Movie Review - No Time To Die

This is the 25th James Bond film and it's the fifth featuring Daniel Craig. It's also the final James Bond film to feature Craig. Craig is the sixth actor to play the role. What was unique about Craig's tenure as the character created by Ian Fleming is that Craig's five films were serialized, meaning that the story from one film to the other was continued and connected to one another. Most, if not all of the previous Bond films were individual and not connected to any previous. The tone of Craig's first entry, that of Casino Royale (2006) was such a different tone than previous Bond flicks. It was darker and more gritty, arguably more realistic. As such, Craig's second entry, that of Quantum of Solace (2008), felt the need to have a narrative that literally picked up where the last one left off. The whole thing became less of individual adventures and instead one long adventure spread out over the course of several films.

Having a serialized story seems antithetical to the way this franchise has been run for nearly 60 years. This franchise is meant to go on perpetually with Bond in the center, never changing and always coming out the winner, resetting and then moving to the next assignment. Fleming's book tells of Bond having family, some relatives and even one book suggests that Bond has a child, but the films have reduced him to being an international man of mystery with no such attachments. This film hopes to change all that and make Bond not just an action figure or sex symbol, and more of a fleshed-out and more rounded and empathetic person.

That being said, one could still enjoy this film as an individual action-adventure. To feel the pathos, one would probably have to be familiar with Craig's previous entries, specifically the previous entry, that of Spectre (2015). There are references here to Casino Royale, but this film is more of a sequel to Spectre than to anything else. However, the links back to Spectre feel forced, as a way to wrap things up and seem like a more coherent thing. Having not seen Spectre, I can't speak to it too much, but Bond's relationship to Madeleine Swann, played by Léa Seydoux, is central here. Madeleine was introduced in Spectre. Having not seen that 2015 blockbuster, I wasn't as invested in that relationship, which was difficult because this film essentially tosses out that relationship in the beginning.

The action scenes were entertaining but I felt as though the set-pieces leaned more toward what we've seen in films like F9: The Fast Saga (2021). There is a scene in that Vin Diesel vehicle where a character comments on the fact that things felt like they had no stakes and no real threat to any of the protagonists. For the majority of the action here, I felt the same for Bond. No matter how many bullets are fired at him, he never gets hit. In some moments, it felt like Bond wasn't even trying to avoid or dodge bullets. As such, those scenes weren't thrilling because I never felt the danger. This would've been fine if the set-pieces were inventive or clever. The Mission: Impossible franchise has inventive or clever set-pieces that always manage to engage. This one doesn't.

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody and Short Term 12) co-stars as Lyutsifer Safin, a terrorist who runs an organization that is planning a global attack. He's in line with Bond villains of yesteryear. The film goes out of its way to link Safin to the events of Spectre. I'm not sure what the ultimate benefit of that is, other than making the whole thing feel connected or more serialized than it needed to be. In fact, the film spends so much time looking backward that it detracts from the time that this film spends looking forward.

Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) plays Nomi, a Black woman who takes on the moniker of "007," which was James Bond's designation at MI6. She's essentially there to replace him or take over after Bond retires or dies. When Bond realizes this, there is tension there. It's played for comedy for the most part, but the film doesn't really have the time to reckon with this. The fact that Nomi is a Black woman is perhaps in itself a commentary on the long-running criticism of 007 being a white man. Many hope that future Bond films will center on Bond being a person of color. Changing the gender of Bond might be a step too far for people, but this film essentially floats that idea but here James Bond as a white man is still front and center. It would be interesting to see the reaction if that white man were eliminated entirely.

In another nod to diversity, Ben Whishaw reprises his role of Q, a role he's had since Skyfall (2012). It was within a year of that or so that Whishaw publicly came out as gay. As perhaps a nod to that, Q has a scene where he basically acknowledges himself being gay. There was a homoerotic insinuation in Skyfall, but the films have never really wavered from the underlining of Bond being straight. It would be interesting to see Bond as a gay man in a future installment, but it's doubtful that would ever happen, even if this franchise goes on for another 60 years. The nod that Q is gay is a nice step forward but we never see the boyfriend that Q mentions nor do we see him express his love for said boyfriend, so it feels like the film not committing to this nod to diversity as it could have.

In terms of quality and prestige, the third Craig entry, that of Skyfall, is the entry that people believe is the best. Consequently, Skyfall received the most accolades, including five nominations of the Academy Award. It was up for five Oscars. It won two, including Best Original Song and Best Sound Editing. The one award for which it was nominated but didn't win but that I believed was deserved was Best Cinematography. Here, director Cary Joji Fukunaga doesn't really impress with his visuals as the 2012 entry did. The titular song did win a Grammy Award for Billie Eilish earlier this year, so it's likely the song will again be the thing to bring this franchise to the Oscars.

Rated PG-13 for violence and action, disturbing images, brief strong language.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 43 mins.

In theaters.