Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers show I'm your host Paul...Paul Paul and in this video we're
breaking down No Time To Die. This is the fifth and final film in the Daniel Craig era
and it's easily got one of the most impactful endings from a James Bond film ever.
I know the movie isn't out in the states yet so if you want a quick review I'll say that
I absolutely loved the film and after I was disappointed by Spectre I was expecting this
to be pretty middle of the road to but it's an incredible conclusion to what Craig started.
It really is something you wanna go into without having anything ruined and it gets a high
recommend from me.
From this point onwards I have a license to spoil and if you don't wanna Dr. No what happens
in the movie then I suggest you exit the video and die another day. From here on out it's
for your eyes only and if you from Russia with Love the video then please hit the thumbs
up button.
With that out the way....errmmm....Octopussy...now let's get into the video.
Ok so No Time To Die breaks the mold in several ways. Not only does Bond have a child in it
but he also dies in the final act. You Only Live Twice did seemingly kill him in the introduction
but it was revealed that it was all part of a mission which would allow him to fly under
the radar of Spectre.
Bond is killed for definite here and not only is he shot several times but he also dies
by his own hand by calling in a Navy Airstrike and allowing it to destroy the compound he's
at . For years we've wondered if someone would ever be able to actually beat Bond and I did
appreciate that he was pretty much instrumental in his own demise but that it was his choice.
Kinda killed me a bit how as soon as Bond found out he had a kid that the guy took the
next available opportunity to die but moving on.
Now in order to talk about the ending in full detail I feel like we have to go over the
plot itself but time codes will be linked below if you wanna just skip to that part
of the video.
Now we open not with Bond but rather Madeline Swann and see the most impactful moment of
her childhood play out in full effect. Not only does she learn that her father Mr. White
is an assassin, his past also comes back to destroy his family in the form of Lyutsifer
Safin who...yeah no clues for guessing what his first name is a play on.
Safin murders her mother and he makes one hell of an impact.
We learn that both White and Spectre poisoned Safins entire family and that he was the only
survivor. He's come back to enact revenge but he takes pity on Madeline and saves her
from drowning under ice. Instead of her mother she was of course raised by her father Mr.
White who impacted her life negatively due to all of the things that being a Spectre
assassin brought with it. This idea of children being raised by one parent whilst the other
one dies massively plays into the ending of the movie thematically as had Bond raised
his daughter instead of Madeline then a similar situation may have happened.
Now this introduction to Safin also sets up his goals throughout the film and we watch
as he steals nanotechnology that can target someone because of their DNA. This allows
him to murder not only specific people but also their relatives who die upon coming into
contact with the person infected. The World Is Not Enough and he plans to wipe out millions
of people.
It's really got it's goldfinger on the pulse and though the film was made before the pandemic,
there are some similarities to it due to Safin's wish to unleash the nanobot virus on the entire
population.
After the flashback we cut to Matera where Bond and Madeline are visiting so that the
former can finally say goodbye to Vespa and move on with his life. When visiting her grave
it explodes and Bond is ambushed by Spectre agents. Because Vespa was working for Quantum
who were an umbrella of Spectre, Bond says never say never again and takes an instant
distrust to Swann which is further fueled by Blofeld calling her to implicate her. It
is revealed in the film that this was all part of his plan and that Swann actually didn't
know anything about this but she does say somethings that make him distrust her even
further.
When they're being chased Swann says she has something to tell him and this is her actually
attempting to tell him that she's pregnant. After surviving the attack Bond drops her
on a train to never see her again and you can actually catch her touching her stomach
in this scene which is another clue that she's carrying his child.
It's a thunderballs to the wall opening that has lots of callbacks to On Her Majesties
secret service, as does the ending. In that film Bond actually got married and his wife
was gunned down at the end of the film whilst they were on their honeymoon. Over her corpse
he said 'we have all the time in the world' which comes back around for the final few
scenes. Bond rides around in an Aston Martin DB5 which of course debuted in Goldfinger
and he also drives his V8 from the Living Daylights later on.
The film gets a big time jump and we pick up five years later to find Bond living on
his own in Jamaica. Throughout Felix Leighter the CIA try and recruit him to bring in the
scientist that developed the nano bot technology however he's disuaded by the new 007 played
by Lashana Lynch. The fact that she would be taking the double 0 number was reported
on two years ago and as usual the get woke go broke crowd completely lost their minds
because there was a strong black female character in the movie. They're gonna lose their F**king
minds when they hear about View To A Kill. Honestly I thought the way they handled everything
was really well done with the pair striking up somewhat of a rivalry before she hands
the designation back to Bond towards the end of the film.
