NO TIME TO DIE Countdown: NO TIME TO DIE Revisited

This was inevitable. When I originally concluded this column, nearly six months ago (coinciding with the official theatrical release of No Time To Die), I knew I wouldn’t be able to give Daniel Craig’s final film as 007 a fair shake. While I did publish a formal review (which is freely available for you to read on this site), I still felt I was barely able to scratch the film’s surface. Out of the interest of avoiding spoilers, I opted not to delve too deep and kept my reaction general, positive as it was.

Now that the proverbial (and literal, in the case of this film’s finale) dust has settled, I can finally give No Time To Die the proper postmortem it deserves. Be forewarned that this entry of the Countdown will be completely spoiler-filled, so if for some reason you still haven’t seen it and wish to keep the film’s secrets safe, do not proceed any further. All I will say is I have now seen No Time To Die twice, and both times I loved it a great deal. I truly believe it’s a tremendously successful Bond film, a proper sendoff for Craig, and one that can proudly stand amongst the best the series has to offer.

Alright, here come the spoilers. Now’s your final chance to turn back.

So, they finally did it. They finally gave serial philanderer James Bond an offspring. Oh yeah, I suppose they killed him, too, but the daughter was a much bigger surprise for me. For one thing, I don’t often bring a lot of extratextual baggage to my moviegoing experiences, preferring to meet and judge the film on its own level. But No Time To Die hit me differently; not only was I witnessing my favorite cinematic hero become a father shortly before meeting his own demise, but I likewise had just found out that I myself was going to have a child of my own. I had grown up watching all of these films, and now we had the opportunity to grow together.

Now, I understand that a vast majority of viewers will not share the same experience I had. That’s okay by me – they can start their own column as far as I’m concerned. But this one happens to be mine, so join me, dear readers, for the last time as we venture back into the not-so-distant past of 2021. Hop aboard any of my large collection of Aston Martin automobiles. There’s a young lady in Santiago I want you to meet.

You’ll Never See Me Again

The film’s opening breaks all kinds of new ground (or would that be “new ice?” Dammit, James, focus on the mission!). We get a bloodless gun barrel, a Bond Girl origin story woven into a Bond Villain origin story, and the longest pre-title sequence yet. “Young Madeleine” is a rare franchise dip into horror — a masked intruder, a deadly encounter, and the harsh conditions of frigid isolation (shoutout to the comfort of Wallace and Gromit on the telly). It’s an effective bit of business, and attentive viewers may recall Madeleine sharing the details of this nightmarish scenario with Bond in Spectre.

One of the complaints lobbed at the previous film was that the romance between Bond and Madeleine felt disingenuous. When broken down, the couple went from total strangers to professing true love for each other seemingly overnight. While I won’t go out of my way to defend their pairing in Spectre (picking apart credibility in a Bond film seems like a fool’s errand), I will say that this is one of the many aspects that No Time To Die improves upon. Madeleine feels like a richer and more fully realized character, and I totally buy the heartbreak of being left alone at the train station. (Plus, Madeleine holds the title of being our first repeat love interest since Sylvia Trench in 1963. How’s that for noteworthy?)

I’m getting ahead of myself. Onto Matera. Top to bottom, everything about this sequence is stunning. This can also be said of the entire film; if I held one opinion about No Time To Die that could be considered blasphemous (and it can be argued that I hold several), it’s that I think this film’s visual style bests that of Skyfall. Don’t get me wrong, I love Skyfall, and think Roger Deakins’ magnificent work there is truly otherworldly (Shanghai alone is a series highlight). But there’s more of an…organic vibrancy, for lack of a better term, in No Time To Die that just resonates with me more. From those very first establishing shots of the sun setting on the Italian countryside, I was immediately bowled over by Linus Sandgren’s cinematography and knew I would be in good hands for the duration of the film.

Also introduced here is the terrific scoring by Hans Zimmer. I’ve been critical of the composer’s work in the past, as he tends to lean a bit too hard on the BRAHM horns and deafens his audience in the process. But as I was becoming smitten with Sandgren’s lensing, I also found I was being soothed by Zimmer’s string section, which are lush and beautifully James Bond-esque. My original review noted that John Barry would be proud of his work, and I still stand by that statement.

Bond may have quit Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but it’s not long before he’s on the run again, be it by foot, bike, or tricked-out Aston Martin DB5. The quiet getaway proved to be short-lived, forcing him and Madeleine to evade SPECTRE’s forces once again. We’re introduced to our heavy, Primo (aka Cyclops), the very definition of mercenary. Craig’s tenure has largely avoided outré villains, and stone-faced Primo is no different, cybernetic eyeball notwithstanding.

