Film review: No Time to Die **

By Nik Grozdanovic

Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as James Bond has finally premiered. One of the many expected blockbusters of 2020 that got stuck in limbo due to Covid, the much anticipated No Time to Die – the 25^th James Bond film, and the 5^th starring Craig as the immortal spy – has arrived. In a recent Heineken ad promoting the movie and playing on the idea of how long it took, Craig pours his beer and tells us “Worth the wait.” Was it? I’m not so sure.

Before we see a single frame of the film, something feels off. For the first time ever, the traditional gun barrel sequence – the one that sees James Bond walking, turning, pointing, and shooting at the camera – does not feature blood running down the screen. The film opens with a flashback to a turning point event in Madeleine Swann’s (Lea Seydoux) life – the day a man came to kill her father but found only nine-year-old Madeleine and her mother. The killer, Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), spares Madeleine’s life and while she grows up to eventually become James Bond’s lover, he grows older (though it’s a bit hard to tell, underneath all those strange burn marks on his face) to become the 25^th James Bond villain.

Flashfoward to where we left off after Spectre, with James de facto retired and enjoying every minute of it with Madeleine. In a nice wink to the very first film in this James Bond’s screen life, Madeleine encourages James to say his final goodbye to Vesper Lynd, who is buried nearby. He does so, only to be ambushed by Spectre agents. What ensues is part of the formula we’ve all grown to love – the big pre-opening credit chase sequence. While short-lived and bereft of the usual creativity, it remains one of the most exhilarating moments in the film.

After escaping the clutches of Spectre, James puts Madeleine on a train – believing that she betrayed him – and says goodbye for good. One of the best James Bond opening credit sequences since 2006 begins with Billie Eilish singing in her love-it-or-hate-it raspy soprano that there’s “no time to die.” Then it’s five years later, and the world has changed. James is living a simple, fully retired life in Jamaica; MI6 has recruited a new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch); Dr. Madeleine Swann is the only person the imprisoned Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) agrees to speak with, and Safin has discovered a secret MI6 lab where nanobot technology is being designed to “safely” kill unsuspecting villains just by detecting their DNA. Safin wants to use this nanobot technology to…take over the world? His end goal gets a bit lost, though he’s still clearly got a thing for Madeline and also wants revenge over the remaining Spectre members because they killed his entire family. Anyway, James Bond is pulled out of retirement.

The action in No Time To Die is breathtaking in spots but feels fragmented and too short-lived. As soon as it gets really going, it stops, and more-than-usual fluffy melodrama takes over. While Malek does a brilliant job of etching his mark to the pantheon of super creepy and clearly insane James Bond villains, Lyutsifer Safin loses all his mystique in quite anti-climactic fashion at the end. The script, which definitely benefits from the extra sparks of humour thanks to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s contribution, is lacking a lot – mostly because of how dull, flat and predictable 90 per cent of Bond’s lines are. And therein lies the biggest rub, James Bond ends up somehow being the least interesting character in his own film.

Things get emotional, and Craig caps off a fantastic run as Bond (arguably the best after Connery) with compassion and grace. But the big twist at the end, which I cannot speak of because it’s trapped behind a massive spoiler wall, is controversial to say the least and I’m really not sure I like it.

There are genuine moments of joy to be found in No Time to Die. Hans Zimmer’s score is massive as usual. Linus Sandgren’s cinematography feeds all eyes hungry for aesthetic beauty – from sinking ships and misty forests to the coolest way to exit a building using magnets you’ll see on screen this year. Also, watch out for Ana de Armas’ agent Paloma and David Dencik’s cynical scientist Valdo Obruchev as two supporting characters who inject the whole picture with so much fun that they deserve their own movies. Sadly, neither of them are featured long enough to make No Time to Die into an overall bang. Once the end credits finally roll, we’re left with more of a whimper, and the burning question still ringing in our heads… “was it worth it?”

DIRECTED BY Cary Joji Fukunaga

STARRING Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch

ACTION, ADVENTURE

USA 2021              163mins