No Time To die (2021)
“Life is all about leaving something behind.”
Reinvigorating James Bond for a modern audience was no small feat. Back in 2006, Martin Campbell proved with Casino Royale — Bond could be a franchise with the thrills of a modern action film grounded within a more adult perspective; losing much of the goofiness from past entries. Since then — it has been regarded by many as the best Bond film ever made. Sam Mendes took it a step further with Skyfall, revisiting and modernizing many other elements, while also adding some signature flair. Though the franchise has had its ups and downs, Daniel Craig’s take on 007 has been a response, as well as a love letter, to one of the most beloved franchises around the world. With No Time To Die, Cary Joji Fukanaga (True Detective, Maniac) had his work cut out for him but, overall, manages to craft a proper sendoff for the world’s most renowned spy.
No Time To Die feels vastly different from the previous entries ofwithin Craig’s run. Though Spectre had a sense of lightheartedness, calling back to the heyday of the franchise, NTTD builds off this in an unexpected manner. In this entry, Bond feels tired, older, and ready to let go; meshing well with the tone of the film. It’s all crafted to give the sense of saying goodbye, and while it works, it loses some footing by straying away from being definitively a Bond film. The film opens with a young Madeleine Swan, who witnesses the death of her mother by a masked man — due to the actions of her own father, Mr. White. These events kick off the film in a way the others haven’t; opening with someone other than Bond himself. In these early moments, we already see this isn’t your typical Bond fare and is reaching for something greater — which it doesn’t quite achieve by the end. After the backstory, the film picks up directly after the events of Spectre, with Bond and Madeleine Swan (Léa Seydoux) basking in love and escaping their past. As they attempt to do so, Swan asks James to confront his past once more before truly moving on by visiting Vesper’s grave and saying a final goodbye. As he reluctantly agrees, he feels prepared to leave this life behind and escape with the woman he loves. The moment he arrives at Vesper’s grave, however, he is ambushed by a multitude of goons and can’t help but think he was set up by Swan herself. Bond and Swan engage in a beautifully choreographed action sequence that kicks the film in gear. After they escape, Bond pushes Madeline away on a train and departs — alone.
Five years later — Project Heracles, a lethal nanobot bio weapon capable of targeting singular DNA, has been stolen and it’s lead MI6 scientist, Valdo Obruchev, kidnapped. This sequence is done in such bland uninterested modern “sci-fi” manner — it feels derivative of Craig’s Bond run entirely. Using anti-gravity devices to jump dozens of stories at once feels out of place; feeling as if it was included for surface level appeal rather than having any substance whatsoever. For the remainder of the movie, the villains never approach this caliber of technology again so it feels like glaring inconsistency. In the previous five years, 007 has retired in Jamaica until his old friend, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), asks him for a favor to bring Obruchev back. For an old friend, Bond agrees -- and the chase begins. Bond ventures to Cuba to meet Paloma (Ana De Armas) in one of the highlights of the movie. Though Paloma, once again, feels like a character written for an action franchise besides Bond, it works in the film’s favor here. With the fifteen minutes of screentime she has, Armas captivates the audience with her humorous, yet rounded, portrayal of another spy within the universe. I can’t help but think that Phoebe Waller Bridge (Fleabag) had a huge influence on why Armas’s character managed to be so prominent with so little screen time. Seeing Craig and Armas go back to back in one of the best close quarters combat sequences of the franchise is a delight to watch — and keeps the momentum rolling. It’s here, the bio weapon is released into a crowd of Spectre agents and incapacitates all of them. Bond escapes and eventually finds his way back to London, where Madeleine now works as a therapist for Ernst Savo Blofeld. The masked man from her past unveils himself her and lays out his tangled revenge plot; essentially everyone “responsible” for his own family’s death must die. The film drags his revenge scheme into convoluted oblivion where, by the end, it feels like it’s more of a plot device to wave off our beloved hero — rather than a compelling villain arc. Which, once again, is fine.
For the final third, it’s revealed Madeleine gave birth to their child five years ago, soon after Bond’s disappearance. Safin (Rami Malek), the masked man, sends his henchmen to Madeleine’s family home and after an intricate car chase and foggy fight sequence in the woods, ends up capturing Madeleine and her daughter. Bond then travels to the island (surprise!) where Safin has set up an entire factory for nanobot production and rescues the kidnapped pair. There’s a lot of moments here that tonally clash, especially with the poorly written schlocky dialogue for Obruchev, making him feel more cartoonish than any of the Craig films have been. The action is always solid, however, and carries the film’s momentum to its final moments. Bond rescues Madeleine and Mathilde, their daughter, but ends up being infected by Safin with the bioweapon. Bond opens the blast doors as MI6’s missiles come pouring in and says his final words to his loved ones. The emotional beats hit well, but oddly feel undeserved, and most definitely too rushed. His final sacrifice, however, fits well into his arc of finally making a purely selfless decision; one he knows he won’t escape from.
The convoluted plot, if played more simply, may have worked in the favor of this film’s final moments and overall purpose. Fukunaga set out to make a Bond film that plays on the humanity of the character created throughout Craig’s run — but it stumbles all over itself when it tries too hard to be a Bond movie. The film itself feels scared of its own decisions, and thus, ends up not having as strong of a voice as some of the previous entries; Casino Royale and Skyfall in particular. I wish the film felt confident enough to explore more uncharted territory but, to me, it feels as if Bond's final arc got trapped under the goofiness of the plot. Granted, it still reaches some of the most emotional heights of this franchise yet and will be a fun entry to revisit. Cary Joji Fukanaga has crafted an enticing action film that struggles to break out of its cage — and if it had, it might just have been the best Bond yet.
