Written by Robert Wade, Neal Purvis, Cary Joji-Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge / Story by Wade, Purvis and Fukunaga. / Directed by Cary Joji-Fukunaga. Released by MGM and Universal Pictures / 163 Minutes.
5th October 2021 (Released 30th September 2021)
Before reading, please note that I have attempted to be as spoiler-free as possible. You can watch our full-spoiler discussion of the film on YouTube now.
The Pitch: James Bond is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica after leaving active service. However, his peace is short-lived as his old CIA friend, Felix Leiter, shows up and asks for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond on the trail of a mysterious villain who's armed with a dangerous new technology.
Giving an ending and a sense of finality to a character that is nearly 60 years old (and on occasion played by actors that match that age) and that marked by an immortality is always going to be a difficult proposition. With continuing film series – I refuse to use the word franchise since it sucks all sense of art from the enterprise – you must give the illusion of change, something that comic book fans are more than familiar with. That is, there must be alteration and development, but always a return to the status quo. How do Bond films hand this in the age when we expect our characters to grow and deepen with each passing iteration? When we demand change? And Bond is certainly a character that has had changes demanded of him in recent years. We've had much discussion of late stating that Bond was simply too white, too male and too old-fashioned in his sensibilities to survive the modern world. All of these charges are fair. Bond is all those things. But stating them ignores that these are to fairly significant degree that necessary and intrinsic traits of Bond and indeed the things that make him pleasurable. That's not to say we want or need Bond to be a woman-hating racist white imperialist. That strips the series and character of any context or subtlety. But he must be something a little loathesome. There must be an air of self-hatred and destruction, a willingness to treat others as objects or commodities, because Bond is a cold-blooded killer. He is a person, but not a nice one. However, he is the person that has saved the world or at least England many times over, so he perhaps deserves a happy life after all.
LINGERING OVER ALL CRAIG’S BONDS IS A SENSE OF TRAGEDY
Of course, fiction and life have other plans. The film begins with two endings, set thirty years apart, that also serve as beginnings: Both of Bond's journey towards a complete and full life, and towards the end of the of the world. Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond has served as one story (apart from Skyfall) and those stories have informed and bled into one another, each successive film serving as a sequel to the last and this film becoming a cap to the whole Craig era. Now that we're here, you come to realise that what you're watching is a ghost story. As Bond works to dispell his ghosts, his new love, Madeline Swan, finds hers reaching up from the ether to wrap it's fingers around not just her throat, but Bond's. And then the world entire. It's safe to say that No Time To Die has the most all-consuming threat of any Bond film in the history of the series. But that's not the only place the picture excels – the action is relentless once it begins, so much so that one of the film's best stunts (the motorcycle-staircase jump) is merely one link in DNA chain of fast-paced, bloody sequences. But lingering over the whole film and indeed over all Craig's Bonds is the sense of tragedy. This emotion is more present than ever in No Time To Die, so much so that it could have been called 'Plenty of Time to Die', because plenty of people do. Yet, it's not just death that motivates Bond. Life jolts through the film in unexpected places and ways. For the most part it's the life that Bond could have, but that the past won't let him reach. Bond's journey in this picture is a tour through the past of Craig's films as No Time To Die becomes a story of mirrors and connections to previous adventures, genetically tying it back to Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre, going as far as to emulate certain action beats. Not only that, but it thematically links to On Her Majesty's Secret Service and through it's accoutrements to the classic, gadget-heavy Bonds. In fact, the film is a kind of spiritual sequel to OHMSS and every bit as rich and exciting as that film.
WAID AND PURVIS’ SCRIPT IS INVENTIVE. WALLER BRIDGE GIVES JOYFUL, SALTY MOMENTS THEIR DUE
There are negatives. The new 007, Lashana Lynch's Nomi, doesn't have enough screentime, even in a near three-hour movie. And the runtime itself does seem excessive. The movie also walks a fine line between the absurd 60s sci-fi Bond of yore and the gritty, dirty Bond of Licence to Kill and Casino Royale, feeling like it could tip too far over one way and unbalance the movie. But Wade and Purvis have such form working on Bond, they keep the script inventive. Waller-Bridge adds a powerful voice to theirs, giving joyful, salty moments their due. Cary Joji-Fukanaga, who stepped in after Danny Boyle exited the director's chair gives the film a feeling of escalating tightness, ratcheting up the tesion and fatalism to a powerful ending and giving us something we've never seen before in Bond. The performances are excellent. Craig no longer plays Bond as the edgy assassin, but a grizzled veteran looking back on his life with no small measure of regret. Lynch's Nomi is an arresting presence, whispering her lines like the killer she is. Lea Seydoux, returning as Madeline Swan, is the focus of a tragic trejectory and plays it beautifully. Ana De Armas is a refreshing explosion of energy, nerves and sex in a surrealistic sequence. Jeffery Wright's smooth, jocular Felix Leiter is a welcome return to the series and much of the plot centers on hm. Rami Malek's Safin is a haunting, strange creature who genuinely gives you the creeps. The supporting cast, Ben Wilshaw, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes and Rory Kinnear add moments of humour, moral ambiguity and emotion making you hope for their return even if we can't have the actor who unites them – Daniel Craig – back for another outing. We're promised as always that James Bond will return. But in what form and when, we have no idea. We'll be waiting though. We have all the time in the world.