Home | Anime | Movies | Soundtracks | Graphic Novels
Dr. No
Score: 90%
Rating: PG
Publisher: Fox Home Entertainment
Region: 1
Media: Blu-ray/1
Running Time: 110 Mins.
Genre: Action/Suspense
Audio: English DTS HD 5.1 Master
           Lossless Audio, English Mono,
           Spanish Mono, French 5.1 Dolby
           Surround

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Features:
  • Audio Commentary with Director Terence Young and Members of the Cast and Crew
  • 007: License to Restore Featurette
  • The Guns of James Bond Featurette
  • Premiere Bond: Opening Nights Featurette
  • Interactive Guide into the World of Dr. No
  • Inside Dr. No
  • Terence Young: Bond Vivant Featurette
  • Dr. No 1963 Featurette
  • Image Database
  • Theatrical Trailers, TV and Radio Spots

Dr. No was James Bond's first appearance on the big screen and what an appearance it was! Sean Connery shines as the debonair spy, licensed to kill the men and thrill the ladies. Here, he finds himself summoned to Kingston, Jamaica when a group of operatives suddenly go radio silent. As he investigates, with the help of CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and his local assistant, Quarral (John Kitzmiller), he'll go up against tarantulas that visit in the night and exotic ladies bent on his destruction. And that's all before things even get rolling! He soon finds that a mysterious island called Crab Key holds many secrets, including radioactive materials, a fire-breathing "dragon" and a lovely shell-digger named Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress).

Once Bond and Honey are captured, they learn of Dr. No's (Joseph Wiseman) secret lair and his evil plan for world domination and the complete, nuclear destruction of the US Space Program. It is up to Bond to escape his holding cell, foil Dr. No's plot to set off the reactor, rescue Honey and escape the island, all while keeping his stellar cool.

There are some extremely interesting special features to be found here, and some that are rather pointless. For the classic Bond fan, there are featurettes on the restoration process that the Lowery Group took to bring this film back to incredible life, plus a neat one of the Bond film premieres throughout the years, along with one on the weapons of Bond. There's a rather long featurette on the making-of Dr. No and also one on Director Terence Young. What I found somewhat pointless were the interactive guides to the women of the film and to Bond's signature scenes, etc. I guess if you were looking for a certain time in the film, this would make sense, but it seemed more like filler to me. Still, the other featurettes are simply excellent, so I won't fault them for adding additional stuff.

As is evidenced visually, in a side by side comparison, you can see just how much better this restoration looks when compared to the original film. The work these folks did is truly amazing to see. However, I wasn't quite as impressed with the sound, at least in the early parts of the movie. When the action music would kick in, it would be so loud, I would have to turn it down. Then when the talking began again, I'd have to turn it back up. I only noticed this in the early part of the movie and it did resolve itself. Not sure what was going on there, but it was certainly better than For Your Eyes Only, where it was throughout the entire film.

All in all, if you are a Bond fan, then this is a must-have for your collection. It's the very first Bond film and this is as good as it can get visually, which is to say, fantastic.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins
Related Links:


This site best viewed in Internet Explorer 6 or higher or Firefox.