James Bond (Daniel Craig) is enjoying his retirement after Blofeld’s (Christoph Waltz) arrest and detainment.  He spends his days lazing about Italy with Madeline Swan (Léa Seydoux), though the death of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, in reference only) years prior weighs heavy on the secret agent’s conscience.  When Spectre sets a trap for Bond at Lynd’s grave, he finds himself once again entangled in a high-stakes plot that places the world in danger.  As he grows closer and closer to the source, relationships across the board are tested as the allegiances and motivations of everyone involved are not as clearly defined as Bond initially believed.   

Cary Joji Fukunaga directs the final Craig outing as 007, No Time to Die.  One of the first films shelved in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and continually delayed in the months following, its theatrical release can be seen as a harbinger of hope for exhibition enthusiasts, especially after the Amazon/MGM merger early in 2021.  Fukunaga pulls out all the stops in delivering the closing chapter of this era of Bond, staying true not only to the darker nature of the Craig installments, but also the enduring nature of the Bond franchise with girls, gadgets, cars, and villains. 

The film opens in a flashback at an icy cabin in Norway before cutting to the warmer waters of Matera.  It seems almost as if Fukunaga is forgoing the typical in media res opening that has come to be expected.  While it is a departure of form, fans will be pleased that Bond does find himself in some trouble in these opening scenes, but it is far more of an emotional arc than a set piece showcase as in films prior.  It still does the job at setting the stage for the film that will follow – a massive 163-minute globe-trotting escapade – but it is clear that Fukunaga is going to continue to challenge the conventions of what a Bond movie can do. 

One thing that does not change is the iconic title sequence, this one sung by Billie Eilish.  It is always interesting to watch the animations for clues about the film to come, and this sequence is chock full of hints that add to the mystery and tease our curiosity.  As far as the title song goes, it’s fine. Eilish brings a smoky and haunting timbre to the lyrics that, like the visuals, allude to the story about to unfold.  It feels almost restrained, though, like she never gives us that powerful final verse despite what it sounds like the instrumentals are building up to as they gain in volume and complexity. 

Now in the film proper, we find Bond spending his retirement in solitude until Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) convinces him to come to a big party in Cuba held by Spectre to celebrate Blofeld’s birthday.  It is here where things begin to rapidly expand in the narrative at an impressive pace and careful attention is needed lest you get lost.  Bond teams up with Paloma (Ana de Armas) a young recruit with, allegedly, only a few weeks of training.  They are looking for a Spectre hostage, Valdor Obruchev (David Dencik) who is the chief scientist and operator of Project Heracles, a nanobot-powered bioweapon that can live harmlessly in one’s body until given the signal to attack based on genetic makeup and DNA sequences in the host.  Also after Obruchev is Nomi (Lashana Lynch), the newly named 007 who wants to bring the weapon back to MI6. 

Let’s back up.  Wright plays a chummy role as Leiter and his performance brings such warmth to the role which is nice to see.  Then there is de Armas who occupies a pitifully small role given how fun and electric she is on screen.  She looks stunning and has great chemistry with Craig in their short time together.  Facing off against them is Nomi.  She fills the role as the new 007 quite well in the action scenes.  The script feels a little heavy handed about her taking over the number and how Bond feels about it, but that is probably due more to tabloid fatigue surrounding the search for the new Bond than an actual fault of the script.  As the franchise continues, it would be nice to see Nomi become one of the many Bond staples that pop up time and again because, as with de Armas, it was really exciting to see Bond work as a team in some of these elaborate shootouts.  Everyone is after Obruchev, and Dencik plays the goofy, odd-ball, mad scientist like he is straight out of a Bond parody, but he never plays so far left that his performance feels out of place.  He actually helps to smooth over some of the absurdity that is inherent to these films with his slightly cartoonish approach. 

Obruchev is merely a pawn in the greater game of No Time to Die.  Waltz returns as Blofeld for a few brief scenes in the film to taunt Bond, but ultimately the puppet master of this film is Safin (Rami Malek).  Despite the runtime, the film is just not big enough to support both of these characters as the two actors share very similar delivery.  Safin’s plan is also rather bloated.  It follows a logical arc to a point, but then it takes a big leap into world domination, and it is unsupported by the otherwise grounded narrative.  With motivations born out of revenge, it would have been nice to see the script stick with smaller, more personal stakes rather than falling back onto saving the world… again. 

Safin’s lair looks great though.  The cinematography throughout the film was all very good, but Linus Sandgren, in collaboration with production designer Mark Tidesley create a repurposed WWII missile site in a small island in the Pacific that is the highlight of the film as far as locations are concerned.  The bunker has multiple areas to it; the laboratory, a water way, and a Zen Garden to name a few all with their own unique look and feel but it is totally believable that they all exist in the same location.  What was most refreshing to see was, that despite the plot armor of being James Bond, Fukunaga shoots the action, both in the third act and for the entirety of the film, in a clear and legible way so that we find ourselves swept up in the adrenalin rush of it all and we worry about Bond. 

The other very enjoyable thing about No Time to Die is its script written by a team composed of Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Fukunaga.  It follows a fairly logical and coherent path through its mammoth page count.  Taking a step back, it is still just a chain of MacGuffins for Bond to follow, but it is cleverly structured so that it does not feel like an insulting watch.  The various layers of story established in the first act so that multiple people are all vying for the same thing but for distinct reasons adds excitement to the narrative as it is not just a race between the Bond and the villain du jour. 

No Time to Die is a great sendoff to Craig as his time as Bond and also a very entertaining installment to the decades-old franchise.  The cast is complemented by the most recent iteration of returning faces: M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw), and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) which brings some necessary familiarity to a franchise facing reinvention once again.  Despite ending with a heavy air of uncertainty, there is only one thing to do and that is carry on.  The world is still very open to continuing the Bond legacy and it will be interesting to see what the new era brings.  As a standalone film, No Time to Die is quite enjoyable, though some knowledge of the events that happened previously in the Craig cycle will help to inform your viewing as it is first and foremost the fifth and final chapter of Craig’s time as 007.