Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Red-Barracuda Dr. No will always retain a footnote in history for being the first movie in a franchise which would go on to become the most lucrative in cinema history. Based on the second of Ian Fleming's novels about the British Secret Service Agent 007, the spy with a license to kill, James Bond. It is easy to not realise now that up to the release of this film, there really had been no screen hero like this. Never before had there been a character with such a tongue-in-cheek, morally ambivalent and hedonistic approach, a man whose own pleasures were at least as important to him as was the mission he had been sent on; he changed audience expectations of what a hero could be. In fact, this film caused some controversy on release on account of Bond's behaviour, not only his sexual dalliances but also his flippant attitude towards killing where in one scene he shot an injured adversary in the back. Up to this point British heroes tended to be of the stiff upper lip variety, gentlemen who reluctantly killed. Sean Connery puts in a very confident performance here that would forever set the standard for future portrayals, he is witty, suave and brutal. Aside from the Bond character, this film was also a massive shot in the arm for the action genre generally. It brought a whole new world of glamorous excitement, a world populated by beautiful women, exotic locations and high-octane action set-pieces. It was, and still is, a very attractive concoction.Like most films in the series, the story isn't exactly anything to write home about. Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the murder of a fellow British agent, which soon leads to a private island owned by a Chinese evil genius called Dr. No who has come up with a scheme to divert rockets fired from Cape Canaveral off their course and blackmail the U.S. into getting normal service restored. Or something. It's a story which is no more than a means to an end to allow for all the glamorised elements to come together – it's a formula that the series rarely strayed too far from. Seeing as this was the first movie, there was no title song sung by a prominent singer of the day but it was the first outing for the seminal 'James Bond Theme' by Monty Norman, which would go on to be used in every subsequent film in the series. Aside from this the somewhat atypical calypso tune 'Under a Mango Tree' features quite prominently, adding to the Caribbean flavour. This is all well and good but Dr. No is probably as celebrated for its introduction of the concept of what would go on to be known as the Bond Girl, and for many Ursula Andress remains the definitive example. She appears as a shell collecting uber-babe called Honey Ryder in a sea-emerging sequence which is so thoroughly iconic you would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of it in advance of seeing this movie. I daresay that Andress replete in bikini and/or wet-shirt for the duration of her screen-time made some serious ripples back in the early 60's. To be fair, Honey Ryder remains a knockout to this day and, as far as I'm concerned, you can't have too many Bond Girls in a movie.Overall, this really is an excellent start to a series which for my money operated at its highest level during the 60's era. In some ways it is charmingly under-done if anything, with an atypically rushed ending, which doesn't extend its action set-piece to epic scale, which in fairness was a feature which was to some of the later film's detriments. But as a fairly stripped-down Bond movie, which still has all the ingredients we love, Dr, No remains a huge amount of fun and would serve as the template movie for the glamourized spy film sub-genre forever more.

jakobwerling Dr. No was released back in 1962 and was the first official James Bond movie ever released. It has many high points and a couple low points as well. So today, I am going to critique the movie to see if it is worth your time. What was great: Sean Connery's excellent and charming performance as James Bond is without a doubt, one of the major highlights of the film. He introduced something to the world that it has never known before: The first true cinematic superhero. His performance was beyond amazing which was good because their were of many things he could've gotten wrong as this was the first James Bond movie, simply an excellent performance. Joseph Wiseman's performance as Dr. No was also excellent. He introduced many of the characteristics that every great James Bond villain should have: Charm, cunning, cruelty, menace, resourcefulness and class. Wiseman's performance delivers all of that, Wiseman also added a touch of much-needed ruthlessness to the character to show just how violent and hellbent this character is on killing this one man: MI6 agent 007. And even though this character had some problems (was excessively arrogant and was introduced too late in the film) Wiseman's performance as the titular villain helped to make this film the breakthrough it is today. This film also owes its success to another actor as well, her opening scene not only caused male hormones to surge but is also considered as iconic as James Bond's opening "Bond, James Bond" scene. I'm talking about Ursula Andress. Her opening scene as Honey Ryder was truly iconic. She walks out of the sea like Aphrodite, wearing only a white bikini as the sun shines down on her wet blonde hair. Honey Ryder was the first (and whom many consider) the quintessential Bond Girl. Ursula Andress's performance of Honey Ryder was not only great because of the iconic beach scene (which would be done in later Bond movies), but also because she made the character of Ryder extremely beautiful, innocent and self- dependent. She is often considered the best Bond Girl of all times. Dr. No also boasts some very beautiful set pieces and excellent cinematography done by Ted Moore and Ken Adam. This film also boasts excellent performances from Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell as the no-nonsense, pipe smoking head of the MI6 M and as the flirtatious, joking MI6 Secretary Miss Moneypenny. Not to mention lots of impressive action sequences such as a cliff side car chase, a gunfight against a "fire breathing dragon," a shootout against an armed speed boat and an explosive showdown at Dr. No's secret lair on the island of Crab Key, not to mention several suspenseful action sequences such as a scene in which Bond must avoid three seemingly blind expert assassins called "The Three Blind Mice," a scene in which Bond must avoid a deadly tarantula that is in his bed, a scene in which Bond, his ally Quarrel and Honey Ryder must hide from Dr. No's henchmen on Crab Key and a brutal interrogation scene. This movie also benefits from some great producing and directing skills form producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli and Director Terence Young who would also direct the next James Bond movie From Russia with Love. These were the main high points of the movie. What was good: The plot of this movie is that M16 agent 007 James Bond is sent over to Jamaica to investigate the apparent death of the former agent who was stationed there named Commander Strangways and complaints from Cape Canaveral that their rocket launches are getting disrupted through radio jamming. There, he meets friendly allies, the beautiful Honey Ryder and the villainous metal-handed Dr. No who is plotting to destroy the American Space Program. While the plot of Dr. No gets points off for being excessively simple. It is actually very action-packed and even a little realistic if you compare to other James Bond movies in the 70s. Their were also a variety of enjoyable side performances in Dr. No as well. They include Jack Lord as the loyal and resourceful, but tough American CIA agent Felix Leiter, Anthony Dawson as the shifty geologist scientist/very bad liar Professor Dent, Zena Marshall as the beautiful, mysterious and seemingly innocent secretary Miss Taro and John Kitzmiller as the gruff but superstitious Cayman Islander boatman Quarrel. Their performances are pretty good but they lose points because something happens to all of them eventually, on and off screen. And since Dr. No was the first James Bond movie, it lacked lots of things including a pre-credits scene or flashy intro scene, some proper gadgets or vehicles and an official theme song. This film does however introduce James Bond's classic gun (the Walther PPK) to the franchise and he does drive a Bentley throughout the movie and gets into a pretty big tangle with it as well. And like before I said that this film lacks an official theme song. Well, at least we get the enjoyable ditty "Underneath the Mango Tree which is sort of catchy and has a nice cultural feel to it.What was bad: One of the only bad things about this movie was that it had a horrible musical score by Monty Norman. It was really disjointed and choppy, thank God that they got rid of him in the next movie and replaced him with John Barry. This movie also had a pretty weak motor scene, it had a lot of weird flashy lights and that combined with Monty Norman's bad musical score isn't exactly a really nice experience. I have officially critiqued this movie and I have came up with my consensus: Dr. No was the first and, if excessively simple, one of the best James Bond movies of all times.

