Review: No Time to Die (2021)
A middling, and thus fitting, end to Craig’s run.
You can accuse the Bond franchise of a great many things, but consistency is not one of them. No Time to Die is the fifth movie that sees Daniel Craig take up the mantle of Britain’s famous super spy. The previous movies have had a mixed reception. Personally I like Quantum of Solace better than most, and thought the ending of Skyfall was a bit … dull. Someone will probably say this is wrong. No Time to Die has already proved divisive with critics and it is not hard to see why. While it does many things right, very right even, it does also stumble just as often. A lot of it is to do with the franchise’s insistence on preserving the continuity across the different installments. That’s very hip and now, you see. And while I appreciate a fallible and humanized hero, the problems start when the threats also need to be tied to James Bond personally. Feel free to watch Spectre again if you don’t believe me.
No Time to Die starts with Bond happily retired and living his best life with Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), the daughter of an antagonistic assassin whom Bond fought in a few movies and killed in the previous one. In an attempt to start fresh, he goes to the grave of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green four films ago), his first love (who was 23 at the time? Huh, weird.). But then things explode and bullets fly and a few convoluted scenes later there’s another villain who not only threatens the world, but is also *gasp* someone from one of the protagonists’ past. You don’t say… Oh, and Bond’s brother from his adoptive family shows up again as well. Look, I’m not saying things were definitely better when the bad guy was just a crazy media magnate who wanted to start a war to sell more newspapers. But I do feel that the Mission Impossible series also did the humanized action hero with villains connected to their personal life, and honestly, they did it better. That’s probably cursing in the church, as we say in Dutch, but I calls ’em like I sees ‘em.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to like about No Time to Die. Good to great action, beautifully shot, great music, and the cast is once again firing on all cylinders, despite the occasional hammy dialogue they are forced to spit out. But Bond has been campy for quite a while, something of bygone age when the British weren’t sad, petty isolationists stuck on their little island, unable to get their own affairs in order, let alone influence anyone else’s. And while the fantasy is not always terrible (I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more of the scantily clad, heavily armed, slightly ditzy, highly competent Ana De Armas’ character), it does occasionally border on the absurd. Can the UK still project military power near the Pacific Ocean? Unlikely. But on par with the main characters barely taking cover when fired upon. Their own bullets have homing capabilities, while the nameless henchmen might as well be shooting blanks.
Daniel Craig has had one of the best Bond runs, and I can’t fault them for trying to keep the franchise up to date with the times (Bond speaks French?!). If you liked the previous ones, don’t miss out on No Time to Die, if only to wash Spectre from your brain’s mouth. And whoever the new Bond will be, I’ll be there when it’s released in a few years time, ready for all the outlandish absurdities. I mean, if Bond says ‘Je t’aime.’ in this one, and means it, imagine what they’ll think up next.
