Initial Thoughts: No Time to Die

Released: 2021

Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing was indeed a long time coming. It really felt like we were waiting forever for this; there were occasional stretches of time when it almost seemed like it would never be arriving at all. Not only did it have a lengthy development period in itself – initially it was supposed to come out in late-2019, four years after Spectre – but then the release date got pushed back multiple times, both before and after COVID hit. Over the years, my mother kept asking me, “When is the next Bond movie coming out?”, and I had to keep telling her, “Oh, it got delayed again” or else “It’s still on its way.”

But now finally, thankfully, here we are. Mom and I went to go see No Time to Die at our local theater three weeks ago. And, also thankfully, I am pleased to say it was worth the wait. Even though I knew ahead of time that this would be Craig’s last adventure, it ended up being sadder and more emotional than I was expecting. Perhaps in part because none of the previous Bond actors’ final outings ever felt all that “final.” Diamonds Are Forever, A View to a Kill, Licence to Kill, and Die Another Day all largely played out as just another Bond film.

Not here. No Time to Die absolutely feels like a finale.

Madeleine is our first (major) returning Bond girl ever in the franchise, and about dang time too! I always wished that some of the earlier Bond girls could’ve appeared more often, so I’m glad they finally took advantage of that by bringing Madeleine back and further developing her character.

Also returning from Spectre is Blofeld. While I do think Blofeld was done better in the classic films (for the most part), his presence here is still welcome, even if it was only for one major scene. It’s a rare gift to get a Bond antagonist for more than one installment. Although alas, Blofeld was more compelling than the main villain, Safin. Even despite Safin’s intriguing backstory and his connection with Madeleine, he felt underdeveloped. I kinda wish that Blofeld had been the main villain again.

On the other hand, I did enjoy the “evil vs. evil” aspect. The idea of rival organizations is something that’s rarely been done in a Bond film. Usually it’s just Bond and his allies against one major villain/organization. Here, the situation is more complicated. Safin is no angel himself, but nor is he allied with Blofeld and Spectre in any way and he actively plots to take them down. That was interesting.

Even with my mixed feelings about Safin, his henchmen – Dr. Obruchev, Cyclops, and Logan Ash – are distinct and memorable. The new 007, Nomi, is another great addition to the cast; I hope her actress returns at some point. And of course our familiar recurring characters – M, Q, Felix, Moneypenny – are all welcome faces. Daniel Craig also gives what is probably his best performance in the series.

Skyfall is still my personal favourite of the Daniel Craig era (and my favourite Bond movie period), but No Time to Die was a good final installment for him. Definitely recommended. In fact, it made me want to see all the older Bond films again at some point, after my James Bond fandom was something I had largely drifted away from for the past several years. I might even read the novels again too; that could be a fun review project for my blog. Albeit a pretty massive project on account of just how many books there are (more than the movies even), so we’ll see if and when I actually get around to it. But I am considering it for sure.

Regardless, it also made me more eager to see what they’ll end up doing for the next Bond film. I suspect it’ll be another continuity reboot. Which, often I am not a big fan of reboots, but in this case I think it would be a good idea. (And, given how things wrapped up in No Time to Die, probably necessary anyway.) One nice thing about the Craig films is how they had much more continuity with each other than previous Bond films, and I hope that developing a longer-term storyline is something that continues going forward.

JAMES BOND WILL RETURN