So after countless delays because of rewrites and the pandemic, the 25th James Bond movie,
No Time To Die, has finally been released in theatres. I had a chance to see Daniel Craig's
final outing as 007 early as it has already been released in the UK, but what do I think
of it. Well, No Time To Die is probably one of the worst bond films I've seen for a while,
and probably just behind Quantum Of Solace as my least favourite Craig movie, with many
reasons why. But before I get into my spoiler free review, if you want to watch more videos
on the film including my breakdown which is coming in the next few days,
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But without further ado, let's dive into my thoughts on No Time To Die.
No Time To Die is a movie that the more I think about
the more it becomes one of my least favourite Bond films. Overall, I've loved Daniel Craig as Bond
and I really went into this movie ready to enjoy it. For me, Casino Royale was my favourite
of Daniel Craigs films as 007 and one of the best bond movies of all time.
Quantum Of Solace was probably the worst and hasn't really convinced me to give it
a rewatch. Skyfall was great but the more I watch it, the more I see things that have
been taken from other films that do it better. And Spectre was extremely disappointing in its plot,
even though I do get a kick out of watching the incredible production and the one-shot sequence
in the opening of that movie. No Time To Die is similar in that regard when coming to filmmaking,
but the disappointing plot is way more obvious to me. Director Cary Fukunaga aimed to create
Craig’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, exploring the British spy’s romantic, emotional,
more human side. Only we’ve seen that before over the course of the past few movies,
and it plays like leftovers in this new one. No Time to Die is ambitious, it has
a few but exciting action set pieces and it has incredible production, music and cinematography.
But the film is also very jumbled, unevenly paced, bloated and overlong,
with a terrible villain and a weak plot with lots of failed emotional manipulation. At best, it’s a
the moderate send-off, but at worst, a bit of a slog.
But No Time to Die does begin in a better fashion. The opening scene is a play on a tense horror
invasion, complete with a killer in a creepy mask. Then we jump in time and pick up with James Bond
and Madeleine Swann in the midst of a romantic journey that begins to dig into their secrets,
and it all concludes with a great chase scene and opening credits to Billie Eilish's song.
It’s thrilling and energetic, and it shows that the director can shoot Bond well,
whether emotional, drama-filled or action-packed. But this is also the only time where the romance
works and looks anything like authenticity, which becomes a big problem for the rest of
the movie. From here it's a downhill slide of uninspired beats, challenging the character of
bond which didn't really need to be challenged in the ways he was in the previous Craig movies,
and it includes a constant tease of a character's secret that doesn't really
become anything so monumental. A lot of my favourite movies of all time are longer ones,
but this film makes every one of the 163 minutes feel noticeable and grinding. For
instance, Casino Royale is a film that barely has that much action and actually focussed a lot more
on the drama, tension and dual off between Bond and Laschieffe. No Time To Die also has more focus
on the drama side of things, which I'm all for, but its shoddy execution is just hard to ignore.
As it has become the tradition, the spy has left service, kicking back on a tropical island.
Through a convoluted series of events, Bond is drawn out of his retirement because only he
can save the world from a madman bent on global destruction. Not only must Bond save the world,
but the script also attempts to tie up every loose end of Craig’s time as
Bond. We follow him as he goes from exotic location to exotic location, with plenty of
over the top gadgets, including a joke about a mechanical eyeball that isn't too bad.
