No Time to Die review

NO TIME TO DIE: 

NOT DANIEL CRAIG’S BEST OUTING AS JAMES BOND, BUT HE GOES OUT ON AN ACTION-PACKED AND EMOTIONALLY AFFECTING NOTE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

MGM

Daniel Craig as James Bond for the last time in No Time to Die

 

            Daniel Craig (Layer Cake, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Knives Out) hands in his gun and hangs up the suit in No Time to Die, the fifth and final chapter of Craig’s run as MI6 agent, James Bond and the twenty-fifth film overall in the long-running James Bond franchise. The production and especially the release of Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007 is quite an interesting one because not only was Danny Boyle originally attached to direct but was replaced by Cary Joji Fukunaga (Jane Eyre (2011), True Detective, Beasts of No Nation) due to creative differences and Craig injuring himself during production, but it was one of the first films that was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

            The release date for No Time to Die was originally for an April 2020 release, but then COVID hit and changed the plan drastically, then the film was scheduled for a November release, and one more attempt at an April release the following year, until finally landing an October 2021 release. Between the releases of 2015’s Spectre and this movie, No Time to Die holds the record for the longest gap between Bond films (Six years), surpassing the gap between License to Kill and Goldeneye.

            Now that the film is finally released, does it give Daniel Craig a proper sendoff especially after the divisive responses to his previous film, Spectre or will this farewell be about on par with Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond film, Die Another Day? The answer is not the latter! 

            While I may prefer films like Casino Royale and Skyfall more because those films, I think have the strongest narratives, No Time to Die is a fitting conclusion for his run as the character that ties up most of the loose ends from his previous films and brings everything to an action-packed and emotionally powerful close. Not quite on the same level as something like Avengers: Endgame or Logan, but close enough. 

            The film is set five years after the events of Spectre and follows now retired MI6 agent, James Bond (Craig) enjoying a peaceful life in Jamaica. Unfortunately, his vacation is cut short when his old friend from the CIA, Felix (Jeffrey Wright-The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Syriana, The Hunger Games franchise, reprising his role from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) shows up asking for his help and gives him a mission. 

            That mission is to rescue a kidnapped scientist (David Dencik-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Chernobyl) who has developed a bioweapon known as Project Heracles which is only deadly to a specific target’s DNA, but ruthless terrorist leader, Safin (Rami Malek-Night at the Museum trilogy, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Little Things) plans to weaponize it even further to kill millions and start a new world order. This leads Bond to reunite with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux-Inglourious Basterds, Midnight in Paris, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, reprising her role from Spectre) who is now a single mother with a five-year-old daughter and has a history with Safin, and with the aid of Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris-Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Moonlight, Venom: Let There Be Carnage), M (Ralph Fiennes-Harry Potter franchise, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The King’s Man), Q (Ben Whishaw-Paddington 1 and 2, Suffragette, The Danish Girl), CIA agent, Paloma (Ana de Armas-Knock Knock, Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out), and a new 007 in the form of Nomi (Lashana Lynch-Brotherhood, Still Star-Crossed, Captain Marvel), James will do whatever he can to stop Safin and Project Heracles in an action-packed and emotional final stand. 

            The film also stars Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Alita: Battle Angel) reprising his role from Spectre as Ernest Blofeld and Rory Kinnear (Broken, The Imitation Game, Peterloo) reprising his role as Bill Tanner. 

            Overall, No Time to Die isn’t the deepest story wise, but it’s nonetheless an exhilarating and emotionally satisfying final chapter of Daniel Craig’s James Bond series. It’s easily the best final film for a James Bond actor, which sadly isn’t saying much because Diamonds Are Forever, A View to a Kill, and Die Another Day while entertaining to an extent were quite underwhelming conclusions to those eras of Bond actors. 

            What makes No Time to Die work as a conclusion to Craig’s run as Bond compared to earlier films is because his movies are direct sequels to one-another with a continuing story arc that shows how Bond evolves as a character throughout the five films from a stone-cold assassin to…kind of a decent human being and gives closure to the events in previous films. 

Besides Bond, the side characters are also very likable and most of them have a decent amount of screen-time in the film, some of my favorites being Ana de Armas as Paloma and Lashana Lynch as Nomi. Despite not being in the movie for very long, De Armas owns the few scenes that she’s in as this rookie CIA agent who’s irresponsible but is also very free-spirited and often quite funny to the point where I kind of wished she was the Bond girl in this movie, maybe we’ll see more of her in future Bond films, while Lashana Lynch’s Nomi, a younger and cockier 007 compared to Bond and has a bit of a playful rivalry with him which is especially applicable during a chase in Cuba where Bond and Nomi are racing on foot to catch the scientist who made Heracles and both of them are trying to 1-up each other during this sequence, like a much less violent version of the rivalry between Idris Elba and John Cena in The Suicide Squad. 

The action sequences are spectacular with the highlight being the pre-title sequence where Bond is fighting off Spectre assassins in Matera and a lengthy chase involving a bridge, a motorcycle, and an Aston Martin DB5 car that goes on for a good 15 minutes, and a shootout reminiscent to that of John Wick or The Raid: Redemption, very exciting sequences especially on the IMAX screen. 

The villains, however, are hit-or-miss, Rami Malek is giving his all and at times he can be threatening, but he’s a very generic, almost cartoonish Bond villain that’s more like a villain of the week type of character rather than the be all, end all Bond foe. Malek’s a great actor but he doesn’t quite have the menace or even charisma of someone like Javier Bardem from Skyfall…oh, and Christoph Waltz from Spectre is wasted again…that’s kind of lame! 

No Time to Die is a fitting sendoff for Daniel Craig as Bond, even if the plot is a bit messy and the runtime is a little long, I was thoroughly entertained and still can’t believe this is the end of an era, Craig has portrayed James Bond for fifteen years now, so it only figures in his last film he’d go out on a high note, which he did. I’m looking forward to seeing who the next Bond will be, though it will be very difficult for someone to fit that tux. Farewell Mr. Craig!