Oct 1 2021

No Time to Die

Having left active service for her majesty, James Bond (Daniel Craig) finds his peace upset when an old CIA friend, Felix (Jeffrey Wright), makes a request for his help retrieving a weaponized asset from the hands of his nemesis, S.P.E.C.T.R.E.. But, the mission, as Bond discovers, has even larger implications than anyone could have possibly imagined. Reuniting with the MI6 and the new 007 (Lashana Lynch) may be the only way to set things right, an act of service more important to Bond than ever before. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and written by Fukunaga, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge this conclusion to Daniel Craig’s 15 year run in the role may come as bittersweet for Bond fans with pre-conceived notions about who or what James Bond is and should be. Considerably more emotionally driven with only allusions to the traditional womanizer the film brings new depth to the character, but in fact also continues Bond’s development around strong women in the 21st century, a transition that’s been taking place for the entire Craig era. Meanwhile the writers have been able to carefully weave in plenty of callbacks to the entire franchise without becoming ridiculously overt, a writer’s concept comes to mind, “show me something new, but the same.” That is to say, we’re not totally re-treading territory here, but we kind of are, that also unfortunately means we aren’t getting the freshest ideas, action sequences, or set pieces quite like we’ve grown accustomed or come to expect; it’s tough to keep raising the bar of expectations, chasing the illusive cinema adrenaline dragon. So, here we are, wrapping up loose ends in what feels, perhaps, a bit regurgitated and bloated with a runtime of 2 hours and 43 minutes, and yet, ironically prescient considering a major plot point that rhymes with pandemic. Can’t wait to see what the franchise does with Ana De Armas character Paloma in the future, maybe more than 30 seconds of time on screen? Fans of Bond, you know you’re going to watch this regardless of what’s written here, take the good with the bad. No Time to Die is rated PG-13.