Film That's a Shame, May We Be Expecting You to Die with Us Later?
Daniel Craig is looking old isn't he? I know that was a point they were making way back in Skyfall, but it is more true than ever. We're 15 years on from Casino Royale and Craig's Bond has transformed before our eyes from this savage, musclebound badass to a sweaty plate of boiled ham that growls at anyone who stands too close. I'm sure Craig would still kick my ass, but it hardly makes for a convincing Bond. "It's like Roger Moore's last movies," said my brother, "who looked like he needed a stunt double whenever the script needed Bond to hastily get out of a chair."
So I suppose it makes sense that this is Craig's last outing as Bond. No Time To Die tells the story of Craig!Bond retiring for the third time, only to end up back on the job once again. This time it is to stop some weeaboo supervillain from killing the World with a nanobot plague. The nanobots were made by MI 6, and whilst Bond is very finger wagging at them about it, there isn't much reflection about MI 6 being the real villains, considering they "accidentally" built a bioweapon of mass destruction.
The biggest problem this movie has is in prioritising its already excessive run time. No time is given, for instance, to explain why the Supervillain wants to destroy the World. Little time is also afforded to tie up the many loose ends this new James Bond universe has left dangling. The previous movie's villain, Blofeld, gets wheeled out of his jail cell in a shopping trolley to appear on screen barely long enough to get to be in the trailers. What definitely needed more time too was the new supporting characters, who end up being way more entertaining than Bond. We get a new double-o agent who is cool enough to deserve her own franchise, and if we are lucky (and if internet nerds shut the fuck up about the horror of James Bond being "recast" as a black woman long enough), we might get one. Ana De Armas also gets a hilarious and stylish fight scene cameo that ends all too quickly. Here's hoping it leads to her getting some action movies of her own.
So where does all the time get used up? There are some good long action scenes, as one would hope, but there is also an excess of cloying, sappy drama scenes that keep tanking the momentum of the movie. There are also a few redundant situations that don't go anywhere, and only seem to be left in the movie for purposes of not messing up the continuity.
So to summarise, this is hardly the best Bond movie, and not even the best Craig!Bond movie, but in spite of its various issues, it does ultimately achieve in offering closure to Craig's tenure. And maybe its only through the clever placement of some of the best tunes of the previous movies, but it also does manage to tweak the heart strings from time to time, especially in its finale. It gets a recommendation for Bond fans, and a tentative one for everyone else who misses the cinema going experience.
Film A Fitting Conclusion to An Era
Ah, No Time to Die, the last Daniel Craig Bond movie. Having watched the film multiple times now, along with two months in retrospection, I find that this film is not an experience that is best digested after multiple watches. But now that I've done that, I can safely say that this film is likely on track to be my second best Craig Bond film (after Casino Royale and beating Skyfall), and the best Bond exit of them all. Not that it's super hard to do, considering that every other Bond exit (not counting On Her Majesty's Secret Service) has been a poor end for each actor (Dalton's Licence to Kill being the exception, and even then I still have mixed feelings on that one).
I find that there are some plot points that I have mixed feelings with (like Mallory being responsible for the Heracles project), and I do think the veteran cast (Ralph Fiennes as Mallory, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q, and Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner) could have been utilized better, but otherwise I don't really have much to complain about. The film is well-paced (in fact, I don't really feel that 2:45 hours had passed), and the balance between dramatic and comical moments is solid enough.
For the new supporting cast, Ana de Armas' Paloma is a great delight, and Lashana Lynch's Nomi is not THAT bad of a character. For the villains, Rami Malek as main villain Safin is, in my opinion, a welcome subversion to the usual Bond villain tropes, playing someone who is far more practical and much less indulgent in complexity addiction compared to past villains like Silva and Blofeld. Meanwhile, Christoph Waltz put on a delightfully sadistic performance as Blofeld, short as it was.
As for the story, I find that while it's not exactly the greatest storyline ever, the way things played out is honestly enjoyable, and that's more than enough for me. The way the film ends is a breakthrough that will come as a shocker, but I think that the leadup was well worth it.
All in all, No Time to Die caps off the Daniel Craig era with a blast. While I can understand why some people have issues with this film, I believe that with time and further retrospective, this film will likely become a candidate for one of the top ten Bond films of them all. The next Bond will have a big shoe to fill, but I'm sure that they will try their best nonetheless.
Film How Do You End the Story of James Bond?
In many ways, James Bond is like a superhero. He fights colorful villains bent on world domination and uses cool high-tech gadgets. He never seems to age, he's always there to save the world, and his death is always thwarted at the last second. Bond is larger than life.
