Review of No Time to Die (2021) by Jamess — 09 Oct 2021

Imagine if Harrison Ford got his wish and had Han Solo die during Return Of The Jedi, and the entire movie led up to that moment. That's the feeling I had watching No Time To Die. It's been well documented that Daniel Craig was tiring of the role and this film was seemingly designed to give his version of Bond an explosive (pun intended) send off.

The film's pre-credit sequence does not initially start with Bond, or some crisis that sets up the plot. It starts with a mother and young daughter in a wintery secluded home and the attack on the occupants by a kabuki masked assailant.

The daughter survives and grows up to be Bond's lover. Question. If Rami Malek' s character was the assailant, and he appears to be currently fortyish, he would have been, what?, in his teens during that flashback sequence? Anywho, time logic aside, Bond appears to have retired for good and tries to put the past behind him.

Ahh, but as Pacino discovered in The Godfather, every time they try to get away they get pulled back in. Bond has to save the world once again by a villain looking to unleash a DNA encoded virus that can kill targeted victims based on their DNA and those who have those DNA traits like, wait for it.

...family. So, Bond has become a family man with an actress he has no chemistry with, and become an instant daddy to a child just introduced. It makes his self sacrifice a bit hollow and a convenience for convenience sake.

That said, the film is the very model of a modern action thriller. Beautifully shot, edited, set designed, stuntwork, etc. And Craig seems to be enjoying his last turn as Bond, as opposed to his dour, eating sour grapes appearance in Spectre.

It just seems like a two and a half hour journey to get an actor out of a franchise.