Review: No Time To Die

Between an unenthused lead actor, director disputes and a bloody pandemic, it seemed iffy on whether or not we would actually get to see No Time To Die and see off Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond. But now that it’s out, it’s fair to say that the wait was worth it, while not perfect as an overall film, No Time To Die does a lot of things right, not only to Craig’s incarnation of the character, but to Bond as a whole to evolve him into something more befitting of the modern age whilst not taking away what we love most about Bond as a cinematic icon.

Put simply, Craig goes out on a high note.

Picking up not long after the end of Spectre, James Bond has been living a quiet life with Madeline Swann as they enjoy the honeymoon phase of their relationship. However after a violent attack by the remnants of Spectre, Bond is forced to question Swann’s allegiances and his own feelings for her, eventually choosing to disappear from her life altogether.

Sometime later and a retired Bond is called upon by his old CIA buddy Felix Leiter to help investigate the abduction of MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev who was taken by Spectre along with a weapon known as Project Heracles. Bond refuses but when MI6 agent Nomi tracks him down and tells him to not get involved, Bond realises that MI6 and CIA aren’t cooperating for some reason so he does what he does best, and he gets involved, agreeing to help Felix despite Nomi’s warnings.

Things don’t go to plan though as a lead in Cuba reveals that there’s another organisation at play, one with the power and influence to rival Spectre. With nowhere left to turn, Bond is forced to play ball with MI6, working with them to find out what this mysterious new organisation is and what their leader Safin has to do with Madeline Swann.

For the first 2/3rds of this film, I was into it, I loved the intrigue of why there was this divide between MI6 and CIA, I enjoyed the slow growth into finding out what Project Heracles is – even though it blatantly rips off a level from Hitman – and I especially loved how all the trauma of the past four films has built up to Bond being in his lowest point with this film constantly and consistently beating him down at every turn.

But then something happens, it’s not an immediate thing but you’ll realise that there’s a goal that needs to be reached, then that goal is reached, and the film keeps going for another 40 minutes. The final act of this film feels... tacked on, like it only exists because the film reached a conclusion and they realised that things weren’t over yet. Which is a shame because up until then, the mystery surrounding Safin and his goals were enough to keep the film going and the last ten minutes are among some of the best of the entire franchise, but things take a dip once you realise that there’s not much of a point to those last few set-pieces.

Now to be clear, those last 40 minutes don’t ruin the film, it’s still exciting and funny and surprisingly emotional at points, and they are necessary in order to get the final pieces into position for the ending. But without wishing to get into spoilers, it does feel like certain things were pulled out of a hat to keep some form of momentum going.

Thankfully none of this detracts from the acting... mostly. Rami Malek as Safin is the one iffy point of the whole thing but I’ll blame the writing more than his acting for that. Despite being the central villain he has surprisingly little screentime, often being sidelined for Blofeld, especially in the first half of the film. Now to be fair to Malek does decent work with what he’s given, coming across as suitably creepy and dangerously devote to his mission, but Safin needed to a bigger role in the story to help craft him as a stronger villain. He starts off fine, his mission makes sense in an almost anti-hero manner, but then he falls into typical Bond Villain stature but for seemingly no reason and it leaves him as a half-realised creation. For as long as this film is, I think they could’ve spared a little more time to better explain him as a character because he is sadly the weakest element of the film.

Although saying that, he does manage to hurt Bond in a way that no-one else has managed so props to him for pulling that off.

The rest of the cast manage a much better job with familiar faces and newcomers making their mark. Returning cast members include Ben Whishaw as Q who is simultaneously excited and exhausted by Bond’s antics. Naomie Harris as Moneypenny is still playful with Bond but trusts his judgement more than most and stays loyal to him throughout. And Jeffrey Wright makes a long awaited return as Felix Leiter, though much more relaxed and fun since last we saw him, looking straight out of Max Payne 3 with bald head and bright blue shirt and happy to have his friend on his side.

Christoph Waltz has a small but memorable return as Blofeld, stuck in prison but somehow still in charge of Spectre, still being a powerful and dangerous thorn in Bond’s side. Ironically for not being the main villain of the film, Waltz has much more of an impact, his presence felt that much more in a very Hannibal style of character. By the time we see him in his prison cell his sadistic and cruelty has come across that much more than it did in Spectre to the point where I think he should’ve played a much bigger role in place of Safin.

Also returning are Ralph Fiennes as Mallory, still running MI6 and still exasperated by Bond’s actions, even more so since Bond no longer works for him. Since his arrival to the series in Skyfall, Fiennes has proven to be a much rougher M which works well to clash with Bond and that’s just as well here, especially given how M factors into the plot and the multiple diplomatic issues he has to contend with. And of course there’s Lea Seydoux as Madeline Swann, not only one of the rare returning Bond Girls but arguably just as much a main character as Bond himself, she’s a link between Bond, Blofeld and Safin with all three using her to get to the others, mostly against her will. But despite that, Madeline never feels like an object to be passed around, she’s clearly a regular woman in an irregular world but that works in her favour since she’s able to both show a much more emotional and desperate side of her that breaks up the cold-heartedness of the rest of the cast as well as being able to consistently have the villains underestimate her and get the upper-hand to fix herself out of shitty situations.