And of the action beats, a sequence in Cuba stands out, introducing us to Ana de Armas’
operator Paloma, who is shockingly good considering she's only in the movie for 10
minutes. It’s definitely a crowded crew of espionage experts from around the world,
but these talented supporting performers are given surprisingly little to do
other than push the plot forward to its inevitable ending. Lashana Lynch's new agent
feels like a self-aware nod to the controversy around the casting of Bond, which is fine,
but then she’s not given much of a character to make her interesting on her own. At times she also
comes across as pretty annoying, repeating her role to James Bond and it just feels completely
obvious and less fitting by the end. Also like I suggested above, Seydoux and Craig
have shockingly little chemistry, which was a problem in the final act of Spectre, becoming
worse here because of what’s missing from the final act, and a character is added
into their dynamic in a way that feels cheap and manipulative. There are Endless scenes of plodding
exposition and mild revelations between moments of action. Attempts to build tension and mystery
during this time fall flat and along the way, the film stops to revisit all of the greatest hits,
with declining results. Perhaps the worst thing though is that there’s an overwhelming lack of
stakes. Although the world hangs in the balance, there’s never a feeling of imminent danger.
The plan is so unclear and results in it being entirely unthreatening. The script assumes you’re
already invested in the relationship between James and Madeleine, so if you’re not
already liking that, then the romance just doesn't work. When there are consequences,
betrayal comes from the most obvious source, surprising only conveniently oblivious characters
who should know better. And the fact that they constantly mention to Bond that his lovers secret
will destroy him, it just feels like a consistent knock on the head.
And then we come to the villain, many say that a James Bond film is only as impactful as its
villain is executed. I don't think that should be the case all the time, but it doesn’t change
the fact that No Time to Die has a seriously bad villain. There’s a red herring of a big
bad that is both exhausting and a re-do of the scarred man that we've seen countless times.
Many have said that modern movie villains are too perfectly laid out and overly explained.
They have their cause, their drive, their exacting blueprint of everything they’re after
and why. Safin has a plan, in theory, but it's not really certain what he wants
other than some sort of revenge. His endgame is vague to the point of being nearly nonexistent,
and consequently non-threatening. If his goal is confusing, his motivations are more questions than
anything obvious. And while you clearly get the essence that Malek is a fantastic actor,
in this role he doesn’t help the matters, bringing a lifeless portrayal of a Bond villain that drones
on in a blank monotone with nothing to say.
When Casino Royale burst on the scene in 2006, it really changed the action landscape. The Bond
mythology had grown stale and Daniel Craig gave it adrenaline. For something that once felt like
it so deftly balanced the old of a timeless character with a new, richer style, perhaps
the biggest problem against No Time to Die is that there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better
in one of the other Daniel Craig movies. Taking a similar approach can still of course be great
and even more so after waiting so long for this particular film, but it’s not something anyone
will remember in a few years which films like Casino Royale did previously. Maybe
it all should have ended a couple of movies ago, then we might have had time for something new.
When Craig first took over the James Bond mantle, it was hailed as a darker, grittier,
more realistic take on the character, with him being a breath of fresh air for many after the
winking banter of Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. He’s been strong as the super spy,
and for positive and negative, the movies have tried to do something different with the character
and his history. And Craig isn’t bad in No Time to Die, he gives a raw and emotional performance in
terms of acting. But the weak plot and similar beats to his own movies just make that emotion
fall flat in many instances. Other people seem to enjoy No Time to Die more than I do
and I completely respect that, but for me, the film is damaged by the ceaseless need to revisit
and tie up every last point from the previous three movies and is more concerned with sending
off its star in lacklustre fashion than telling a compelling or intriguing story. What we have here
is an overly long melodrama that boils down to the usual 'everyone is related' trope in Hollywood.
The writing is ridiculous, devout of the subtle wit or charm of the previous Bond movies and the
plot ultimately feels uninspired. Apart from loving the production, Hans Zimmers Score, the
cinematography, the opening 20 minutes and Ana De Armas's enter and exit as Paloma,
I leave No Time To Die feeling that it's one of the worst James Bond films I've seen in a
long time. I'm giving No Time To Die a 6 out of 10. But what did you think of Daniel Craig's last
film as James Bond, and do you agree with the points I have raised in this review.
Again, it's all subjective and I appreciate a range of reactions and reviews that address
both positive and negative aspects, so let me know down below in the comments section.
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