With a franchise as iconic as the James Bond series, new entries always come with their
fair share of interesting details. So it's no surprise that "No Time to Die" is a layered film
that draws from ideas, imagery, and themes from the series as a whole. Here's a look at a few
small details you may have missed.
1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was the last Bond film to genuinely give
Bond hope for true love, in the form of Countess Tracy di Vicenzo. That film famously ended with
a shocking and heartbreaking death, but Tracy and Madeleine Swann have quite a bit in common.
Like Madeleine, Tracy was first introduced to Bond as the daughter of one of the film's villains.
Also as with Madeleine and Bond, Tracy and Bond's initial intermingling during
a mission transformed into true love. But in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," that romance leads
to a marriage that sadly ends with Blofeld having Tracy murdered, right by Bond's side.
That unforgettable doomed romance has haunted Bond fans for decades, so going into "No Time
to Die" it was natural to worry Madeleine might face the same fate Tracy once did.
The film itself makes countless references to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," particularly
through the use of Louis Armstrong's "We Have All the Time in the World" theme in the score,
as well as having Bond once again say the phrase. "Now we have all the time in the world."
But this time, rather than Bond saying it to Tracy right before her vicious murder,
it's Bond saying it to Madeleine as he prepares to sacrifice himself in the film's climax.
It's a reversal sure to wet every eye in the house, but in a way, it's a touching
turnabout. Tracy's death put a bit of a pall over the franchise. But here, with Daniel Craig hanging
up the tux for good, Bond doesn't have to survive losing the love of his life. He's able to die
serving something larger than himself.
On a lighter note, "No Time to Die" reveals something new about one of
the franchise's most beloved characters. As is common with Craig's iteration of Bond,
there is a point in the film's second act when he must go rogue, disobey his orders from M and
enlist the help of Q in better understanding the film's MacGuffin, Project Heracles.
But when Bond and Moneypenny barge in on Q after hours at his home,
he's in the middle of preparing dinner for an unnamed guest. Given Q's nervousness and general
flustered attitude about finishing this dinner and not being interrupted by Bond's shenanigans,
it stands to reason the guest in question is a romantic partner of some sort. When Bond and
Moneypenny give him some playful ribbing about who he's getting so fancy for, he remarks that he will
be here any minute, implying Q is not straight. Where exactly he lies on the sexual orientation
spectrum is left unspecified, but alongside the film's overall better treatment of
its female characters, including casting Lashana Lynch as Bond's 007 replacement Nomi,
the casual assertion that Q is queer is a charming bit of onscreen representation.
It bears no heavy impact on the plot, but it's snuck in admirably matter-of-factly.
While the Daniel Craig iteration of James Bond is canonically an orphan and an only child,
"No Time to Die" features him watching two of his "brothers" die, with very different reactions.
In "Spectre," we witnessed the controversial choice to retcon the Christoph Waltz version
of Blofeld to be Bond's adopted brother, the son of a man who took James in at a young age.
It adds an extra twinge of pathos to their feud, but it goes largely under-explored in that film
and this one, beyond continuing Blofeld's ominous speeches about his machinations and grudges.
So it's no surprise that when Bond, while overcome with rage and choking Blofeld through prison bars,
unknowingly exposes his nemesis to the nanobot bioweapon that will take his life,
his reaction is mild to say the least. But he loses another brother earlier in the film:
Felix Leiter, the CIA operative who introduced himself all the way back in "Casino Royale" as
"a brother from Langley." "And what about the winnings?"
"Does it look like we need the money?"
Though much of their relationship has taken place
offscreen, with Leiter not appearing in "Skyfall" or "Spectre," given the amount of time that has
passed in the franchise's world, we know Bond and Leiter were close. They weren't just work friends,
but rather brothers in arms who had clearly experienced a lot, on the job and off. Leiter
was one of the only people in these films who could genuinely call Bond a friend,
so the brother designation is not far off. Leiter and Bond wind up on a sinking ship,
with Leiter suffering from gunshot wounds at the hands of Logan Ash, a fellow CIA officer
who betrayed them both. The final moments they share, as they both have to accept Leiter will
never make it off this boat, is a much richer and more affecting death than Blofeld's.
But there's a lot of death in "No Time to Die." None bigger than the last one.
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