The car chase climaxes in a big way, with the DB5 enduring a volley of point blank shots from Primo’s gun before Bond activates his own headlight turrets and donuts his way out of there. Exciting stuff. Madeleine getting left on the train packs the appropriate emotional punch (I cannot believe I missed the stomach clutch the first time), and I love how Zimmer’s score smoothly transitions into Billie Eilish’s haunting title track. The first time I saw those Dr. No Bubbles fill the screen, I nearly lost my shit in my movie theater seat. Yep, the pre-title sequence is aces, top marks all around.

No Time To Die was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and all signs point to him being a die-hard James Bond fan, which is an absolute boon and should be the base-level requirement for making any of these movies. The title sequence itself is loaded with a ton of cool imagery (the double-helix Walther PPK DNA being a personal favorite), but there are plenty of other Easter eggs as well, such as the Thunderball-esque diver swimming against the orange sunset. Compared to, say, Quantum of Solace, it’s evident that No Time To Die was handled with maximum care.

Bond has typically been known for aping the zeitgeist, but Project Heracles lends an eerie bit of prescience to the proceedings, as the targeted nanotechnology virus that can kill anyone who comes in close contact with it surely hasn’t been at the forefront of everyone’s mind over the last two years. The raid on the clandestine MI6 lab underlines SPECTRE’s ruthlessness, killing roomfuls of innocents and nabbing the hammy Dr. Obruchev along the way, all before stealing the world’s deadliest MacGuffin. Our team at MI6 get the bad news, reintroducing us to M, Moneypenny, and Q in rapid succession.

Meanwhile, it’s been five years since Matera (following GoldenEye’s nine-year time jump, is this our second longest in the series?), and Bond is lying low in Jamaica, enjoying a life of solitude until our dear buddy Felix Leiter comes a knocking. Jeffrey Wright makes a welcome return after having been absent for the previous two films, and becomes the longest-serving Felix in the process, having officially broken his tie with David Hedison. Also in the mix is Nomi, the new agent 007, played with appealing antagonism by Lashana Lynch.

Onto Cuba. Even the staunchest No Time To Die naysayers can’t bring themselves to dunk on this sequence, and Ana de Armas positively shines as the winsome Paloma, hijacking the entire film in just under ten minutes of screentime. She’s a perfect bit of ebullience, and No Time To Die’s single greatest flaw might be that she does not stick around longer. When Bond tells her she was excellent prior departing, it honestly feels like Craig breaking character to compliment his co-star. Watch that moment again and tell me I’m wrong.

As a mammoth-sized Bond film, No Time To Die offers action aplenty, with the Cuba section dishing out a great deal of excitement in and around a SPECTRE-infested hotel. And while I’ll never get enough of Paloma kicking agents in stilettos before blasting them away (while dual-wielding!), I’ll always come back for the moment where the action briefly pauses so Bond can server her a drink from behind the bar amidst all the mayhem. Bond films regularly serves up action, but it’s charm of moments like these that make the franchise an indelible part of film history.

Well, You Live Long Enough

No Time To Die has the distinction of being promoted as Craig’s final Bond film, as none of his five predecessors were ever granted a planned or graceful exit (to recap: Connery quit twice out of anger, Lazenby refused to pursue any further films, Moore stepped down after decreeing himself too old to continue, Dalton was offset by legal woes with EON, and Brosnan was dismissed in favor of a reboot). There are many connotations that derive from being a “final” piece of a series, and with that, new creative liberties can be taken, as with the death of Felix Leiter. Bond films regularly followed a formula, but here we have the opportunity to break the mold and buck convention, no matter how familiar everything seems.

At 163 minutes, No Time To Die is our longest Bond film, but it often feels like two films stitched together: there’s the SPECTRE half and the Safin half. After a spooky, masked introduction in Madeleine’s flashback, Rami Malek finally appears in proper as Lyutsifer Safin (get it?), the man who would go on to kill James Bond. In my previous review, I noted that Malek was a bit too mannered in the role, but considering we live in the universe where Donald Pleasance’s Blofeld exists, I think he’s fine, turning the dial up on the creep factor.

For Safin to take over the film, we must bid adieu to Blofeld, with Christoph Waltz returning for very limited screentime. Here’s the dirty little secret about Blofeld: despite being Bond’s greatest nemesis, he’s not in the least bit interesting. Run a poll of the greatest Bond Villains, and ol’ Ernst will never come out on top – that position is reserved for your Auric Goldfingers or your Francisco Scaramanga’s. Even Jaws has more bite than the head of SPECTRE (ba-dum tish!). Killing him off seemed like the wise thing to do.

Here’s another thing that feels improved in No Time To Die: Craig’s performance. Now, holster your weapons: he’s a marvelous actor, and I feel he’s always done Bond right, but in his run from Quantum to Spectre, he’s often a very dour man, coping with the existential weight of his own mortality through a furrowed brow. No Time To Die gives him the chance to return to his former, playful, Casino Royale self. Part of this can be attributed to the screenplay, co-written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. With Waller-Bridge’s contributions, there is a heavy dose of humor injected into the film, striking a nice balance with the possibility of a viral doomsday (“Book of Mormon” is the only quip that feels out of place to me).

