007 The Unofficial Series

I have a confession: aside from Casino Royale, I am not a fan of the Daniel Craig James Bond films. My interest in this edit was to see if engaging with this content in the form of a serialized television program rather than a series of (very poorly connected) films might improve the experience for me.

The TL;DR answer is.... yes, sorta, but with some caveats.

DigMod has done a really fun thing, and when it worked for me, it really worked. And when it didn't, it was a little easier to swallow, because a bad episode of television is not quite as egregious (to me) as a bad movie. You simply move on to the next episode and hope it'll be better. Overall, I had a blast watching one episode a day. It became something I looked forward to, even when I wasn't particularly loving certain episodes, and I'm really grateful for that.

But that said, the source material is the source material. He cuts some stuff out here and there, but there's no giant changes here (with one exception I'll get to in a second). His Casino Royale episodes were great and totally work as three episodes of prestige spy television, even when cutting out some things I genuinely like. But while the Quantum eps are an improvement on the film, it's still characters shouting exposition at one another as fast as possible between incomprehensible action sequences. Skyfall sticks out like a sore thumb for ignoring the previous five episodes. Spectre really could have used a heavier edit; there's so much dumb filler in that movie and as far as I can tell, all of it made it into this TV cut. And No Time to Die works far less well here than as a film, and while the ending may make some fans happy, it actually makes even less sense as the culmination of this television series than the original ending. (And for the record, I HATE the original ending.)

A lot of this comes down to taste, and I don't think DigMod and I share the same sensibilities. Removing the thrilling construction site/crane fight from Casino but leaving in the incredibly stupid, overly long mountain chase in Spectre is a baffling choice. Removing double entendres, adult language, and suggestive content in films that have precious little sensuality in the first place but retaining every brutally violent kill is peculiar to me (except for Jinx's eyeball crushing kill which is excised but not JB's line referencing it later). Deciding to go for a happy ending for the finale when the edit of the previous two episodes (including the end credits music) evokes a funereal atmosphere creates a dissonant effect that left me feeling empty rather than fulfilled.

From a technical perspective, I am incredibly impressed with the majority of this enormous effort. It's especially remarkable in those first three episodes where I am more familiar with what has been cut out. The cuts are invisible. It's really excellent work performed by a master editor. That said, there are a few errors in the later episodes that do drag down the score a little. One of the Spectre episodes introduces some faint judder, and the No Time to Die episodes bury the score in the sound mix (which is a real bummer during the action sequences), and there is some really egregious judder in the re-edited ending. As for that re-edited ending, while there's some clever attempts at reconfiguring scenes, it just doesn't make any sense. Bond's been shot multiple times, he's still in the complex when the missiles hit (we see him in the shot as the explosions occur), and there's no boats or flight craft around, but somehow he survives? I just don't buy it, especially in the more grounded world established by these films.

In summary, this was a gargantuan task and a really cool idea that works some of the time. When it's working, it's great. Hell, it's practically transcendent. But the farther into it you get, the more the seams start to show, either from a technical perspective (rare though they are) or from a narrative perspective, because these movies just don't make any sense next to one another. I absolutely recommend this fanedit and had a fun, albeit conflicted time, watching it. Just know that if you don't already love these movies, this probably won't turn you around on them.

It's been years since I last watched this, I remember really enjoying it. What stood out for me the most are Bond's encounters with women are more platonic, Quantum of Solace segments being watchable, and excellent pacing. Excited to get back on this once I get No Time to Die.

A take on Craig era Bond I didn't know I needed

I was shocked at how well this turned out, taking 4 movies and splitting them into a Netflix style series I thought it would feel clunky but no it feels like this watching it in series format was how it was intended. Every episode was well paced and ended on those wonderful cliff hangers wanting you to keep watching. Quantum and Spectre benefitted most in this format taking them in one 45min bunches coupled with trims to scenes tightens the narrative that I no longer feeling bored at parts while watching them. Also well done on the color grading I had to watch my blurays to see the difference that couldn't have been easy.
Now while I love this edit I did miss certain lines of dialogue and certain scenes being trimmed the full parkour scene from Casino Royale in particular this is not a fault on the part of the editor its just if your a big fan of James Bond you will miss them. There is one thing I do feel needed to be added and that's a time stamp at the beginning of the Skyfall episode 6 (5 years later as an example) it always bugged me even in the original movies that we see James Bond go from being promoted to 00 status in Casino Royale than suddenly after avenging Vesper in Quantum he's now an over the hill agent that's unfit for duty. Its always been a minor nitpick and the series does show the passage of time better than the movies. Other than that this is a masterful edit now I want to see what he did with the no time to die episodes as I only got the episodes up to Spectre.
This is an edit added as the editor did send me The No Time to Die episodes they were just in another link, and this is my favorite viewing of No Time to Die color grading looked good and matched previous episodes. I was going to go into more detail but I don't want to spoil anything just know that I loved these episodes as much as the others and I highly recommend them.

One of, if not the, best movie to tv fanedit! Now my go to way to watch Daniel Craig Bond. Superbly done particularly the cliff-hanging end to each episode. Fantastic work!

I'm one episode in and already HOOKED! I love this edit, it's so impressive how much it truly feels like a series. Really stoked for it to be finished off with No Time to Die. Will come back and review the rest more critically when I've finished but as of now I'm having a blast.