Hucknall's Arc Cinema welcomes James Bond in No Time To Die with fantastic casino night

The late-night event, on Wednesday, saw fans enjoy a glass of something sparkly followed by a chance to try their hands at roulette and blackjack, gambling with Arc-themed Bond money.

The attraction, the brainchild of Mark Gallagher, manager of the High Street venue, could have been seen as something of a gamble.

But a fantastic turnout, many of whom sported dinner jackets and bow ties, added to what was an incredibly successful occasion.

And it was all capped off with a showing of the movie, Daniel Craig’s last as the super spy, at one minute past midnight.

Mark said: “It was great to see everyone enjoying themselves. You never know if something like this is going to work, especially midweek.

"But we had a fantastic response and it’s great to get the support of local cinema fans.”

As for the main course of the night, a chance to see a film repeatedly delayed because of Covid-19, only one word is befitting……..epic!

The film was due to originally open in April last year – around the same time as the £3 million Arc.

But delay after delay left fans wondering if the unthinkable could happen and the 25th Bond outing would revert to streaming services.

Thankfully that hasn’t happened and it is a good thing too. This is a film that, if you are, or ever have been, a fan of cinema MUST be seen on the big screen.

At almost three hours long you could be forgiven for thinking it is a big investment, but in truth it feels like a fraction of the length despite a couple of meandering periods midway through.

READ THIS: what’s on and when, including Bond times, at Arc Cinema

The fact is No Time To Die delivers everything you expect from MI6’s main man. Even M, who Bond irreverently refers to as ‘darling’ in the film, would pay to see this.

The script is as polished as Mr Bond’s formal shoes, the scenery and locations as stunning as any Bond girl who has stepped into a role down the years and the action as crisp as one of the spy’s impeccably pressed dress shirts.

The opening scenes takes us back in time to a shocking – and explosive – episode in the young life of one of the film’s main characters, Dr Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux).

Then, the same doctor, years later, is on a romantic getaway with the now retired Bond in Italy.

But the seemingly well-earned tranquility is shattered in true 007 style amid some truly incredible action sequences, complete with machine-gun loaded classic Aston Martin.

It transpired that the thread of the film is around a bioweapon, codename Heracles, that has been developed by M using a rogue Russian scientist.

As you can imagine this is attractive to every bad guy on earth. But with Bond ‘out of the game’ he is ordered to stand down as the current 007, agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch) takes charge.