Have you ever had a boss who, upon reaching a year or six months out from retirement, becomes a new person? Austere or reserved before, they’re suddenly cracking jokes, hanging by the watercooler, and talking like they have nothing to lose? In No Time to Die, the final installment in Daniel Craig's tenure as Bond, both the film and title character take on this aura of the soon to be retired boss. More jokes are cracked, shameless callbacks are made, and Bond himself seems more relatable and humanized, smiling and speaking his unadulterated thoughts without remorse. Like that impending retirement, you can feel the end for Craig’s Bond, and the franchise he rejuvenated, looming over every second of the film. The result is that even when the movie falls short, and at times it certainly falls short, every last moment with Craig’s Bond given to us by No Time to Die feels like a gift from above.
Ever since Casino Royale debuted in 2006, Daniel Craig's Bond movies have separated themselves from their predecessors with their ability to deliver emotional depth that matches the action. With the Vesper storyline in Casino Royale or themes of family and the ever-present past in Skyfall, this iteration of the franchise added layers to the character that previously didn’t exist. Layers of heartbreak, sorrow, and turmoil bound us to the character who was once just a steely Brit who could shoot.
No Time to Die does its best to re-capture this defining feature that worked so well in Casino Royale and Skyfall and felt so absent in Quantum of Solace and Spectre. And as the opening sequence ends, a spectacular showcase of classic bond thrill and action, it seemed like they might achieve it. Bond stands on a train platform, bloodied, betrayed, and heartbroken, watching Madeleine (Lea Seydoux) through the windows of a train as she rolls into the distance. Death scenes of Vesper and M included, Bond had never been more sympathetic and human as when the camera closed in on his face and the train pulls away. However, an hour further into the movie when we still didn’t know the villain, Madeleine was nowhere to be found, and we hadn’t seen our favorite characters like Q and Moneypenny, it became clear this scene was the exception and not the rule.
Casino Royale and Skyfall work because the thematic/emotional storylines and the conventional "villain vs. good guy" action plot fit together like two clasped hands. In No Time to Die, the emotional storyline and plot are out of step with each other, causing each to muddle and distort the other. For example, Rami Malek’s “Safin,” the main villain and a character from Madeleine’s past, falls somewhere between fitting into the movie’s themes of family, loss, and betrayal, and being a conventional hokey Bond villain. The effect is he feels like a poorly crafted afterthought, a plot placeholder that the writers never cared to flesh out.
It also doesn’t help that the movie feels like an extended cut (especially during the first hour and a half). The length itself isn’t the problem, in fact, I was happy at the prospect of spending 163 minutes with one of my favorite characters. The issue is that every pivotal or well-crafted scene seems to be sandwiched by two that are unimportant, take too long, or just feels generally tossed in without regard for its effect on the film. For many movies, this loose under-edited feeling would be a death sentence. Fortunately, the knowledge that No Time to Die contained Daniel Craig's last Bond scenes made even the less than great moments fun to watch.
So. Overall, I think No Time to Die fell short on some of the big picture aspects. The plot, underlying theme, and length, to name three. However, it's far from being a bad movie due to many superb small moments that counterbalance the larger issues. For example, the addition of Lashana Lynch and Ana De Armas was crucial to moving the film along (both through the plot and into the 21st century). Lynch was the perfect person to have a contentious relationship with Bond as the new agent under the moniker 007, matching his cool charisma with ease. However, it was De Armas who really stole the show as a “newbie” American agent, goofy and light at first, then killing it in one of the three best action scenes of the film.
On another positive note, one of my biggest issues with the previous Bond film Spectre was the overload of quippy one-liners and comedic looks. In my opinion, this comedic flare brought Spectre far too close to being in the new and popular “action-comedy” genre. This comedy gene is still present in No Time to Die. However, Craig’s aura of an old retired man who came back for one final rodeo strangely makes the quips and jokes work, as they fit comfortably into this version of Bond who is more like a legend back for fun, rather than a regular season player trying to make his reputation. For example, in Spectre, I would’ve groaned if Bond stopped mid-fight to pour himself a drink, however, in No Time to Die it’s oddly believable - and fits into Craig’s portrayal of old, relaxed Bond.
The cinematography and action scenes also hold up to the level we’ve come to expect from the previous movies. No Time to Die’s choice of sets (Matera Italy, a lonely house in Sweden, hazy woods e.g.) provide grounds for some of the most stunning mixes of action and beauty I’ve seen in a Bond movie to date. And while it’s impossible to top Skyfall action scenes like the glass room skyscraper fight or final Scotland showdown, No Time to Die has a spectacular Rambo reminiscent face-off in the woods and exhilarating king of the hill shoot out up the stairs that come close.
After everything, the lasting legacy of No Time to Die was always going to be its ending. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I won’t spoil it, but remember the emotional resonance I said the first scene captured? The ending reclaims it.
After watching a movie riddled with inconsistent tone, pacing, and plot, it was almost shocking how well No Time to Die landed the ending. In the last 20 minutes of the film everything non-essential was stripped away; the quippy lines, messy plot, and irrelevant characters. Left were the two factors that made us fall in love with Daniel Craig's James Bond movies in the first place - heart and action. It is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and most important, gives closure to one of the most iconic actor/character combos of the past 20 years. I don’t know if this satisfying ending makes up for the movie's mistakes, but it redeemed the film enough to be able to say No Time to Die gave a just ending to a phenomenal actor, and the role of a lifetime.
Comments