No Time To Die also grants the members of MI6 time to shine, with Moneypenny and especially Q enjoying their third go-round (the scene at Q’s apartment is a personal favorite). Fiennes still makes for a mighty M, and he gets to share barbed scenes with Bond, with the latter not beholden to any duty. And I’ve neglected to mention him in previous recaps, but Rory Kinnear returns as Tanner, the ever-dutiful chief of staff. Whatever the next Bond film is, I do think all of these roles would need to be recast, though. I’m not one to chart out continuities amongst the Bond films (okay, fine: Connery through Dalton is the same guy, Brosnan is his own guy, and Craig is his own guy), but Craig’s era especially feels too self-contained that any casting spillover to Bond 26 could potentially give credence to the ultra-dumb “James Bond is a codename” theory. No need for that.

Safin returning to the fray also brings Madeleine back into the story, and with her, a secret: Mathilde, a five-year old girl who turns out to be James Bond’s daughter. “James Bond can’t have a kid!” you might cry out. Frankly, I’m more than fine with this development. I applaud the franchise’s ability to take risks and offer surprises some sixty years in, and I largely credit Craig for making this work as well as it does. Stick the child in the arms of any other Bond actor, and the conceit falls apart immediately. But Craig all right for this role, and he pulls off the secret-agent-turned-new-dad look with aplomb.

Matera and Cuba might be the bigger standouts, but I’ve always been partial to the thrilling sequence in the Norwegian forest, which allots Bond a showcase for his capacity as a stealth killing machine. Moody and atmospheric, this section stuns, and poor CIA turncoat Ash falls victim to the classic For Your Eyes Only falling car trick. “I had a brother. His name was Felix Leiter.” CRUNCH. You tell him, James.

Everything comes to a head on Safin’s private, Dr. No-esque island, acting as an enormous death factory for producing his nanobots. If you’re a regular reader of this column, you will know that I’m a fan of a “storm the tower” finale, and Bond infiltrating the evildoer’s lair offers him more opportunities to flex his skills learned for Queen and Country. One memorable highlight unfolds in a single unbroken take on a staircase, with Bond laying waste to every henchman in sight. Even Primo shows up to get his eyeball blown apart inside his skull. Ouch.

Since the contents of the island could hold deadly consequences for the entire world, Bond decides that he best solution is to have the entire landmass wiped off the face of the planet. He kills Safin, saves Madeleine and Mathilde, rigs the island to blow, and gets off safely with Nomi. With all threats gone, all is well in the world of James Bond, and our hero rides off into the sunset with his lady and daughter in tow.

Except he doesn’t. Bond kills Safin, but to ensure the safety of Madeleine and Mathilde, he’s blasted to smithereens, and everyone at MI6 mourns his loss. Truth be told, I realized Bond was doomed the moment he had to turn back and open those shutter doors for a second time. Two bullets from Safin didn’t help his cause, but I still found myself wondering if they would have the audacity to even try to pull this off. And they did. James Bond dies, and the world weeps.

If you ask me, I think this moment is more than earned. All of it. Craig’s Bond, more than any of his predecessors, has always wrestled with notion of 00-agents having a short lifespan. To carry out the mission, one must be ready to die. Right from the moment Safin revealed he could never see Madeleine or Mathilde again, Bond knew it was all over. An existence without the ones he loved was no existence at all. The mission was no longer about hindering death; it was time to embrace it. And like many great 00-Agents before him, 007 went out with a bang. Thank you, James. Thank you for your service.

The final moments of the film are pitch perfect: Madeleine drives through Matera with Mathilde, and begins to tell her about the story of her father, a man named Bond. James Bond. Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All the Time In the World” swells on the soundtrack as the image irises out like a reverse gun barrel. Icing on a decadent cake.

Conclusion: James Bond Will Return

So that’s No Time To Die. I think it’s pretty great. When I first sat and watched the film, I was convinced I had just witnessed a nigh-masterpiece, at least as far as the series was concerned. Reading on, I discovered that the praise was not as universally effusive as I had hoped, but those people who did not love it as much as I did have their reasons and I certainly have mine. The beauty of the Bond franchise is its variety; there’s something for everyone, and everybody has their own personal favorite. I could sit down and watch any of the twenty-five official films right now and have a damn good time. Hell, throw in Never Say Never Again. That one’s good too.

At the time of this writing, I’m just weeks away from seeing my first child come into the world. While I’ll happily let them cultivate their own path of cinematic interests, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to run through the entirety of the Bond franchise again, this time with them by my side. No matter how they turn out, I am incredibly excited to meet them and begin this new adventure together. And who knows? Maybe I’ll have a boy. And maybe I’ll name him Dalton.

What are your final thoughts on No Time To Die? Let us know in the comments below!