Now from this point Bond works with the CIA and travels to a Specter party which is being
held for Blofelds birthday. It's at this point that he sees the Nanotech virus in full effect
as initially it was programmed to kill Bond but it's been altered by Safin to attack to
group.
They're wiped out leaving just Blofeld left who is currently holed up in Belmarsh Prison.
Bond manages to bring the scientist in but we find out there's a mole in the CIA who
takes him, destroys the boat they're on and he shoots Felix Lighter who ends up dying
from his wounds. Honestly I was kinda hoping the boat would sink and that he'd be eaten
by Sharks just to bring things full circle from Licence to Kill but Alas he Skyfalls
into the ocean along with the boat.
The drowning scene carries a lot of similarities to Vespa's death in Casino Royale and it's
at this point you know the movie isn't messing around.
Bond ends up working with MI6 once more and demands to be taken in to see Blofeld but
we learn the only person he has agreed to see is Madeline. She's still torn up by the
Spy Who Loved Me...well her and Safin threatens her and says that she must use a perfume laced
with the Nanobots when visiting Blofeld.
Both she and Bond visit Blofeld but she says Live and Let Die and leaves before Blofeld
is brought in, however Bond touches her wrist and ends up getting the Nanobots onto his
own skin. After Blofeld admits he framed Madeline, Bond goes to beat the living daylights out
of him and upon touching his skin the bots kill Blofeld and Spectre along with him.
Stop me if these puns are getting to much by the way.
Bond tracks Madeline to her home and here he meets his daughter, though Madeline denies
that they're related. It is a pretty big reveal and I actually like that they gave Bond a
real reason to fight beyond just Queen and Country. As much as I love the Bond films,
the character didn't really get an arc until the Craig Era and it's nice that things develop
in a brand new direction.
Madline and their child Mathilde are captured by Safin and the pair are taken to his island
which is where the final act takes place. We learn that Safin is planning not only to
sell the nanobots but he also wants to unleash them on the world in a targeted takedown.
After saving Madeline and Mathilde he remains on the island in order to open the blast doors
to the lab so that it can be destroyed. There's an incredible Atomic Blonde esque stairway
fight and James ends up giving one of the Henchmen a Goldeneye after after he uses his
watch to blown the mechanical one in his head.
Come on Goldeneye was a good one.
Unfortunately as Bond goes to leave the blast doors are closed once more and he returns
to reopen them only to be attacked by Safin. Safin shoots Bond several times and also smashes
a special Nanobot vial against his head which is targeted to Madeline and their daughters
DNA. We learn that it's impossible to remove these nanobots because they're in ones blood
stream on a cellular level and therefore if he ever touches Madeline or his daughter the
pair will die.
Bond returns to open the Silo and radios Madleine to tell her that he loves her. She confirms
that Mathilde is indeed their child and he says that she made the most beautiful thing
he's ever seen. Madeline says that he wishes they had more time and Bond says that they
have all the time in the world which is of course calling back to the previous line from
On Her Majesty's secret service. It's a real gut punch as Bond's life has once more led
him to losing the opportunity to be with the people he loved but that is the tragedy of
the character. In saving the world he had to sacrifice what he loved the most but he
does take some Quantum Of Solace in the fact that Madeline and their daughter are safe.
Neither Spectre or Safin are coming for them anymore and they can now enjoy life without
constantly looking over their shoulders.
Madeline says she has your eyes and he says I know as the missiles rain down and destroy
the facility.
Not gonna lie, kinda wish he'd said 'you have all the no time in the die' but nevermind.
In M's office The MI6 team from the movie raise a glass to James and we watch as Madeline
drives Mathilde to Matera in the Aston Martin V8. She tells her a story about a man named
Bond, James Bond and we cut to credits.
Now the song that plays in the background is 'all the time in the world' by Louis Armstrong
and not many people know that this is actually a Bond song itself. It's kind of transcended
that but it was used at the end of On Her Majesty's secret service. Whereas that ended
in tragedy this ended with somewhat a bitter sweet ending as both Madeline and her daughter
get to be together. It was thought that Madeline was going to be somewhat of a reboot of Bond's
wife who of course died but this is somewhat a happier ending that subverts expectations.
It's the perfect send off to the character and as much as I love Bond I actually think
that they should pump the brakes for a bit before recasting and starting again. Going
forward I do think that the title James Bond will be used more as a codename for the best
agent at MI6 and just in the same way that other actors have taken on the role, other
characters could now too. This would enable the creative team to cast further afield and
bring in actors like Idris Elba without having to explain why his race has changed and so
on.
