No Time to Die: Not your grandfather's Bond, but Craig's action-packed swan-song dials in the memories
By Thom Ernst
Rating: B
For reasons I've yet to comprehend, a new Bond movie is an event. No Time to Die puts us 25 installments deep into a franchise that is largely unchanged from its original template (27 if counting the first Casino Royale and the non-canonical Never Say Never Again).
And yet Bond still grabs headlines.
There is no better boost to an actor's career than speculation of being invited to star in a Bond movie. Even if Bond himself (or herself, as the case may be) remains the same from film to film, there is still the need for a new Bond villain, a Bond girl, and someone to compose the Bond theme song.
Daniel Craig as Bond and Christoph Waltz as Blofeld in No Time To Die.
And from those elements sprout public interest.
In theory, I like James Bond: I enjoy the gadgets, the supervillains, the cars, the exotic locales, the chases, and the love interests. But I wouldn’t call myself a fan, and I have not earned the right to be labled as a Bond enthusiast; that privilege belongs to the folks who line up outside reduced-capacity theatres dressed in black-tie and casino-ready evening wear.
Yes, the release of a Bond movie is indeed, an event.
Given this predilection to salivate at the mere thought of a new Bond film, is there any question why No Time to Die should rank higher than normal on the scale of public interest? Not only is No Time to Die the first monster-budget film to experience two COVID-related delays, but it's also Daniel Craig's farewell to 007. And if you've been keeping up with your Bond news, you know that No Time to Die also marks the passing of a torch—even a reluctant Bond fan can find something of interest in that.
The torch appears to pass into the hands of Lashana Lynch, who plays Nomi, the newly appointed 007. Lynch is an exciting choice as a new 007, moving a step beyond rumours of Bond played by a Black actor (Idris Elba being a favourite) to Bond played by a Black woman.
PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN
Sillier people rummaging on this planet will grumble (and they have) that the only Bond is white, British, and male. But aside from unconfirmed rumours that Ian Flemings' 007 prototype is David Niven, Bond is a fictional character and can be any shade of a he/she/or they. And If the argument is that Bond must fit Fleming's literary creation, then Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and even Niven fail by that comparison.
No Time to Die is Craig's fifth outing as Bond, and the franchise has yet to see a more gentlemanly, albeit darker, broodier 007. Craig is arguably the more authentic Bond to Fleming's vision, a hardened killer with a traumatic past—which, frankly, sounds nothing like David Niven.
But No Time to Die catches Bond at the end of a career. He's retired from M16, rehired by the C.I.A. He's not slower, but he's more careful. He's not harsh, but he makes a few hasty decisions. This Bond is tough enough to get his feelings hurt; which is what I think should be the tagline on the poster.
I give credit to director Cary Joji Fukunaga for some of the film's more thoughtful moments. Fukunaga dials in memories like stock footage from previous Bond movies, not all of them Craig's: A framed shot of a woman carefully draped in bedsheets matches that of the asphyxiated body of a woman covered in gold in Goldfinger. The island fortress (slightly more Matt Helm than James Bond) evokes Scaramanga's (Christopher Lee) hideout in The Man with the Golden Gun. Blofeld's (Christoph Waltz) chilling entrance is reminiscent of Silva's (Javier Bardem's) entrance in Skyfall.
And there is an overall impression that No Time to Die strikes a skewed resemblance to On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
It can feel somewhat nostalgic as if Craig's departure is not merely the end of an era but the end of an institution. But nostalgia is tempered with the new.
One of the more significant additions is actor and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag). Waller-Bridge joins Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who've been penning Bond films since The World is Not Enough. Waller-Bridge is a particularly apt hire to help shape the dialogue and character of Lynch's Nomi.
There is an unmistakable (unless I'm mistaking) Fleabag-ish tinge to Nomi's dialogue and behaviour. It affirms the franchise's dedication to moving towards characterizing women as strong, not easily manipulated nor wilfully seduced, and whose body types don't necessarily comply with an assembly line of bikini-clad women whose double-entendre names would cheapen the slurs of a playground bully.
Bond has come a long way since 007 'cured' Pussy Galore of her lesbian tendencies. And no Bond has traveled further than Daniel Craig from the era where "No" meant being forcibly lulled into submission with a full-on non-consensual smooch.
Still, No Time to Die acts like Bond has yet to reconcile with his past. The film's opening sequence plays like a loaded, almost literal, analogy for smashing the glass ceiling that has kept women beneath Bond's heels for over six decades.
But even in this stride forward, No Time to Die makes room for an agent (Ana de Armas) in a low-cut gown with a thigh-high slit to come out kicking. The sad irony is that this slip back into old-timey Bond is bound to be an audience favourite.
But while Bond goes to lengths to redeem itself from the sins of its fathers, it remains an unapologetic purveyor of villains with facial disfigurements. The heavies in No Time to Die—Christoph Waltz, Rami Malek, and Dali Benssalah (Primo, a.k.a. Cyclops)—wear their scars, burns, and empty eye sockets as if they were marked by the beast. Surely if Anne Hathaway needs to apologize for her portrayal of an evil witch with claw-like hands in The Witches, then Malek and Waltz also have some explaining to do.
Some might find that No Time to Die, clocking in at just under three hours, is a long journey. But there are enough action sequences— some of the best since the crane fight in the opening scene of Casino Royale—to make time move quickly.
And Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Q (Ben Whishaw), and M (Ralph Fiennes) more to do in this Bond than perhaps any Bond before. Q is revealed to be gay but just enough to check off one more box to say, "This isn't your great-grandfather's Bond anymore."
No Time to Die is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and stars Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Dali Bensalah, and Lashana Lynch. No Time to Die opens in theatres on Friday, October 8.