18 Nov No Time to Die Review by Jim Washburn

BLUF: A terrific send-off to Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond, it manages to elevate his previous entries by addressing and/or tying off previous story threads, while also avoiding some potentially terrible cliché landmines.

NOTE: I’ll be avoiding spoilers as much as possible.

I’m going to get this out of the way right now: Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond. Connery laid the foundation; Lazenby showed up; Moore made Austen Powers seem completely reasonable; Dalton tried Craig’s approach too early; and Brosnan was an awesome mid-career Bond in progressively terrible movies. There are multiple reasons that I think Craig is the best, and one of them is prominent in No Time to Die: starting with Casino Royale, Craig has presided over the first serialized Bond films, where character arcs and plot lines transcend the episodic nature of the previous 20 films. And despite a few narrative missteps in previous entries, NTTD capitalizes on Craig’s 15-year journey magnificently.

Craig’s Bond has had two legitimate love interests during his previous films: Vesper Lynd, who died in Bond’s arms in Casino Royale; and Madeleine Swann, whom he rescued and left MI6 for in Spectre. Unlike most previous entries, Bond developed a genuine love for these women, and the opening of NTTD reminds us that each of them was more important to him than his dedication to MI6. However, as happens, Bond’s destiny as a super-spy demands that despite his desire to quit, he cannot. By fate or circumstance, Bond’s true loves are stripped away, and he is left with the job he reluctantly excels at beyond anyone else.

NTTD primarily delves into Bond’s relationship with Swann. At the end of Spectre, he leaves MI6 and begins a new life with her, a woman harboring nearly as many secrets as himself. And when these secrets re-emerge, Bond is compelled to leave her. The longest opening scene in Bond history ends with a 5-year jump forward, and a comfortably retired Bond is asked by CIA’s Felix Leiter to assist with a seemingly small job he is uniquely qualified for, which…shockingly enough…brings Bond back to MI6 full-time, though he is reluctantly partnered with the new 007. The mystery of the film revolves around Rami Malek’s Safin, a villain who sabotages Spectre’s Blofeld, who, in turn, has constructed an outrageously complicated plot to exact revenge on Bond with a custom virus. Safin has ties to Swann, and as the story plays out, we find that Bond and Swann’s separation was due to a horrendous miscommunication between two people who only learn to trust each other after they separate.

As expected, NTTD covers all the expected bullet-points of a Bond movie: there are spectacular actions scenes, incredible costumes on beautiful people, a globetrotting mystery to unravel, and possibly the direst threat to humanity in recent Bond memory. What makes NTTD unusually good, and perhaps one of the best Bond films, is that while checking the expected boxes, everything is done so exceptionally well; and there are more than a few surprises that I refuse to spoil here but help elevate the film. For example, a chase in the forests of Norway is excellently staged but adds one completely unusual element that ramps up the tension considerably.

Among the excellent facets of NTTD: Ana de Armas shows up and steals every scene; Jeffrey Wright’s Leiter reminds us that he is the only competent American spy in the Bond-verse; Lea Seydoux’s Swann shows actual chemistry with Craig this time and provides both strength and layered emotional depth throughout the film. The action scenes are excellently staged, massive in scale, and backed by Hans Zimmer’s excellent score, which is better than a lot of Bond scores, in my opinion.

Lastly, as mentioned, NTTD brings together elements from all four previous films, and ties them up very nicely. Although I don’t think they were all planned from the beginning, the writers manage to leverage maximum payoff throughout the film on many story threads in a way that doesn’t come across as superficial fan service. For example, Bond’s need to let his memory of Vesper go so he can devote himself to Swann is addressed, while also incorporated in an important way into the emotional arc of Bond and Swann throughout the film: sometimes, we wait so long to let go of one thing that we miss the full potential of something much better. After watching NTTD, I went back and re-watched all four Craig Bond films, and they were all elevated by the events in NTTD. This is an impressive achievement, especially given that it feels organic to the story, and not shoehorned into the detriment of the entire enterprise, a la Rise of Skywalker.

There are a few small knocks against the film. Malek’s Safin is not given as much screen time as you might want—he does such a great job with the time he has, that I was left wanting to know a little more about his motivation and means. The movie also runs a bit long, though I struggle to identify anything that could be left out. Just be prepared for a 2-hour, 45-minute Bond film.

The biggest question, for a variety of reasons, is what happens next? Craig is leaving on a high note, and whoever steps into the tuxedo next will have a tough time following in his footsteps, particularly given that Craig’s five-film series is almost unquestionably the best Bond we’ve had simply because it takes so much time to develop so many characters through a connected series of narratives and character arcs. I doubt that the next film will simply pick up the way every previous transition has and pretend like the previous entries were all stand-alone episodes of one long TV show.

In the end, I really loved No Time to Die. I feel the same way as when I watched The Dark Knight Rises: if they never make another good Batman/Bond movie again, at least I’ll always have The Dark Knight Trilogy/Craig’s run of Bond films. Anything else will be gravy, and no matter how bad they may get, we’ll always have Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die. 

Pros:

• The most and biggest Bond movie yet
• Some impressive character work across the board, with impressive turns from then entire main cast
• Some unspoiled and very well-executed surprises
• Incredible action, beautiful people, stunning locales, and great music

Cons:

• Even with 2h 45m, Malek’s Safin is underserved
• Never another Daniel Craig performance as James Bond

Rating: 4.5/5
Under Craig’s tenure, we get the biggest and perhaps best sendoff to the character in an emotionally satisfying closer on his time as Britain’s super-spy.

Review by Jim Washburn