Though most Bond movies are pretty self contained there was a through line in most of them and
references to his wife and Blofeld were seen at several points.
Initially Craig's era was going to be an origin story but it did mess up the continuity in
Casino Royale by bringing across Judy Denche's M even though Goldeneye was meant to be her
first appearance in which she took over the predominantly male position.
By Specter they just threw everything out the window and brought across Blofeld and
completely changed their relationship and the first time they met.
Now I actually take the ending of the film to indicate some things about what could be
going on if you're a nut for continuity. The entire Craig era could somewhat be seen as
Madeline telling the story of Mathilde's father to her and this is why the Craig movies often
feel like somewhat of a greatest hits compilation. There's the classic moments like him getting
the Aston Martin, meeting Blofeld, all of the callbacks in Skyfall, taking down Specter
and his death.
There's no real continuity that they have to stick to and thus they can pretty much
go in whatever direction they want with a new actor and simply tell standalone stories
once more or tie them into this.
However they have additional options beyond this and should they want this to remain in
this continuity they can continue with the new characters and potentially even Bond's
daughter. I'm really interested to see whether people would like a reboot or not so make
sure you comment below and let me know.
Personally I'd absolutely love to see Henry Cavill in the role as the guy's british, he
looks like James Bond, is at the right age and he's also a big enough name where I think
people would be interested in his take.
For me Brosnan was always who I thought of when I thought of James Bond and Cavill is
along the same lines of what I personally imagine the character to be like.
Now they could do the old fakeout and just continue as things are and have Bond fake
his death. It's pretty clear her gets blown to the Moonraker and back but it's not like
the character hasn't pretended to be dead before in this franchise. We don't see a body
and it makes sense that he would lie low as should he come into contact with his daughter
or Madeline then he'd kill them both.
That is a longshot and I'm just exploring all the options here. I kinda would rather
that this was a closing of the book and who knows, that rumoured 1960s period piece Bond
film might be more of a possibility now.
If you've been paying any attention to the series you'll probably be aware that there
were plans to kill Bond off a while back and Danny Boyle actually ended up leaving this
film because there had been discussions about killing Bond and he said that was ridiculous.
Before going into this I would've said the same thing but I do respect the way that it
was handled. As of now the creative team have said they won't start the search for a new
bond until at least another year and with the new amazon aquisition we know we're getting
spin off tv shows.
I think they have a lot of side characters here including the new 007 as well as Ana
De Armas' Paloma who gets somewhat underused.
As we all know Tomorrow Never Dies and this is a franchise that has existed for decades
so I'm sure we will see more of it. Diamonds are forever and this series is a real one
so I'm hoping that whatever they do next that it's as good as this movie.
Now that kinda leads me into my review and I feel like I won big at the Casino Royale
because this blew me away on every level including the ending...having that.
This is by far Craig's best performance and another thing that I thought made the film
incredible was it's cinematography and direction. Everything in the film looks absolutely incredible
and couple that with the amazing action scenes, brilliant acting and story that has actual
consequences and you have what is one of my favorite Bond films. For me Spy Who Loved
Me is still the top but I have a lot of nostalgia over that movie and just love the tongue and
cheek performance of Roger Moore.
Don't @ Me.
Whilst Craig wasn't my favourite Bond and though that still goes to Brosnan, I can't
deny that in terms of films he's probably had the best ones. Casino Royale, Skyfall
and now No Time To Die are all incredible pieces in my mind and the ending of the movie
is something that's still going through my mind all the time.
My wife didn't enjoy it all that much and said that she probably wouldn't rush to watch
it again but little does she know she will be when the blu ray comes. Sucker.
Because of that and some of the reviews I know there's some that don't really see the
film at the level that I do but I can't wait to watch it again and I loved the direction
that they took it in.
Now it isn't perfect and I think that Safin could've been utilised more as a character.
He doesn't really arrive until the third act and even then he's rather understated. The
pacing can be a bit hit and miss at points too but if you're invested in the characters
then I think the 2 hour and 40 minute run time will fly by.
Overall I'm really excited to watch it again and it was well worth the wait.
No Time To Die for me gets a...
9/10
Now obviously I'd love to hear your thoughts on the video so make sure you comment below
and let me know. You get one shot like the man with the golden gun and yes that's every
single James Bond movie title also used in this review.
The like button is right there and if you want something else to watch then make sure
you check out our breakdown of the post credits scene of Venom Let There Be Carnage.
It's linked on screen right now and it opens up a lot of possibilities for the future of
the MCU.
If not then thanks for watching this, I've been Paul you've been the best and I'll see
you next time. Take care, Peace.