No Time to Die

We've waited a long time for this film. Not only did it come several years after its predecessor (SPECTRE came out in 2015!), but we also saw it delayed numerous times due to the pandemic. Now, 6 years later, we're finally getting the end of the Daniel Craig Bond era, a 15 year (!) tenure. 

It's obvious by now that his casting in the iconic role was a masterstroke, met originally with criticism (gasp, a blonde Bond!) but now he's widely praised as the best, for good reason. Across his five films, he's been electric, often giving the role his all physically while being a talented enough actor to bring more depth to Bond, something that was seldom explored in the franchise up until his time. 

No Time to Die then becomes something of an event film, especially for Bond aficionados like myself. If you're new here, I've been "Retro" Reviewing every single Bond film in anticipation for this latest entry with plans for the "Ultimate" Bond Ranking coming likely a few days from now. So, with Craig's 4 films divided into 2 "okay" ones (I think they're generally fine) and 2 fantastic ones, on which side of the aisle will No Time to Die land on? 

The easy, quick answer is: somewhere in the middle, but much closer to the latter. I won't sell No Time to Die to you as something that's better than Casino Royale or Skyfall, but when you remember how tall of an order that is, I hope it puts your expectations in check. My recent re-watches of Craig's Bond films reminded me just how "high" those high-points of the franchise were. And honestly? No Time to Die is another one, even if it's not as high. 

"5. Yes. That's how many films I've done."

"This is a wild hail storm!"

With this being the final Craig film - pretty much the only era with a strong amount of continuity between films - the biggest questions and places of intrigue are with the story. What happens? Who lives? Who dies? What big reveals are there? In my mind, I split up No Time to Die into the "James-centric" stuff and the villain-of-the-week stuff. The latter is fairly disappointing after all the build up that this would "connect everything" as there was very little call back to previous films as far back as Royale and Rami Malek's villain, Safin, is just on the cusp of being something special, but ultimately undercooked. But wherever that story falls flat, the focus on Bond, his career, his life, and his legacy is incredible and presents some of my favorite moments in this series thus far - not to mention some of Craig's most outstanding work in the role. To say much more would be to enter spoilerish territory, but while the villain and interconnectedness of the 5 films doesn't necessarily land, everything to do with Craig's departure of the role absolutely does. There's been a lot said about the film's massive, nearly 3 hour runtime, but it moves along at such a brisk pace that I didn't have issue with it. Many others likely will if Bond isn't that big of a deal to them, but I rarely found myself thinking "Gees this could be shorter", even if that's 100% true that it could have been. 

Across this globetrotting adventure, we get to meet a lot of old characters and a couple new ones. Almost everyone is worth a mention because they're all cast so well, but I'll start with Lea Seydoux. I'm not sure what it was, but she wasn't really doing it for me in SPECTRE, nor did I really think her and Craig had chemistry. It's hard not to compare them to Craig and Eva Greene's Vesper - which was electric and palpable - but even still Craig and Seydoux needed work. So whether it was Fukunaga's direction or just a better film, Seydoux won me over here. She's not really a Bond girl in the traditional sense as much as she is a love interest but their chemistry works this time around and her performance is wonderful. All others, including Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, and (especially) Jeffrey Wright deserve praise, not to mention a few I left out. And then there's Ana de Armas, who comes in like a firecracker, reuniting with her Knives Out castmate in Craig, and was so much fun, that I'm begging for her to be featured in future installments or to get a bloody spin-off. She's woefully underutilized here. 

I WANT AN ANA DE ARMAS AS PALOMA MOVIE NOW!!

Something of a miss for SPECTRE was the action. Aside from an exciting car chase and long-take opening, the action beats of the previous film were dully filmed (especially the finale) and didn't land. For the Craig era, that was very weird - even Solace had tremendous action, just poorly filmed - so I was eager to see if No Time to Die would rectify it. Boy does it. Unfortunately it's a film where the best action is at the front, but even still, our opening with the classic Aston Martin DB5 is, quite simply, one of the best car action sequences in Bond franchise history. Even from it's starting moments on foot, I was on the edge of my seat, it builds tension, the action feels real, and it features the most gorgeous car ever made. From there, we get some other awesome shoot-outs, including a highlight-reel sequence with de Armas, and a horror-esque forest chase that's quite unique. Nothing ever tops the free-running sequence from Royale but A) that's nearly impossible and B) the initial DB5 sequence comes awfully close. Also a shout out for all the Aston Martins in the film -- there's a nice surprise for those who are fans of the Dalton Bond era -- even if I was pining (pining!) for the Aston Martin Valhalla which appears in the background of Q-branch to eventually be used. Sadly it is not. 

Finally, No Time to Die deserves praise for just being a damn well made movie. Again, after SPECTRE was oddly flat and just "fine", it felt like the creative juices in the Craig era were empty. Now, thanks to Cary Joji Fukunaga, Hans Zimmer, some spice from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Linus Sandgren (and many others) we've got probably the most well-made Bond film aside from Skyfall. Sandgren deserves special shout-out for doing his best Roger Deakins impression, and nailing it. The cinematography in No Time to Die is breathtaking, almost reaching the exquisite highs of Skyfall. Waller-Bridge's additions to the script add just the right amount of zingy humor throughout, without turning into a Marvel affair and while Zimmer's score isn't an all-time best from him, it's still Hans f**king Zimmer so it's great. Fukunaga (True Detective season 1) proves he was the right person for the job, understanding the Bond franchise and avoiding some of the staleness that its predecessor had fallen into.

So long Bond, James Bond.

For those only casually into James Bond, No Time to Die will likely be an entertaining, but overlong diversion for them. It's got a lot to offer, is well made, and features an amazing send-off for the Bond of this generation. For someone like me however, who loves James Bond, has now seen all the films, is reading the novels, has the Aston Martin DB5 Lego, and even wrote 2 novels largely inspired by the spy, No Time to Die is an exciting and poignant ending to the best Bond we've had so far in Daniel Craig. Whomever comes next in the role is going to have big shoes to fill.

CONS

• Didn't need to be 163 minutes. I didn't mind it much, but others will
• Woefully underused Ana de Armas
• Rami Malek's villain is so damn close to being iconic, but isn't fleshed out enough
• The plot points regarding his villainy are disappointingly shallow and don't really connect the franchise like we were sold

PROS

• Craig, obviously. This is his best performance in the role - which is saying a lot - and he will go down in history as one of the best to ever do it
• The rest of the cast is perfect. They all turn in strong performances per their roles but there are a few specific callouts:
• Lea Seydoux won me over this time around. Her and Craig mesh far better
• Jeffrey Wright is consistently amazing in all he does and his turn as Felix Leiter was the best in the entire Bond franchise
• Ana de Armas literally steals the show. Her character is tragically brief and demands further use, I don't care how
• Fantastic, exciting, and well-filmed action. The opening is a stunner
• The plot beats that center around Bond are immensely satisfying
• All the Aston Martins...so sexy
• Wonderful direction and script by Fukunaga with some spice and well-timed humor from Waller-Bridge
• Great, sometimes fantastic, original score by Hans Zimmer
• Stunning cinematography from Linus Sandgren
• An entertaining, satisfying conclusion in nearly every way you'd want or need (outside of having an interesting villain). But this is Bond's film and in that regard, it sings

Rath's Review Score | 8.5/10