Danny S. There it is, the movie that had started the legendary franchise in 1962, starting with "Dr. No".With the great direction of Terence Young and John Barry's soundtrack, we've been introduced into the franchise of the most famous British spy written by Ian Fleming.When a MI6 agent Strangways is murdered on Jamaica, M (Bernard Lee) sends his agent, James Bond (Sean Connery) to uncover the mystery of the murder and find out about the mysterious Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman), who works in a secret organization among known as SPECTRE. On his way, James will come across some interesting characters such as Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson), a geologist who secretly works for Dr. No.The movie itself is brilliantly made. The locations, set designs made by Ken Adam (with a budget of 1.1$ million!) and the cast was perfect. Sean Connery is without any doubt my favorite James Bond actor and in the movie you can see how much he's enjoying in acting. The dinner scene with Dr. No could be, among with Honey raising from the sea, my favorite as when James asks what SPECTRE is, his face says he's nailing the scene without any problem. Dr. No is an indeed interesting and menacing villain, but it's a shame he only got 10-15 minutes on- screen, despite the movie being named after him.Locations such as Jamaica and Crab Key are really fascinating, especially Crab Key (because of low budget), for which credit goes to Ken Adam, a set designer who'd provide the fascinating set designs throughout the movies.But let's not forget that iconic scene in the beginning when James Bond is introduced at last, saying: "Bond... James Bond.". Some may say that this movie had risen Sean Connery into star, but in fact, it was From Russia With Love that had risen him into star. Actors such as Bernard Lee, who'd portray M all they way till Moonraker, does his role really well. Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny is the actress who nailed her character perfectly all the way till A View to a Kill. Interestingly, the movie doesn't have Desmond Llewelyn as a titular Q character, but instead it has Peter Burton, who only appeared in the beginning titled as Major Boothroyd for only once. Supporting cast such as Jack Lord and John Kitzmiller do their work really well and Kitzmiller's performance as Quarrel is memorable. Two Bond girls such as Eunice Gayson, who'd appear in FRWL, and Ursula Andress, are in this movie. Gayson was supposed to reprise her role for a few more movies, but it was ultimately scrapped. Andress is just so gorgeous as Honey Ryder which is unbelievable. Joseph Wiseman does a great work as Dr. No, if only he got more on- screen appearance. Of the other actors, Anthony Dawson'd re-appear in FRWL and Thunderball as Blofeld, albeit uncredited. Last, but not least important, Dr. No's guard, portrayed by Milton Reid (uncredited), would appear 15 years later in TSWLM.All in all, the movie itself was a really good beginning, but the better has to come yet!4.5 out of 5 stars.

roddekker Aside from the old "tarantula-in-the-bed" routine (hastily thrown in for good measure) and the pretty Miss Taro venomously spitting into Bond's face (applause. applause) after spending the previous hour gleefully rolling around in the sack with him - 1962's "Dr. No" contained absolutely no memorable scenes worth ranting and raving about here. (I'm not kidding!) But, with that aside - This film certainly contained lots and lots of major let-downs! Such as - The bikini-clad Ursula Andress (aka. Honey Ryder) emerging out of the sea. I'm sorry, folks, but this was not... I repeat, "THIS WAS NOT" one of the supposedly sexiest moments ever recorded in the history of film. No, it wasn't.In fact, I thought that this seashell-collecting bimbo, with her tiresome angry pout, put in one of the worst "Bond-girl" performances that I've ever seen.And, how about mad scientist, Dr. No, himself? Boy, I'm tellin' ya - This pompous, effeminate, little snot (though a gracious host) made my skin crawl with his insipid presence and his rubber-gloved hands. To me, Dr. No's character was about as menacing as a wet dishrag with his drab and dreary little "evil" plot of absolute domination of the world. (Spare me!) Instead of offering the viewer death-defying excitement, mixed generously with a stylish pizazz - Dr. No's humdrum story just sort of drifted along aimlessly from scene to scene without much drive or momentum..... Anyway - What more can I say?