Out of everything, I think this film makes the somewhat rushed relationship between Madeline and Bond from Spectre actually make sense. From fairly early on here I believed in them more than I ever did in Spectre and the prologue does a solid job at justifying them together, Madeline recognises Bond’s trauma and struggle to trust after Vesper but isn’t afraid to push him when he needs to in order for them to have a life together. Going by where the story and their relationship goes, it was necessary to have some believability behind them so that the emotional weight of the story actually hit and I think they pulled it off quite well.

Joining the franchise this time around include Billy Magnussen as Logan Ash, a CIA agent helping Felix who is a little too green for his own good, David Dencik as Obruchev, a slimy coward only looking out for himself, and Ana de Armas as Paloma, a CIA agent on her first proper assignment but with a surprising amount of charm and skill behind her. The biggest newcomer however is Lashana Lynch as Nomi, a new 00 agents brought in during Bond’s retirement and one who doesn’t care for the history behind an old man. Nomi is a great addition to the series and more than a match for Bond, playing equal parts friendly advisory, reluctant ally and eventual partner as she brings ball-breaking, light-hearted rivalry and a small amount of respect to the Bond character, hopefully there’s more of her going forward because I enjoyed what she was able to bring to the franchise.

But the main draw here is Daniel Craig in his fifth and final outing as James Bond, and I don’t know if it was the recovery time between this and Spectre or if Craig knowing this was his final time in the role but there’s a clear revitalisation in him this time around that makes it feel like he actually gives a shit now. For what it’s worth, I do believe this to be Craig’s best turn as the character, partly because it’s the most Un-Bond that Bond has ever been, from the opening prologue to the final act, Craig’s Bond is put through the goddamn wringer, physically and emotionally and it just doesn’t let up throughout the entire thing. The result is a Bond that is supremely fucking done with everything, his enemies are constantly getting one up on him, his friends don’t know what to do with him and the short list of people he trusts is getting shorter and shorter, this is a Bond who is constantly ready to break and Craig plays him as such to make a much stronger version of the character. You still get those suave moments of course and his playfulness is still on show, but this is easily the most emotional Bond has ever been, with his utter rage flashing up more than once along with pain, confusion, joy and contentment, the script takes Bond to brave new places in this film but its Craig that’s able to bring this emotionally charged Bond to the screen and share in his heartbreak, his anger and his hope. Far and away this is Craig’s film, as it should be, and he delivers in a big way, making this final outing a brilliant send-off for his time in the role, this might not be the Bond that people expect, but that’s exactly why this Bond works so well.

Directing duties this time around go to Cary Joji Fukunaga, picking up after Danny Boyle left because of ‘creative difference’. Fukunaga might not be as much as a household name as Boyle, but after his stellar work on True Detective it was only a matter of time before a big budget production picked him up and I’m happy to say he delivers. On thrills alone this is a solid entry with the opening chase across Southern Italy setting the stage with motorcycle jumps, car chases through tiny Italian roads and a classic Bond Car scene all within the first 10 minutes. From there the film builds up some solid intrigue as the Cuba lead takes a violent turn as 3 or 4 parties all start taking each other out for the privilege of capturing one mane. A chase through a fog-laden forest has Bond using the lack of vision to his advantage to create a creepy, foreboding atmosphere unlike almost anything I can remember in the franchise. And the final base infiltration builds from stealth espionage to hectic escape to desperate final stand, all using Bond as a one-man army against Safin’s forces. It’s classic Bond stuff but it’s classic for a reason and it works just as well here, especially once Fukunaga starts using some of his tricks from True Detective to add his own flavour to the formula, most notable a several minute long-take when Bond has to climb a tower with henchmen behind every nook and cranny, forcing him to use every advantage he can find to get the drop on them.

What the film does best though, is slyly fuck with your expectations, it gives you enough classic Bond tropes to catch you off-guard like cars, woman, big bad-guy base to have a final act in. But every so often the film will throw a curveball at you or you’ll realise that a classic Bond trope hasn’t happened the way you expected if it even happened at all and honestly it’s all the stronger for it. This is a Bond film that not only modernises the Bond formula, but actively has that modernisation make sense within the story, it’s difficult to properly go into without spoiling some of the bigger and braver moments but I’ll give one example. Throughout this film, Bond only ever sleeps with Madeline, anyone expecting him to bed down with Nomi or some random female extra will be surprised to see that Craig’s Bond doesn’t do that here and for good reason, Madeline is his partner, their romance is the crux of this film and to have Bond sleeping around not only feels out of place in modern society but would actively hurt this story so I applaud them for mixing things up after nearly 60 years.

Ironically I think this is why Safin feels like a step backwards, he’s a classic Bond villain in a world where stereotypical Bond villains aren’t interesting anymore and his attempts at world-domination for shits and giggles feel out of place in a cinematic landscape forged by sympathetic antagonists.

Overall though, the fact that No Time To Die comes as close as it does to Skyfall greatness is a testament to how strong the whole film is, while it takes a confusing dip in the third act the intrigue and excitement leading up to it and the finale itself all make up for that with a strong emotional core that we’ve not seen since Casino Royale. The ensemble cast delivers some outstanding performances with Lynch’s Bond-Like Nomi, Seydoux’s headstrong Madeline and Craig’s on-edge Bond all standing out and Fukunaga delivering the franchises familiar thrills alongside some long overdue new blood and an emotional weight that gives power not only to this film but to Craig’s arc across all five of these films and what’s he’s been able to do to and for this character.

It’s not a perfect film, but it’s the best farewell to Craig Bond we could’ve asked for.

8/10