My wife and I saw the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die, at the theater yesterday. We both enjoyed it, though I have my criticisms and she has hers. Was it the greatest Bond film ever made? No. People can argue over which of the 25 films is the greatest and I’m not going to get into it here. Was it the worst? No, in my view that dishonor belongs to Moonraker.

This blog post is not a review. I don’t do those. Never have, never will. You can see the movie yourself and make up your own mind. There is one thing about No Time to Die that bothers me. There is no tribute to Sean Connery or Roger Moore, former Bonds who have passed away in the years since the last 007 release, Spectre. I stayed in the theatre through the end of the credits just to be sure.

To quote Bond himself (from Goldfinger), “Shocking, positively shocking.”

Connery set the mold for James Bond. Every actor to take on the role since has been compared to him. Moore kept 007 a going concern through the 1970s and the early 1980s. The first Bond film I ever saw in a theatre was 1981’s For Your Eyes Only and to this day I still enjoy it. Few could argue that these two actors are as responsible as anyone for the success of the Bond franchise.

All the attention has been given to the fact that No Time to Die is Daniel Craig’s last turn as the man with the license to kill. That’s fine, but it would have been nice to have ended the film with some kind of “In memory of…” or maybe “This film is dedicated to…” as an acknowledgement of Connery and Moore’s contributions to the success of 007. The producers have really dropped the ball, here, and now that the movie’s out it’s too late to pick it up.

It’s like giving 007 a vodka martini that’s been stirred, not shaken.