Ok so my dad absolutely loves James Bond and because of that growing up I ended up loving
him too. My childhood was pretty much surrounded by Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man and a lot
of comic book characters but being British, James Bond always held a special place in
my heart.
Though he's often been imitated there's never been a spy quite like him and over the last
sixty odd years he's been at the forefront of pop culture. Whether it's the cars, the
gadgets, the girls or the actors that have portrayed him, there's just something about
Bond that's eternally relevant.
Though times have changed and Bond along with them, he's always been somewhat at the centre
of everything and every 007 movie has been a cinematic milestone. What's strange about
this when you look back is that Bond has barely ever had a character arc. In every movie he
pretty much ends up going on the same journey and it took over 50 years before we even really
learned anything about his backstory or family life.
Whilst the actors that preceded him all came and went without really going on an arc, what
Craig's Bond did is that it gave us a James Bond journey with a beginning, middle and
end. Craig is the first actor ever who didn't leave because he was either recast or because
of contractual issues. Craig actually got to close the chapter on his Bond and now because
of him we know what a quote unquote final James Bond film looks like. Though the end
credits of the movie makes it very clear that James Bond will return, we actually know what
it's like to see James Bond die.
Now if you're watching this video then yeah Spoiler alert...but it's your fault for clicking
a video about the ending of No Time To Die from a channel named Heavy Spoilers.
When I was growing up me and my dad used to always argue back and forth about if Bond
would ever die and who would be the one to do it. James Bond has always seemed pretty
indestructible and you might remember that Danny Boyle actually left the project because
he said it would be ridiculous if they actually offed him.
So we knew for a while that this was likely going to be the movie that killed him but
I think it's how they executed it that makes it the perfect way to send off the character.
In the movie we follow Bond as he tries to stop a deadly nanobot virus that has the capability
to kill someone in seconds should they have the DNA it's targetting.
Throughout the movie he attempts to stop the villain Safin from releasing it and he also
learns that he has a daughter with Madeline Swann. Up until this point Bond had very much
been the love em and leave em type and before we get the Bond song in this movie he dumps
Madeline on a train and says that they'll never see each other again.
Throughout the chase that preceded it, Swann said that she had something to tell him and
though it could be taken that this was her revealing she worked for Blofeld, you can
catch her grabbing her abdomen on the train which hints that she's carrying his baby.
Bond ends up retiring but he's pulled back into the saving the world business by his
friend Felix Leiter before he returns to MI6. Like Bond Felix is someone who has many incarnations
and seeing him die very much set the stage for this wrapping up the Bond arc.
Eventually it all comes to a head on Safins island where Swann and Madeline are both stationed
at. Bond breaks in with other MI6 agent Nomi and manages to save his family. However he
has to remain on the island to keep the blast doors open so that the Navy will be able to
blow it up. During this he's attacked by Safin who gets nanobots into his system that mean
he'll kill his daughter if he ever comes into contact with her. It's a completely devastating
gut punch to close the film out on and the movie doesn't really leave him with many options.
However the movie does give him a closing arc that shows how far the character has come.
In the majority of Bond depictions he's been a cold hearted killer who would happily leave
love behind in order to do the mission.
Even upon learning about the death of Vespa he called her a bitch and the guy didn't do
much for feminism until about five years ago.
But the fact that he was willing to end his own life because he'd rather be dead than
live without being able to spend time with his love and daughter shows how much that
the character has changed.
Bond, like many of us is someone who has probably been a bit misogynistic, selfish and also
just out for his own ends but like us, he eventually found something to live for. It
really does make a difference in life when you go from a self centred existence to finding
meaning and in this meaning Bond realised that life wasn't worth living if he couldn't
be with the things that meant the most to him.
He's someone who actually found a reason to live and in doing this a reason to die.
Now I know the ending of this movie is very controversial and honestly when I left the
cinema I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about it. However having time to reflect on it I
think it actually gave us a definitive ending that made sense for the character.
On top of this the fact that Bond somewhat dies by his own hand means that there isn't
really someone better than him and he can still go out with his legend intact. There's
no one that was able to really beat Bond and the only time it happened was because he allowed
it to.
Bond climbs to the top of the tower on the island and he looks over the sun as he speaks
to Madeline on his radio. Throughout the saga, Bond was constantly looking over his shoulder
as was Madeline but James reassuringly tells her that they're safe now and that no one
else is coming.
He tells her that in their daughter she made the most beautiful thing that he's ever seen.
Madeline cries whilst saying that there must be a way for him to survive which very much
feels like it's the voice of the audience who are no doubt desperate to see Bond survive
this.
In the cinema even though I knew it was the end I was still desperate to see him pull
a dark knight rises and show up in a cafe or something watching his family live their
lives.
However in many ways that would rob the character of the sacrifice he's making here. He's not
meant to get out of this because he's really sacrificing everything he is for everything
he cares about. M sums it up when they remember the character and he says that the function
of man is to live, not to exist. If Bond survived this he would be existing instead of living
so it makes sense why he does this.
Now going beyond that Madeline says he wishes they had more time to which Bond replies,
you have all the time in the world.
This is actually a nod to On Her Majesties secret service, namely the ending scene. In
that movie Bond actually married but in the closing moments his wife was killed in a driveby
shooting. He looked over her corpse and said 'we have all the time in the world' which
is clearly mirroring this moment. Whereas his wife died and he had to live without her,
his daughter and Madeline are now having to do the same thing.
The entire movie in some ways is about fathers and daughters and we not only see this reflected
in Mr White and Madeline but also through Bond and Matilde.
The movie closes out with Madeline and Matilde driving in the Aston Martin V8 that you may
know from The Living Daylights.
Madeline says she's going to tell her a story about a man named Bond, James Bond and we
close out to the song All The Time In The World by Louis Armstrong.
Now I think this closing scene very much sums up Craigs Bond as a whole. His arc pretty
much messed up the whole continuity as we had things like M being his boss for his first
mission, his first meeting with Felix even though he met him in Dr No for the first time,
getting the DB5 even though it first showed up in Goldfinger and Blofeld...yeah Blofeld
continuity was a mess.
However I think that this closing scene is very much remincient of Craig's five films.
It very much feels like his full arc was a sort of greatest hits retelling of his story
and we saw things like him getting the 007 number, the first time he got the Aston Martin
DB5, the first woman he fell in love with, his meeting with Spectre and also his death.
It really brings the entire franchise together to tell a conclusive story about the character
that for the first time ever takes him on an arc.
The scene is absolutely perfect in my opinion and it's also the perfect way to end Daniel
Craig's Bond.
Now obviously I'd love to hear your thoughts on it so make sure you comment below and let
me know. I know this scene is divisive so I'd love to hear if you liked it or if you
didn't.
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If you want something else to watch then make sure you check out our breakdown of perfect
scene in Spider-Man Homecoming. We break down the entire thing so it's definitely worth
checking out if you wanna know more.
With that out the way thank you for sitting through the video, I’ve been Paul and I’ll
see you next time. Take care, Peace