No Time to Die, the 25th official James Bond movie, is a film with a lot to prove: it’s been six years since Spectre (meaning it’s been nine since the last good film, Skyfall), and the world has changed greatly in the meantime, meaning the pressure on Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing to be worthwhile is incredibly high. Does it end his 15-year run on a strong note? Frustratingly, the answer is “not really.”
The first thing that must be acknowledged about No Time to Die is that, at 2 hours and 45 mins, it is the longest Bond movie ever, and it really feels like it, with a serpentine and episodic narrative that dulls the impact of each successive sequence. The pre-opening credits sequence alone consists of two distinct segments with their own action scenes, respectively establishing the backstory of Rami Malek’s villain Lyutsifer Safin, and why Bond is no longer with his Spectre love interest, Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), when the film resumes five years later.
The second major characteristic of No Time to Die is that it does genuinely new and surprising things with Bond that have never been seen in the films before, fully realizing ideas Ian Fleming only attempted or set-up in the books, and you may be so blown away that you will overlook how long the film is. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga, and co-writers Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, have to be commended for finally pulling the trigger on these elements, but I wish they had been used in a much tighter narrative, that wasn’t trying so hard to give Craig the most epic of swansongs, with a bog standard “save the world” story that’s at odds with the largely personal nature of his movies.
The film involves a retired Bond learning that a bioweapon M oversaw has been stolen from London, forcing him to clean up his old employer’s mess. Our hero’s reluctance is reflected by a first half that struggles to make you truly care Safin has the weapon: he has his own vendetta against Bond’s enemies, SPECTRE, which is intriguing, but which makes it all the more disappointing he and Bond don’t face off until the end, when his flimsy and unconvincing goals and motivations are finally revealed. (It’s as if the creative team only remembered, too late, that Safin’s meant to be the villain.)
It is fascinating that Bond chooses to work with his CIA buddy Felix Leiter instead of MI6, as if he’s trying to wave away the stench of post-Brexit Britain, but we all know James can’t stay mad at M forever, and the unfortunate optics of his rivalry with the new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), means the film’s politics aren’t as progressive as it thinks. When it comes to social commentary, this is truly a step down from Skyfall, and even Spectre — Safin’s bioterror scheme is creepier in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but nowhere as compelling as Skyfall‘s indictment of a world that has become “opaque.” The great terror of our age is not a virus, but misinformation, which exacerbates everything, and weirdly, Safin’s plot appears to resemble racist anti-lockdown conspiracy theories.
No Time to Die continues the trend of every Bond actor’s run turning into kitsch, with a bizarre scene where Bond stops to have a drink in a middle of a fight, and sci-fi elements like a prosthetic eye camera, nanorobotics, and DNA targeting. It’s strange that Fukunaga directed this, given how realistic his direction is; there are times Linus Sandgren’s cinematography makes it feel like the director and Daniel Craig are filming a documentary, and a strong emphasis on the sound effects in the action scenes lends them a similar air of authenticity. There’s a particularly dazzling gun fight in a stairwell towards the end of the film, which is presented in one take: Bond has never felt so immersive, so it’s a shame it ends with a groan-inducing one liner about blowing someone’s mind.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s dialogue is otherwise really funny, and does a particularly great job of convincing us Bond and Felix Leiter are best friends; in contrast, the more poignant lines rely heavily on callbacks to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which is clearly a favorite for Fukunaga. (Similarly, composer Hans Zimmer’s score freely reuses John Barry’s themes from that film.) Ben Whishaw continues to be an incredibly endearing Q, and there’s even a line that confirms his version is gay/bi. Ana de Armas is adorable, and sorely underused, in her brief role as CIA rookie Paloma, who lends Bond another opportunity to show some newfound maturity. Léa Seydoux gives a beautiful and emotional performance as Dr. Swann, though our investment in her character is still hobbled by the lack of chemistry between her and Craig.
Rami Malek gives a creepy and subdued performance as Safin, but like a lot else in the film, he wears out his welcome, ending Craig’s rogues gallery on a weak note. Christoph Waltz also returns as Blofeld, and he remains an overhyped disappointment, coming across as Bond’s weird uncle instead of a genuine threat. He reminds us of what a weak film Spectre was, but ironically, after watching this, part of me felt it would’ve been a better exit for Craig than this overwrought attempt at a course correction. I did feel a tremor of emotion during the end, when it sank in that this was truly it for Craig’s Bond, but afterwards, I simply felt grateful it was over, and that Eon Productions can cast an actor who they aren’t trying too hard to be “worthy” of.
Casino Royale was a perfect mix of drama and spectacle, which the series has chased ever since, with wildly inconsistent results. No Time to Die encapsulates the best and worst of the Craig era, sacrificing strong pacing for its attempts at a character study, and ultimately wasting some of Fleming’s best source material. You may come away feeling I’m taking the resulting film for granted, but there’s no denying it isn’t as good as Royale or Skyfall, and that despite its length, it still feels like a rushed denouement. To borrow from Fleming (quoting Jack London), the time spent prolonging Craig’s run was not used wisely. Oh well: so long Craig, thank you for your service, and may your successor receive the fresh start they deserve.