Or at least he was. But the Daniel Craig films decided to take a different approach. Going back to the roots of the character in an almost literal sense, Craig's Bond rebooted the films and started at the beginning of the character's story. This was significant because originally, we were simply dropped into Bond's world and following along on his adventures. Any information about how he became the man we saw on the screen was doled out in small crumbs sporadically. Nevertheless, there was a blueprint for his origin in the Casino Royale novel. But there wasn't one for the character's final story. Sure, Ian Fleming tried to kill him off once, but much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's attempt to kill Sherlock Holmes, it didn't stick. Not even the original author knew how to end the character's story.
Well if the film franchise was going to stick to its guns on Craig's era being the most realistic, that meant they had to have some sort of ending for the character. And while the one provided in Spectre was satisfactory to me, it's clear that film didn't take off with audiences the way they had hoped. If they were going to give Craig a swansong, they needed to take another crack at it.
So that's what they did. This time the film was entirely built and marketed around the fact that this was Daniel Craig's last time in the tux. For all intents and purposes, this was the end of the rebooted James Bond. So how did it turn out?
Well, it's a mixed bag. There's plenty of good parts to this movie, but there's plenty of flaws too. Unlike the mixed bags of the Brosnan era though, this is because it's an ambitious and risky film as opposed to one going through an identity crisis. NTTD knows exactly what it wants to be. It just doesn't succeed at everything it tries. Personally, I prefer a bolder film that stumbles in places over a film that sets up neat ideas but shies away from using them.
Let's address those strengths and weaknesses now. Daniel Craig is as good in the role as he's ever been, even if there are times where it feels like he's playing himself rather than Bond. He's a magnetic screen presence, and the film utilizes him well. His chemistry with Lea Seydoux continues in this film, and the writing of their relationship is a little better this time around. I was one of the few fans that was always on board with the Bond and Madeline relationship, and this one takes it in some interesting directions. The rest of the supporting cast is good too. I liked the new 007 (Lashanna Lynch) and felt her back-and-forth with Bond was fun. The highlight of the new characters was definitely Ana de Armas' Paloma though. At first she seems a bit ditzy and out of her depth, but when push comes to shove she demonstrates some impressive combat skills. You get the sense that she's on her way to becoming a capable agent and is just a bit green. If they were to make a spin-off around her character, I would happily watch it.
The action and cinematography in this film are quite impressive as well. They're not quite on the same level as Skyfall, but they are close. The setpiece in Cuba is the main highlight, but The Oner at the end of the film as Bond ascends a staircase in Safin's (Rami Malek) hideout is no slouch either. And the opening sequence as Safin invades Madeline's home is straight out of a horror movie in the best way. It's suspenseful, tight, and it makes a great use of its environment.
But we do have to talk about the film's flaws at some point, so let's get down to it. There are two major issues I have with the movie. The first and most simple one is the lack of motivation for Safin. Rami Malek is a great actor, but he doesn't have much to work with in this film. The revenge plot against Spectre is fine and sensible, but afterwards it's hard to figure out why the character is doing what he's doing. He doesn't seem to gain anything from his evil plan, or at least if he does the scene that explains what he wants was cut from the final product. It makes him feel like a lackluster threat and unworthy of being the villain who kills Bond.
Speaking of which, let's finally address the elephant in the room: Bond's death. I am not opposed to Bond dying. It's a concept that can, done properly, lead to a compelling story. The key is that it needs to be done properly. For example, Spock's sacrifice in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan works because it feels organic to the character and the themes and plot of the story. Spock's death and the emotional reaction from the audience feel earned. But here the situation feels just a little too contrived. The scenario feels overengineered so that I can't help but notice the writers painting Bond into a corner. I think what takes over the edge to being too much is Bond being shot by Safin. If Bond's death had been deliberate choice on his part in order to ensure that Madeline and their daughter would live I would be fine with that. But the gunshot takes away his choice in the matter. Even if Bond wanted to escape, he couldn't. As a result it feels less like an earned sacrifice and more like an overly complicated scenario forcing the character to die.
But lets round this out with a compliment sandwich. One aspect of the film I really appreciated was the score. I've been a bit disappointed with Hans Zimmer's output in the 2010s, but this felt like a real return to form for him. True, he does incorporate several elements from past Bond scores, particularly OHMSS, but he does it in a way that feels earned and rewarding for fans rather than cloying or ham-fisted. And his original work is no slouch either. This is definitely one of the best Bond scores, and I would be more than happy to hear him return to the franchise.
This has run on very long now, so let's wrap up. No Time to Die is a good movie. Much like the bulk of Craig's run it has its flaws, but I think its strengths make up for its weaknesses. I don't think it succeeds in achieving the greatness it aspires to, but it does manage to be a good movie. I'd say it's the middle of the pack for the Craig films, and that's a fine place to be.