NO TIME TO DIE
2021 | Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga | 163 Minutes
"We both eradicate people to make the world a better place. I just want it to be... tidier."
2021 | Dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga | 163 Minutes
"We both eradicate people to make the world a better place. I just want it to be... tidier."
When a scientist developing a potentially apocalyptic virus is abducted from a secret MI6 lab, Felix Leiter convinces James Bond to come out of retirement. Facing the abandoned love of his life and an MI6 that has decidedly moved on without him, Bond is tasked with saving the world from the whims of a delusional mad man one last time.
Cary Joji Fukunaga's No Time To Die is an unprecedented James Bond film in a multitude of ways. Save for a brief, jaunty excursion to Cuba where Bond partners with a gorgeous and extremely competent junior CIA agent, Fukunaga's picture trades nearly every last shred of the carefree escapist adventure that defines much of the Eon Productions' flagship franchise for a poignant tale of high stakes espionage that sheds all of the glamour from the life of the premier debonair superspy. Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond brings the character arc of his unique take on the British agent to its natural conclusion, one that's equally tragic and heroic. True to the rougher, more grounded characterization of Craig's Bond introduced in Casino Royale, this significantly flawed, deeply emotional modern version of Ian Fleming's unapologetically hard drinking, womanizing hero was never going to simply ride off to a seemingly happy ending with a beautiful woman in his vintage Aston Martin DB5 as depicted in the final moments of Spectre. Poetically, Bond lives a life beset by distrust and death, and in this grand finale, he finds that he has no choice but to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve new life in the name of love and duty. While intellectually stimulating, whether or not this all works as a film is absolutely up for debate. The serialized nature of Craig's tenure as 007 necessitates this final installment to address and conclude various storylines introduced in previous films, particularly the ones centered on Blofeld and Madeleine Swann returning from Spectre, requiring audiences to have a working knowledge of this Bond's previous adventures and inflating the length of the picture to nearly three unwieldy hours. Luckily, No Time To Die is as slick and objectively entertaining as most of the better films in the series.
Photographed with real panache by Swedish cinematographer Linus Sandgren, the action sequences featured in No Time To Die are plentiful and thoroughly thrilling. The extended opening act in Matera is stunning, going out of its way to deliver Daniel Craig's best car chase as Bond. The shoot-out at SPECTRE's hidden-in-plain-sight Cuban club is amusing, particularly as Ana de Armas' Palmoa shows off her considerable skills while sharing delightful banter with Craig's Bond. The battle in the Norwegian forest that leads into the final act of the picture is one the most visceral sequences in Craig's tenure only to be blown away towards the end of the film by a nerve-racking one-take gun fight in supervillain Safin's island lair.
The film's score by the ever-prolific Hans Zimmer packs a few pleasant surprises. Delivering all of the customary bombast of Zimmer's trademark style, it references David Arnold's theme for Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale in one key moment and, more astoundingly, majestic renditions of John Barry's theme for On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World" (with the original song in all its glory playing at one point during the end credits), thematically bridging that devastatingly fatalistic Bond film effectively with this one.
Unlike some of the lackluster final performances from other prominent James Bond actors, for his last appearance in the role, the fully-committed Daniel Craig clearly gives it his all. Both physically and emotionally intense as ever, Craig makes exits the role with an impressively strong and versatile performance, bringing humor, rage, joy and, ultimately, an unshakable sense of resignation. Returning to the previously underdeveloped role of Madeleine Swann, Léa Seydoux also gives a praiseworthy nuanced performance, this time with arc as a woman harboring painful secrets in love with a man who seems incapable of trust. As the visually striking antagonist Lyutsifer Safin, Rami Malek is utterly fascinating despite the character's criminally limited screen time. As Nomi, the current the 007, Lashana Lynch is boundlessly charismatic and absolutely convincing as a take on the seductive, deadly, no-nonsense secret agent that somehow feels cut from the classic mold but also new and fresh at the same time. Returning players Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, and Christoph Waltz respectively reprising the roles of Leiter, M, Moneypenney, Q, Tanner, and Blofeld make up a stacked, absurdly talented supporting cast that's further bolstered by Ana de Armas in what amounts to an extended by memorable cameo appearance as the Cuban CIA agent Paloma, French-Algerian actor Dali Benssalah making for a formidable recurring foe as Primo, Billy Magnussen appropriately obnoxious as the insufferably cheery Logan Ash, David Dencik as persistent cockroach of a scientist Valdo Obruchev, and young Lisa-Dorah Sonnet playing the secret emotional core of the story.
