No Time To Die
Starting: Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes
Directed By: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Rated: PG-13
The time has come for Daniel Craig’s final James Bond installment. No Time To Die has had a bumpy ride to the theaters, fraught with filming issues and multiple delays due to Covid. The film has finally been released and it’s time to see how the 007 flick fares.
In No Time To Die, James Bond is enjoying a getaway with his love Madeleine. (Even James Bond has to take a vacation every once in a while.) A mysterious run-in with Spectre derails his getaway and leads him to distrust Madeleine (Lea Seydoux). What secrets is she hiding from her past? When an unidentified bioweapon connected to Spectre gets loose, Bond must find out the menace behind the terror. Can he stop the weapon, save humanity and find out the secrets of Madelein’s past? Well, it’s a lot to ask but at 2 hours and 45 minutes, he’s got plenty of time to figure it all out!
No Time To Die is a high-stakes spectacle. Carey Fukunaga takes over as director from Sam Mendes (Skyfall, Spectre) and he made a movie that’s certainly entertaining from start to finish. The action sequences are riveting from high-speed car chases to tense shootouts. There’s never a dull moment. There are multiple callbacks from all 5 Daniel Craig 007 films that fans are sure to appreciate.
Unfortunately, No Time to Die does falter by being an overstuffed movie. It does not need to be 2 hours and 45 minutes. So many scenes and story arcs could easily be trimmed down or even cut out to make the film move at a quicker pace. It’s clear that this was meant to tie up the Daniel Craig Bond saga, but it wanders in far too many directions.
This is a film with a stacked cast. In Craig’s last Bond outing he brings an intensity and emotion to Bond that keeps the viewer invested. His relationship with Madeleine is the driving force of the film that keeps everything moving. I admit to not being the biggest fan of Craig’s Bond, but he does a lot with the character in this film.
We see a lot more of Madeleine in No Time To Die. We learn a significant amount about her life before meeting James. Lea Seydoux brings a lot of characterization and emotional depth to Madeleine.
What is a James Bond movie without a villain plotting world domination? This time around Rami Malek takes on the role of Lyutsifer Safin, a menacing chemist sporting a Phantom of the Opera mask. Do I think that his character is directly related to the Phantom of the Opera? That I cannot say for sure. I do at the very least think Lyutsider Safin is a hardcore Phantom of the Opera fan. When he’s not terrorizing the world, he’s definitely watching the Gerard Butler/Emmy Rossum 2004 adaption on repeat.
There are a few side characters that can be irritating at times. Russian scientist Valdo Obruchev is an essential plot point, but some of his lines are very dumb and his accent is painfully fake. Then there’s the Spectre agent with a fake eye who feels like a video game character based on how many times he almost dies/magically jumps back to life. These are nit-picky things but they did take away from my enjoyment of the film.
Ana De Armas is a standout as Paloma. She proves her star power with just 10 minutes of screen time. It’s clear that she and Craig work well together based on their previous work in Knives Out. It’s an odd choice to only have her in one sequence of the film but she makes the most of her time.
SEMI- SPOILER ALERT
I will say that some aspects of this film deal closely with a viral weapon that closely mirrors covid. As someone who recently lost a loved one to the covid pandemic, it was a bit difficult to watch some aspects of that plotline. Obviously, I can differentiate the fictional world of James Bond from today’s reality. But I’d like to warn anyone who might have lost a loved one to covid. It is a sensitive subject matter and seeing similar subjects in films can be difficult.
SPOILERS OVER
Daniel Craig’s final film as 007 is a journey with a few too many detours along the way. No Time to Die is a high-stakes spectacle that’s certainly entertaining but too overstuffed.
My Rating: 6/10