Review: "No Time To Die" Is A Fitting Sendoff For (This) James Bond

After 15 action-packed years, Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond has finally come to a close. When the actor was tabbed as the next to portray the iconic British spy figure back in 2006’s Casino Royale, he (still a relative unknown on the global stage) could not have imagined just how enduring his reign as Bond would be, and he certainly could not have foreseen the wild circumstances surrounding the final movie’s release. No Time To Die was originally slated for release in April 2020, and was fully ready to go. Craig was doing promotion— his hosting gig at Saturday Night Live was the last live episode of that season —across America. Billie Eilish’s title track had been released and the young artist was already performing it live. The red carpets were starting to be rolled out. Then, as that aforementioned date might have tipped you off to, the World changed forever.

Unlike many television shows and movies in 2020, No Time To Die did not suffer from production delays due to COVID-19; the film truly was ready to go. However, the release was understandably pushed back to a time where it could be widely and safely seen in theaters. Obviously, that amount of time ended up being significantly longer than I think any of us expected. But finally, after 18 months of waiting, Bond’s final caper (for now) hit theatres last week.

The delayed release is significant because the anticipation built the hype that would have already existed for Daniel Craig’s swan song up to a fever pitch. Fair or not, the expectations for this film would be lofty, and the central question was, would No Time To Die be able to match or even surpass them?

Thus far, the answer from a surprising number of critics has been “No.” It’s still relatively early in the post-release days, but as it stands, No Time To Die has been one of the most divisive movies— in terms of critical response —of the James Bond franchise. Whereas Casino Royale and Skyfall, the first and third installments, were nearly universally beloved, and Quantum of Solace and Spectre were more consistently panned, reviews for No Time To Die have been a bit more all over the place, with some heavy hitters such as BBC, The Guardian and Variety giving it perfect marks and declaring it the strongest of the entire series, and some other heavy hitters like The New York Times, Rolling Stone and ABC News giving it considerably lower marks and declaring it exhausting, overly self-indulgent and more.

I have to say, I wonder how much of the snark and disappointment from some corners has been a result of perhaps sky-high expectations, because with my excitement somewhat demurred by early critical response, I was surprised by how much of the movie I genuinely thought was terrific.

(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW)

Though much of the classic formula was intact, there were many directorial, written and cinematographical choices that made this feel unlike any other Bond film I had seen, and that began right off the top. For the opening ‘scene’ to run nearly 20 minutes was certainly abnormal, but it paid off with, for my money, the best Bond song and opening credits of at least all the opening films. I of course had heard the song from the fantastic and unlikely duo of Billie Eilish and Hans Zimmer before, since it was released way back in early 2020, but hearing it in the context of the film was goosebump-inducing. It played perfectly on the somber, apprehensive mood that the scene immediately before the credits had ended on.

Sweeping, scenic camera shots seem to be a staple of any action movie, let alone James Bond films specifically, but the cinematography in No Time To Die felt particularly breathtaking in parts, such as the breathlessly intense opening shot across the frozen pond, or the jeep chases in the misty woods. As for the screenplay, it’s easy to forget how big a splash it made when it was announced it would be helmed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge; the brilliant actress and writer would be a steal for any production, but keep in mind this was amidst peak Fleabag fervor. Though a Bond film could not be more different thematically from the Emmy-winning comedy show, Waller-Bridge’s fingerprints were all over this one, her trademark razor-sharp wit on full display. I don’t know if this should be attributed more to her or to director Cary Joji Fukunaga, but I especially loved the brilliant use of Ana de Armas. The actress, who at the initially scheduled time of release was fresh off a star turn in the delightful Knives Out, was being heavily teased as the next ‘Bond girl,’ and it made sense. She is a stunning woman with an attractive Cuban accent, and a great actress to boot. However, she’s also downright hilarious, and this was the side of her the filmmakers decided to utilize, completely throwing the audience for a loop. ‘Bond Girl’? Hardly. de Armas shows up for a grand total of two scenes as an assistant for Bond on one particular mission, entertains him with her great humor, does a kickass job on said mission, and then wishes an impressed Bond well as she departs, never to be again seen the rest of the film. It was a sly way of upending Hollywood expectations and social media buzz without wasting the talent of a great actor.

This was not the only aspect of the film I would label as “clever,” either. There were several understated nods to sociopolitical events and trends. The most obvious aspect was the number of powerful and competent women that drove the story; for a franchise often criticized for its regressive gender norms, the role these women played— and Bond’s deference to them on multiple occasions —was noteworthy. So too was the way they laying the groundwork for a black, female 007, played marvelously by Lashana Lynch. And that’s saying nothing about the chief villain story, which, as became clear over the course of the film, was in part about eugenics and segregation. All of these aspects were handled tastefully and done subtly, where many a program and film have sent these messages so heavy-handedly they knock you flat with their pandering.

Now, all of this isn’t to say No Time To Die was without its flaws by any means. We eventually learn that Léa Seydoux’s Dr. Swann is James Bond’s ultimate true love, which begs the question why he was so quick to cast her off at the start off the film without giving her so much as a chance to explain herself. If that seems nitpicky, my bigger beef centered around the villains. Not only was the extent of Rami Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin motivation unclear, it felt like we hardly saw the man! The film spent too much time distracted by the multiple villain characters. And I get it: Malek, Christoph Waltz and Billy Magnussen are all terrific, the first two in particular clearly capable of being some of the most iconic villain actors in recent years. I can understand the urge to let each have their shine and not skimp on any screen time for any of them, but this led only to a muddled idea of how the various villains and storylines connected, and confusion as to why over a full hour passed between our introduction to Safin and the next time we see him.

However, bloated as the film may have felt in some regards, the two hour runtime didn’t overstay its welcome to me. I may have been at times confused or underwhelmed, but I was never not entertained or engaged. And any lingering qualms I might have had were certainly ironed out by the final third of the movie, a remarkably touching, somber and tense conclusion to this chapter of James Bond.

Daniel Craig’s Bond has always seemed a more modern, brooding spy than all previous iterations. More businessman than playboy, that is; having his fun, carrying on his romances, but never losing sight of what is most important. In this film, you can visibly see his shift in demeanor and focus when he meets his daughter for the first time, and the slow realization that not only has his love for Dr. Swann not gone away, despite what she tells him initially, little Matildhe is his child. (Though all would suspect this is the case from the start, the fact that it was officially confirmed by Mathilde innocently discovering her “mosquito bites,” which we know to actually be the rash that can only be passed on by Bond to those who share his genetic makeup, was another wonderfully delicate touch.) As for the decision to, well, kill him off: on the one hand, it’s the last movie of a series, why would’t you? Still, this is James Bond we’re talking about. The choice to have the iconic title character die in the end feels immensely bold. Of course after going through all he went through in this movie alone, let alone its four predecessors, I didn’t want Bond to die. At the same time, given the context, I found myself hoping he would at the end. It would be (and was) a heroic way to be felled, saving the World at large but also preventing himself from directly endangering the ones he loves dearest.

If Skyfall was James Bond’s Dark Knight, the action movie that was so well done it really holds up as a standalone film independent from its series at large, No Time To Die is its Dark Knight Rises: an imperfect, sometimes discombobulated movie, but one that’s a riveting, heartfelt and wholly satisfying final chapter.