No Time to Die
MGM
As the sun must set on all things, so too must the sun set on the Daniel Craig era of James Bond. When Craig came onto the scene 15 years ago in Martin Campbell’s phenomenal reboot of Casino Royale, audiences were met with a 007 unlike any other: he was cold, calculating, and brutal. But above all else, what set Daniel Craig apart was that his take on Bond was soulful. Tragic, even. He was given a level of depth only glimpsed in previous iterations of the character. Three films of varying quality later and now audiences have reached the conclusion of this story with Cary Joji Fukunaga’s much delayed finale No Time to Die, a film that seeks to send off this era of the character in a satisfying way and does so in spectacular fashion.
This mission sees Bond being brought back into the fray by CIA operative, and seemingly Bond’s only friend, Felix Leiter (played by the always cool Jeffrey Wright) to recover a dangerous new weapon before it falls into the hands of a mysterious megalomaniac. Not much against the narrative grain on paper, but where No Time to Die stands out is in its reckoning with Bond’s legacy, managing to cap off the Craig series and please fans of the whole franchise. Cary Fukunaga had his work cut out for him, coming into a Bond venture that previously had had a pretty messy breakup with director Danny Boyle, yet the True Detective helmer delivers exceptionally. The jolt of life he provides to this feature is unreal, giving tense propulsion to an elongated enterprise that would be a major slog otherwise (see Spectre).
The action sequences are to be commended especially, Fukunaga gives fans the weightiest, grittiest, and downright coolest Bond set-pieces since Casino Royale. There’s a car chase, in particular, during the first act that’s simply electrifying. Everything on a technical level works here: cinematographer Linus Sandgren gives his usual brand of vibrant colours and really brings the exotic locales to life, with Italy and Jamaica two notable examples of affluent characters in their own right. The sound team has tons of tricks they pull off wonderfully: explosions drowning out not only the sound in the movie but the score as well, uses of diegetic sound design that really sell the impact and collision of action, as it builds back up along with the tension.
Tom Cross and Elliott Graham manage to make a 163-minute feature feel like a breeze with crisp, tight editing, including plenty of fast, kinetic cuts during the action sequences with fluidity and clarity. It should go without mentioning that Hans Zimmer delivers a captivating score that utilises the Bond musical motifs well and accentuates the moments of emotion in sweeping fashion. Billie Eilish’s titular theme song is the icing on the cake: a melancholy, imposing ballad that sets the tone for the events to unfold, accompanied by the iconic and beautiful title sequence of decaying institutions in Bond’s life, clockwork gears ticking away, really driving home the “time” theme and the sense of finality that this movie carries with prowess and poignancy.
The performances are mostly spectacular too. Craig fits this older, wearier Bond so well. You can see the weight of years of violence in every piercing look and begrudging one-liner. It’s probably not a stretch at this point to say Craig has handedly delivered the best performance of this character during his tenure. Lea Seydoux is leagues better in this incarnation than her previous performance as Madeleine Swan. She gives the character a vulnerability and agency viewers were not able to see before in Spectre’s clouded judgement of female character, and the actress benefits greatly from the character’s more personal connection to the story, no doubt an attrivute from Killing Eve and Fleabag helmer Phoebe Waller Bridger’s. Other returning franchise players are a delight too: Ralph Fiennes’ M is as stern as always and has more connection to the story than one might expect of this character, Ben Whishaw’s Q remains reliantly adorable, and as mentioned, Jeffrey Wright’s Felix Leiter is a welcome return after almost a decade out of action.
The newcomers are no slouches either. Lashawna Lynch as Nomi, the new 007 after Bond’s retirement, is almost a mirror version of the Bond from Casino Royale: cold, calculated, and brutal. She bounces off of Craig’s goofy old dad energy, with Craig’s self-awareness towards Nomi’s assumed callousness leading to some of the film’s most fun interactions. Ana DeArmas damn near steals the show as Paloma, a plucky rookie on her first big mission. Her optimism and humour are incredibly infectious, she instantly becomes a welcome presence the minute she shuts down Bond’s presumptions about her romantic intentions, which was a nice subversion that come unexpected.
They say a Bond movie is only as good as its villain though, and this one has villains to spare. Dali Benssalah makes a serviceable henchman – he even gets a cool robot eye, which deserves much praise. Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld still gets nothing to do, which will always be this Bond era’s greatest crime. However, this particular Bond venture’s biggest letdown comes in the form of Rami Malek’s enigmatic Lyutsifer Safin, an appropriately creepy albeit shallow villain from Madeleine Swan’s past who never really gets his moment to shine.
No Time to Die is a long and indulgent risk for fans of the franchise, but it earns the massive runtime and emotional payoff by being a blast from start to finish. Directed to perfection by Fukunaga, firing on all cylinders in the action department, and populated by a colorful and charismatic ensemble led by what may be Craig’s best turn as the iconic super-spy. In all likelihood, this is not the last the world sees of James Bond. In a perfect world, this movie would be the ultimate sendoff to the character and conclude a franchise that’s been running for 50+ years. But as it stands, No Time to Die ends this particular run on a satisfying high. Until next time, Mr. Bond.