And so ends the reign of the 2nd best James Bond. Daniel Craig’s imprint on the character will be hard to shake, taking the franchise in a grittier, more grounded direction, and generally elevating the franchise back to former glory, including making in my opinion the best Bond movie to date. No Time to Die is less about prestige storytelling and filmmaking, and more of a thank you to Craig for resolidifying James Bond’s status as one of the great movie franchise leaders. Good luck to the next Bond who has to replace him, those are big, classy shoes to fill.
Craig’s Bond at the start of No Time To Die is getting ready to happily retire with Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), his love from the last film Spectre. However, a spy’s mistrust runs high, and circumstances up to the credits and Billie Eilish’s opening number lead to Bond and Swann parting ways. 5 years later a series of circumstances lead them back toward each other, as a shadowy figure (Rami Malek) has found a new way to commit a giant terror attack on the planet, forcing 007 to leave his life of solitude and get back in the fight with M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw), Moneypenney (Naomie Harris) and others in Her Majesty’s Secrect service like up & comers Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and Paloma (Ana de Armas).
Craig’s Bond films traditionally have been more heavy handed than the more sly double entendre-y previous versions. Which is why No Time To Die’s biggest draw is how fun most of it is. Most of the newcomers inject the movie with uninhibited enthusiasm. The Cuba action sequence is a delight beginning to end, recoupling Craig and de Armas after their knife caper together. de Armas in particular shines brightly, giving this movie an innocent delightful enthusiasm that Craig bounces off of, with that James Bond charm. Billy Magnussen is a hoot as a Bond fanboy in the CIA, oversmiling his way into pitching Bond a job…and maybe an autograph? Cary Fukunaga, the writer/director puts a lot of that same enthusiasm into the script’s first half. No Time To Die continues the tradition of subverting Bond’s famous lines in cheeky ways, taking almost all of Bond lore and upending it like having Bond, James Bond himself…to a bank teller who didn’t hear his name. When not being clever in dialogue, Fukunaga ups the ante and scope with some really epic action sequences. Motorcycles go flying in the air, there’s an amazing forest chase in Norway with 4×4’s and then a foggy knoll cat & mouse.
But No Time To Die has dueling masters, which result in a movie that feels at odds with itself at times. That fun first 90 minute movie above is juxtaposed with the far more serious plot mechanics Bond, Madeline, and Rami Malek’s character find themselves in. Rami Malek must have been left out of the group text about having a good time, because he’s as serious as 30 heart attacks here. And because everyone knows this is Craig’s last turn as Bond, Malek’s character gets short shrift too, given murky motivations and cheap, insulting ploys to raise the stakes of the movie. The last hour sucks most of the fun out of the movie, changing those intentional laughs into unintentional ones. Plus the movie starts undercutting its messaging about women in power and even betraying the audience’s understanding of the James Bond lore by giving Craig his final Bond moment in the sun.
No Time To Die is a bit of a mess to end Daniel Craig’s time as our favorite British spy, through no fault of his own. Even though his tenure doesn’t end on a high note, there’s a lot to love and appreciate what Craig brought to the franchise, and gives us hopes for the next Bond to continue that upward swing. Who knows? If No Time To Die is any indication, maybe the times are a changing, including Craig trading his British accented franchise for a Foghorn Leghorn accented new one! Gosh I can’t wait for Knives Out 2!