Review: No Time to Die

After a trap set by SPECTRE leads him to question the loyalty of lover Dr. Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), 007 James Bond (Daniel Craig) parts ways with her and quits Her Majesty’s Secret Service altogether. Several years later, old buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and CIA operative Logan Ash (Billy Magnusson) approach Bond in Jamaica asking him to look into the theft of a bioweapon. British Secret Service are also looking into the matter, represented by Bond’s 007 replacement Nomi (Lashana Lynch). The trail leads to villains old (Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld) and new (Rami Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin), whilst also incorporating Madeline into the mix somewhere along the line. Ana de Armas plays Paloma, a novice agent who helps out Bond briefly.

 

I haven’t been a fan of the Daniel Craig era of James Bond films, with the unpopular “SPECTRE” being the only one that worked for me. This 2021 final entry in the Craig era from director Cary Joji Fukunaga (co-writer of the recent film adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT”) is a bit of a step back from that entertaining effort in my book. Scripted by Fukunaga, actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Robert Wade (“Die Another Day”, “Casino Royale”), and Neal Purvis (“Die Another Day”, “Casino Royale”), there’s lots of fine elements here – including Craig’s series-best performance as 007 – but I never became fully engaged in its plot. The villain played by Rami Malek has a genuinely interesting plan and story, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that Fukunaga and his co-writers tell it in a slow and not consistently engaging way. Malek’s character and motivation are interesting on paper, but the film could’ve and should’ve been told about 15 minutes shorter. It’s too damn slow, overly complicated, and badly needed an editor. It plays like they knew this was going to be it for Craig and so they really wanted to go out in epic fashion. I understand the intention, but it results in far too much movie to consistently keep my attention and investment for all of its length.

 

I was a little worried at the outset when we didn’t get any guitar on the gun barrel sequence and a CGI MGM lion to boot. However, we get nice slowly wandering camerawork by Linus Sandgren (“La La Land”, “First Man”, “Babylon”) in a tense opening scene. It’s by far the best-looking Craig-era Bond film. What I liked about the scene is that it doesn’t go quite where you expect, or at least I didn’t expect it. In fact the entire opening stretch, whilst long, is tense and exciting. Meanwhile, Craig handles the muscular, thuggish action well. Jesus Christ, I hope that bike stunt was CGI or else whoever performed it is an insane person. I particularly liked the Aston-Martin with mini-guns and bullet-proof glass getting Bond and Madeline Swann out of a very tight jam at one point. The director clearly knows what they’re doing with tension and action, the latter is done with a real snap and excitement despite the length. The title design is terrific too, but Billie Eilish’s whispering bullshit song is that affected foreign accent syndrome nonsense that I hate. One of the 5 worst Bond songs ever.

 

I’ve never been fond of Craig’s interpretation of the character, which isn’t anywhere near as close to Ian Fleming’s creation as people will have you believe (Timothy Dalton probably came closest as an on-screen match but even his match to Fleming’s text has been overstated). Craig’s got the pale, cold eyes and that’s about it. However, I’ve warmed to him a little in these last two films. In “SPECTRE” Craig managed to lighten up a bit, and here he effectively essays an angry, brooding, and untrusting Bond but still able to bring occasional humour. Here he’s cold but with an obvious vulnerability underneath to show that the coldness isn’t mere stiffness or a lack of humanity. The guy has simply been through a heck of a lot. It’s Craig’s best work outside of “Layer Cake”. I was also glad to see Lea Seydoux back as Dr. Madeline Swann, one of my all-time favourite Bond girls. She’s terrific as always. Jeffrey Wright has grown on me as Felix Leiter, though his new offsider was calling way too much attention to themselves. I found it interesting that Bond spends a lot of the film working with Leiter instead of being OHMSS. In a small but memorable role, Ana de Armas is immediately lovely, charming, bubbly, naïve and gorgeous. Full of personality she’s one of the better Bond girls of recent times, too. Just be prepared for a bit of a Britt Ekland meets Carey Lowell character from her. It won’t be for all tastes as a result, but I was charmed by her. I was much less impressed with Lashana Lynch as Nomi, another 007 agent whom many seem to have mistaken for the replacement for James Bond. I think people have read too much into her character saying ‘I’m 007’ at one point. I think after this film the series will get a rest and then a re-set with a new male 007 James Bond. Getting back to our female 007, Lynch is a wooden actress, and with her goofy sunglasses comes off like a less aggressive Grace Jones. She’s the big acting weak link here. Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and especially Naomie Harris are as good as ever in their usual roles, though the latter is underused. I’m not a Rami Malek fan but he works just fine as a Bond villain. He’s a little like Renard in “The World is Not Enough” but a bit more interesting. It’s Malek’s best and least mannered performance to date in my view, and the character is interesting when we get to know him. On the fuzzy end of the lollipop, the glass eye henchman was a touch dull and forgettable. As for Christoph Waltz’s return as Blofeld, his big scene is the most over-the-top Hannibal Lecter thing even before he turns up on camera. Waltz is a rock-solid Blofeld even if he’s not used particularly interestingly here. In fact, the film probably didn’t need him at all. I also liked small touches like the nods to M’s past with paintings of Judi Dench and Robert Brown both visible.

 

Craig is good. The action is good. The cinematography is terrific. The women are (mostly) good. Even the villain is interesting, if introduced far too late. So why was I somewhat ambivalent on this one? Because it’s overlong and slow, with an overly complicated plot. I just never quite got into it as a result because it was just too much movie. It feels like a story that was inorganically stretched out to epic length and bloated beyond all necessity. It’s middle of the pack for me.

 

Rating: C+