No Time to Die | Review
No Time to Die is the 25th film in the James Bond series, based on the spy novels by Ian Fleming, and the final one starring Daniel Craig. After nearly six decades, James Bond has become one of the most successful franchises in film history, only behind behemoths like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. But centering your films on a character created 60 years ago has its pitfalls—the sexism and misogyny are hard to ignore. As someone who has never been entrenched in the Bond films, I’ve always wondered what the appeal of James Bond was. Why exactly is he relevant? This film tries to answer this question, to varying degrees of success. But as a swan song to Craig’s Bond era, under the direction of Cary Joji Fukunaga, consider this a solid success.
At the end of the last film, Spectre, agent 007 James Bond was seen driving off into the sunset with new flame Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), presumably living happily ever after now that his evil adopted brother, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), the “author” of all of his pain, had been captured. There were no more secrets to uncover—or so, he thought. Bond, happily retired, is living a tranquil life with Swann. But of course, this is a Bond film, so it doesn’t take long for him to be pulled out of retirement. When his friend, CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), requests his help to find a kidnapped scientist, it leads Bond to face a new deadly villain who has history with his beloved Swann.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright)
Until this past weekend, when I binged the Daniel Craig Bond films (two of which I saw for the first time) I’d only ever seen one other Bond flick; it was the one with Halle Berry in it (a quick google search tells me it’s Die Another Day, starring Pierce Brosnan), which I saw for a friend’s birthday when I was nine-years-old. So it’s safe to say I don’t know much about these films or what exactly makes a James Bond film a James Bond film. I knew the basic elements—the gun barrel shots, the theme song, the Bond songs, the Bond girls, the “shaken, not stirred” vodka martinis—but I didn’t understand what fans come to see these films for. The Mission: Impossible films have death-defying stunts; the Bourne films had gritty realism; the Kingsmen films are flashy and over-the-top. Naturally, my perception of James Bond and his films can only be compared to the ones I’ve seen and can remember, i.e. the Daniel Craig ones.
Based on the reviews for 2006’s Casino Royale, Craig’s first outing as Bond, it was a reinvention of the character, darker and grittier, focusing less on visual effects and gadgets and more on character and story. Craig’s iteration of the character was so well-received that there were even talks of an Academy Award nomination for the actor!
I also understand that previous Bond films were mostly standalone, while Craig’s featured a serialized story across all five of his films. It’s a worthy attempt that’s likely a result of the overwhelming influence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (everything is connected!), but it’s also a decision that never fully made sense. Casino Royale introduced a newly-instated Bond; Quantum of Solace took place immediately after Casino Royale, so, again, he’s new; and yet Skyfall introduced the idea that Bond was getting old and irrelevant even though it’s only his third appearance as the character! No Time to Die continues the theme of Skyfall to slightly greater effect now that we’re 15-years into Craig’s tenure.
Nomi (Lashana Lynch)
The introduction of Lashana Lynch’s character, Nomi, demonstrates this best. Lynch, who broke out in Captain Marvel, stars as Nomi, a new, younger 00 agent two years into the job. Lynch is, once again, a standout here as a skilled and confident secret agent, competitive yet humble, and sometimes funny; she feels like a fully-fleshed out character instead of a token Black role. Thankfully, Lynch has much more to do in this film than she did in Captain Marvel.
Also new is Ana de Armas as CIA agent Paloma. De Armas, who was fantastic in her breakout role in Knives Out, which also co-starred Craig, is another scene-stealer here, though her screen time is way too short. Paloma’s introduction as fresh eye candy for Bond initially calls back to earlier Bond girl tropes, but the film quickly subverts this expectation in a humorous fashion when she quickly shuts down his advances and, eventually, helps him kill several baddies.
The inclusion of two women who can kick ass and aren’t sexed up by Bond is intentional, with this being the first Bond film produced in the post-Me Too era. Co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag & Killing Eve), only the second woman ever to scribe a Bond film, was brought in not only to spruce up the script with added humor and character development, but also to give a sense of richness to the women characters. “The important thing is that the film treats the women properly,” says Waller-Bridge. This is the first Bond film I’ve seen where the women aren’t expendable; they’re not disposable casualties in Bond’s journey. We’re far from the days of Sean Connery’s rapey Bond or even Craig’s Bond in Skyfall, who exploites a sex trafficking victim.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Paloma (Ana de Armas)
What’s also refreshing about No Time to Die is the direction of Cary Joji Fukunaga, the first American and Asian American to direct a Bond feature. The critically-acclaimed director of eclectic works like Sin nombre, Jane Eyre, Beasts of No Nation, True Detective (Season 1), and Maniac, shows he has the chops to pull off a character-driven spy thriller, which he also co-wrote. Fukunaga and cinematographer Linus Sandgren (La La Land & First Man) provide some of the most thrilling action, and beautiful and stunning photography, in the series. There’s even a fantastic action sequence that calls back to Fukunaga’s famous tracking shot from True Detective.
A lot of care was clearly put into No Time to Die. For a film that’s nearly three hours long it never feels like it, thanks to the assured editing from Elliot Graham (Steve Jobs) and Tom Cross (La La Land). Hans Zimmer’s bombastic score, of which I’m a sucker for, complements the film’s thrills as well as its quiet moments. Even Billie Eilish’s relentlessly dour Bond song, which I absolutely did not care for when it was released last year, works in the context of the film.
Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek)
There are still a few notable flaws, however. Rami Malek’s villainous Lyutsifer Safin is… fine. For the most part he’s the typical Bond villain with a facial deformity bent on world domination. Though, admittedly, Malek does the best he can with such a thinly-written role, sometimes effective in conveying Safin’s creepiness. But with the return of so many supporting characters (M, Q, Moneypenny, Bill Tanner, Felix Leiter, Madeleine Swann) and keeping them involved in Bond’s mission, and the introduction of new ones (Nomi, Paloma), there’s little screen time dedicated to Safin. His villain monologue, which the filmmakers tried to subvert, doesn’t end up subverting any tropes at all, and still results in a convoluted master plan.
Bond’s romantic relationship is a major plot point told across all five of Craig’s films, and though they do manage to make the films more character-focused, they’re still not all that convincing. Yes, Eva Green was good as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, and Bond is still grieving her death four films later, but it didn’t feel like she was in his life long enough to have this much of an impact on his life; at best they only knew each other for a few days. His new love, Madeleine Swann, was only just introduced in the last film (Spectre), and Seydoux and Craig have zero chemistry (the 17-year age gap between the two certainly doesn’t help).
Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux)
There are other minor issues, like the idea that Bond and Felix are as close as brothers, which isn’t effective to us as a viewer because after Felix was introduced in Casino Royale, he barely appeared in Quantum of Solace, and was missing from the last two films. There’s also the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line that tells us Q (Ben Whishaw) is queer (I guess the codename “Q” represents more than just “Quartermaster”). There’s a half-baked idea that Bond and Safin are two sides of the same coin, that their histories and goals are parallel. And the ending feels a bit rushed, not allowing us to breathe before the credits start rolling.
Despite these issues, No Time to Die ends up being Daniel Craig’s best Bond film. Craig is excellent as a weary and pensive Bond. The screenplay (also co-written by franchise mainstays Neal Purvis and Robert Wade), imbeds the character with moments of gravitas among the barrage of action. Malek’s Safin, though underdeveloped, still manages to have the biggest effect on Bond out of the previous four villains, one who finally breaks him. Fukunaga and co have given us a worthy and satisfying conclusion to Daniel Craig’s James Bond, whose final scene is one of the most emotional I’ve ever seen in a Bond film and nearly brought me to tears.