Emotionally exhausting but reasonably satisfying, No Time To Die gives Daniel Craig's iteration of James Bond a proper definitive ending for better or worse. Unlike any Bond picture before it, this installment provides resounding closure for the iconic secret agent and all of the pathos that comes with an ending of this nature. By no means for the uninitiated, longtime Bond series fans should find a lot to love about this one if they are willing to embrace the sometimes questionable serialized format of Craig's 007 films and if they can spare nearly three hours to indulge in the picture's extended run time.
THE COLD OPEN
The longest pre-credits sequence for any Bond film, Madeleine Swann's origin story (extrapolated from a few lines of dialogue in Spectre) and the lengthy prologue in Matera that culminates with a stunning action sequence more in line with a standard Bond cold open are separately engaging but the pacing of the film perhaps could have benefited from the Madeleine's backstory being moved to later in the film or cut entirely.
THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Billie Eilish's "No Time To Die" is a stirring, mournful ballad that fits Craig's Bond perfectly, effectively conveying his inability to trust and to love. Daniel Kleinman's title sequence itself starts with a nod to the Dr. No opening titles with neat now-retro circle graphics, eventually shifting to stylized imagery touting a clock motif that prove to be competent but not particularly memorable considering Kleinman's past work on the series.
THE BOND GIRL
A first for the series, Dr. Madeleine Swann returns as the primary love interest though her presence is absolutely welcome and proves to be essential. Madeleine receives the characterization she deserved but was not afforded in Spectre, this time totally convincing as the woman with the potential to change Bond's life. Her key revelation late in the film truly changes everything, in turn revealing a more tender side of Bond never before seen. In another film Paloma perhaps would have been the Bond girl but spending more time with Madeleine and exploring what makes her tick certainly works out for the best.
THE BOND VILLAIN
Lyutsifer Safin ticks all of the boxes of the Bond villain checklist. Unusual physical deformity, diabolical homicidal scheme, mostly impractical secret lair, utterly ridiculous name. Unfortunately, besides serving as an obstacle in Bond's way, one final enemy to deal with, there isn't much to his character besides a vendetta against SPECTRE, a mad scheme to "cleanse the world," and an obsession with Madeleine. He perhaps would have been more impressive if he had a larger "poison garden."
FEATURED HENCHMAN
Primo with his prosthetic eye isn't the most memorable henchman but he certainly is one of the most tenacious. From the moment he takes off his shades in the cold open to his epic death punctuated with Craig's final Bond one-liner, Primo and his crazy eyes simply refused to go down until he was truly dead.
BEST GADGET
Not a Bond gadget from Q branch but the elaborate portable magnet system Safin's henchmen use when abducting Obruchev is quite nifty.
FLEMING FIDELITY
Safin's "poison garden" is a reworking of Blofeld's "Garden of Death" from Ian Fleming's 1964 James Bond novel You Only Live Twice. In the novel, Bond infiltrates the garden where suicidal people go to die in order to face Blofeld one last time. In the same novel, Bond strangles Blofeld to death, similar to how Blofeld meets his demise in this film.
FRAGMENTS
- Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas previously appeared together in Rian Johnson's Knives Out
- During the film's last act, Ralph Fiennes's M sits by portraits of previous incarnations of M played by Robert Brown and Judy Dench
- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Marvels)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and The Marvels)
