It’s hard to hear the name James Bond and not think of Daniel Craig at this point. The longest serving Bond at 15 years in the role, Craig’s entrance into the role ushered in a new era of gritty, post-Bourne action; less focused on gadgets and more focused on beating his target into submission. What really set his 007 apart from the rest was Craig’s willingness to play with the machismo of the role, creating a Bond that felt familiar in the ways he needed to while adding a vulnerability and emotional rawness that previous iterations of the character lacked. Bloated and convoluted at times, No Time to Die is nevertheless a worthy send-off to Craig’s Bond; a visceral, action filled romp that, despite a lacklustre villain, strikes a perfect balance between Bond old and new.
Following his capture of Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), Bond (Craig) has now left MI6 to start a life with psychiatrist Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux). When their travels lead them to Italy and an ambush laid by Spectre, Bond suspects Swann of a double cross, abandoning her and seeking out a life of isolation in Jamaica. After five years of this simple life, Bond is thrust back into the swing of things with the arrival of CIA operative and longtime friend Felix (Jeffrey Wright), who offers him a chance to take down Spectre once and for all. When things inevitably go awry, Bond and new 007 Nomi (Lashana Lynch) – along with usual allies Q (Ben Whishaw), M (Ralph Fiennes) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) – find themselves embroiled in the plot of a new villain; one with a particular link to Bond and Madeleine’s pasts: Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek).
Where the previous film Spectre struggled to maintain a serious tone while introducing classic Bond elements – the gadgets, the smarminess – into the grounded world of Craig, new director Cary Joji Fukunaga has better luck, albeit not without its problems. It is well known now that wunderkind writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (of Fleabag fame) was brought in late in production to punch up series scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade’s (along with Fukunaga) script. While we can’t be sure what her contributions were specifically, there is a good amount of humour here that feels tonally jarring compared to previous entries, particularly in regards to David Dencik’s Russian scientist, who plays like every bad joke from a Marvel film roles into one character.
For the most part however, this humour works well to emphasise the “fish out of water” scenario Bond now finds himself in. Five years removed from his time in MI6, things have continued to move forward, even if he hasn’t, and nowhere is this more evident in the brilliant back and forth pissing match between Bond and newly instated 007 Nomi. Lashana Lynch is great as the sneering new 007 who does things by the books, ripping into James about his infamous charm with women and constant consumption of alcohol, but also delivering when it comes to the action; a legitimately strong candidate for Craig’s replacement should the series go that route. Ana de Armas also shines as Paloma, a CIA operative assisting Bond over the course of a mission. Despite only being present for one scene, she absolutely steals every frame; a wide-eyed, fresh-faced newbie who is more than capable of holding her own in an electric fight scene.
If Spectre was Sam Mendes pushing the franchise into bigger and bigger set-pieces, then No Time to Die is Fukunaga bringing it back to the basics that began with Casino Royale in 2006. That means a lot more close-quarters, bone-crunchingly violent fight scenes that shake the camera with the impact of each punch. Every fight feels life-or-death in stakes, and despite Bond’s pedigree as the action hero to end all action heroes, Fukunaga dials the intensity up so high that you forget this and become completely enthralled in the chaos unfolding, always on edge that one stray bullet or punch could bring Craig’s tenure as Bond to an abrupt end. When the action does stray into larger spectacle, the camera is always focused on Bond and his positioning within it and these sequences always serve to further the story rather than existing to justify blockbuster status.
In a film this massive (clocking in at close to a whopping 3 hours) there are bound to be weak links and unfortunately for No Time to Die that comes in the form of Rami Malek’s villain Safin. Fukunaga is given the unenviable task of wrapping up five film’s worth of story and in doing so finds little time to focus on the character of Safin; a facially scarred, creepy man with a shared history with a particular interest in Madeleine Swann and a clichéd plan for world domination. Malek gets by on his trademark blank stares and an uncomfortably softly spoken voice but lacks the quiet fury of Javier Bardem’s Silva or the cunning of Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre from previous films.
Thankfully Craig more than makes up for any of the film’s shortcomings in his final outing. After the notoriously difficult shoot of Spectre, he seems rejuvenated here, relishing the chance to flesh out Bond as a human rather than through his violent work. He comes to the action scenes with the intensity you would expect but it is the more humorous elements this time around that go a long way toward showing Bond’s development over the years. After all that time as the self-serious, suave spy he is finally softening into a man that wants more from his life and who is ready to tackle that with Madeleine.
No Time to Die is an appropriately epic end to Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007; a sprawling, globe-trotting adventure with the intense action and debonair charm that you would come to expect, but with a surprisingly emotional, reflective centre that wraps things up for Craig in a cathartic, impactful way. Rami Malek might get short-changed in his role as the villainous Safin and some narrative bloat slows things down at times but the good far outweighs the bad; not even to mention the terrifically moody theme song from Billie Eilish. A bittersweet end to a fantastic run as Bond, it’s understandably hard to swallow the fact that there will be no more time spent watching Craig cheat death as the super-spy.
No Time to Die stars Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz, Jeffrey Wright, Rory Kinnear, Billy Magnussen, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah & Ralph Fiennes – In cinemas now.