stuck in a very 60s virility:
"Dissolved, then shipped, finally, in the bygone days when Bond embodied all that 'we no longer want to see or hear: masculinism, violence against women by all physical and symbolic means, attachment to the values of a decadent nation and its exclusive and racist ruling class, uninhibited walks in the old colonies of the Commonwealth where the well-born and white Briton is always a bit at home, and therefore does not hesitate to blow up everything in his path ”
. The newspaper recognizes that “
“Dying Can Wait” is not the best Bond, but makes a very worthy teddy bear for our troubled times
”.
GQ
also rents a James Bond in
"forced march towards modernity"
.
A film
"which surprises, daring changes in tone such as the Daniel Craig era, which began in 2006 with
"
Casino Royale
"
, has certainly never known"
.
Clearly,
"a superb success"
, and a feature film "
daring, uninhibited and sensitive
".
"Too human, he is no longer very… Bondien"
His reign will have lasted fifteen years and five films. Less than Roger Moore's seven shutters, but as much as Sean Connery, the first and most iconic of all James Bond films. A final performance expected by all observers, which did not overall disappoint.
In a chronicle written by four hands, Yves Jaeglé of the
Parisien
praises the performance of the Briton and believes “that
before Daniel Craig, no interpreter has succeeded in his exit.
Even Sean Connery.
(...) He is the only one who knew how to leave on time, while offering us the modest and frank spectacle of his aging on the screen
. "
His colleague Renaud Baronian is less convinced, even if he recognizes that Craig “
humanizes the hero in a touching way.
But by becoming too human, he is no longer very… “Bondian”
”.
Read also James Bond: Daniel Craig, his successor can wait ...
In line with these praises, GQ shifts:
"Never has the 53-year-old actor pitched his hero with so much rage and sensitivity, as if galvanized by the idea of offering himself an outing worthy of the name"
.
Less laudatory,
La Voix du Nord
remarks “
a dark, wild leap, forced to question its past, its profession… and its relationship to women.
It is his sentimental traumas which are examined here, giving
“Mourir can wait”
a strange singularity
”and regrets a film
“ too long, with a disjointed scenario ”
.
"A failed film"
Like the regional daily in Hauts-de-France, the saga's entry on foot into the 21st century and the new facets of 007's personality have not convinced everyone.
Le Monde
denounces a
"politically correct hypocrisy"
and a film
"which pretends to release the old white seducer (now prohibited from sex!) In favor of the combativeness of his young black successor, which is revealed along the way, while 007 , reinstated in his functions, returns to the front of the stage, a vase like any other ”
. "
A failed film"
, "
with a lazy scenario
", which "
carries on its shoulders a burden too heavy for him"
according to the evening daily.
Read also United Kingdom: James Bond, itinerary of a Londoner
La Croix
welcomes Ana de Armas' performance as a "
sparkling surprise
", but deplores a new component in which
"the weakness of the (too) feature-length film with its calibrated production lies above all in the systematic alternation between muscular and violent scenes, with weapons and vehicles of all kinds and static tunnels too talkative where the characters remake the world with a lot of disconcerting banality ... on life, death, the flight of time, the values that we still believe or do not believe more".
A scenario "
half pot-pourri, half-starting pot
" which did not impress
Telerama either
,
which deplores a James Bond
"which turns the saga upside down without dazzling"
, a film
"which reshuffles the cards but lacks breath ".
Same story with
Première
,
who regrets an
“endless
feature film
, like a clone of
“ Mission: Impossible ”
”
but recognizes that
“
“ Die can wait ”
is very convincing when he considers - finally!
- again James Bond as an essentially very entertaining film ”.
The magazine concludes with a piece of advice to the viewer:
“In the end, the feeling that
'Die can wait'
will
elicit in you
will depend more on your attachment to a franchise than to an actor.
Is this good news?
For the industry, obviously yes.
James Bond will come back, no one doubts it anymore ”.
