“No Time to Die” — A 500 word appraisal
And why we have all the time in the world to appreciate Daniel Craig
And why we have all the time in the world to appreciate Daniel Craig
After finally seeing the latest thrill ride provided by our Majesty’s Secret Service my film editor had both a tear and a glint in her eye and she could see the mischievous look I had in my eye too. You see, I used to write a film blog that frankly no-one read even though I hoped it was rather good. It was a passion project for many years and heralded many behemoth works on Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, Paul Thomas Anderson and many, many more. But I’m not here to plug this old blog, that’s what the link below is for. I’m here to spoiler free appraise the new Bond film and my Editor knew right away, from that infamous glint in my eye, that this would also present an opportunity to don my old film reviewing coat and wax lyrical on yet another piece of cinematic history. Because this latest film, for the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, is a Bond franchise making that very Hollywood history. Make no mistake about that. But that’s to come and as well as being an individually objective set of world view points, that’s to be celebrated too. What can’t be celebrated right now is my film editor insists that I tackle this review in a short, sharp 500 words and frankly this just represents the drunken nature of her demeanour and her swooning over that “dream boat” in the penguin suit. 500 words? Listen, I’ve guided her to the telescreen where we have a 24 hour a day running marathon of Daniel Craig films and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” has just started so she’ll be dribbling over that ruggedly handsome man for the next couple of hours, and we can relax, sip a shaken cocktail and perhaps howl at the moon as we collectively wail that Christoph Waltz was barely in a film I’m going to tip toe around and not spoil for you in any way.
“No Time to Die” (2021)
“We don’t need to drive faster. We have all the time in the world”
Capsule Review: From the sweeping beginning until the opening credits it felt (a) like a beautiful film in itself (b) I’d forgotten we hadn’t even had yet another iconic Bond opening title sequence (c) That opening smile from Daniel Craig (James Bond) that completely settles the audience into knowing they’re in a Bond film (d) Because we’re immediately swamped with beaches and a beautiful lady “Lea Seydoux” (Madeleine) and the object of the retired secret agent’s overwhelming affection (e) We are reacquainted with a retired and relaxed Bond and the easy, lavish lifestyle he typically enjoys. (f) It’s a Bond film! So you have the typical array of gun fights amidst globe trotting world travel and car, motorbike chases before “Q” (Ben Whishaw) is let loose with his customary gadgets and inventions. And (g) in this brief overview is our “bad guys” in the shape of “Lyutsifer Safin” (Rami Malek) and a returning “Blofeld” (Christoph Waltz). Lives and loves are lost. The Bad Guys talk in tongues. 007 comes out of retirement and into a world he’d rather leave behind but true love nor the determination to rid the world of a mad man or two can wait. And there’s definitely no time to die.
The supporting cast to this drama consists of many returning veterans from previous Bond campaigns including the above referenced “Q” who is played yet again with a brilliantly comedic geeky awkwardness by Ben Whishaw and whom seems to have a much larger role than in previous Bond films. Ralph Fiennes returns to chew the scenery again in his unlikeable role as “M” and Naomie Harris is underused again as “Moneypenny”. Rory Kinnear is excellent as “Tanner” as is the brilliant Jeffrey Wright as CIA spook “Felix Leiter” and Bond’s self regarded “Brother”. The cast list is endless as you’d expect from a Bond film but I’ll end with the last two central characters and Bond’s nemeses with firstly his long time foe Blofeld. Here he takes a back seat to the mayhem unfolding all around him and which is somewhat either instigated by him or for his prison dwelling enjoyment, but shot through these Quentin Tarantino loving eyes Christoph Waltz’s screen time is far, far too brief and the majority of this time is spent in some kind of surreal oblique reference to Hannibal Lecter of “Silence of the Lambs” fame as he slowly idles toward our hero in prison restraints. I understand this isn’t Waltz’s dance, but he could have had more of a tango than he did in this film. Alas. But Bond had a rather more free and active nemesis with which to deal.
“Lyutsifer Safin” (Rami Malek) Malek inhabits the typical traits of a Bond villain with aplomb if not entirely succeeding. His lyrical lilts and cold hearted stares are in the right place and he portrays the role well but perhaps deliberately (as it’s the last outing as Bond for Daniel Craig) his role seemed fairly minor to me and especially so when you consider he’s Bond’s main foe. And in today’s kids vernacular, there wasn’t much of a “Boss Battle” or showdown between the two men towards the film’s denouement. Not really. Or perhaps that’s my personal reflection that the final Act of this film fell a little flat and Malek’s bad guy was front and centre here.
“Madeleine” (Lea Seydoux) The absolute heart beat of the film and, for fear of the vaguest of spoilers, the heart that beats throughout the entire film as well as being the audience’s eyes for the fall, rise and rise again of our Hero. Seydoux is brilliantly empathetic, vulnerable, bemused and utterly in love with the gentleman spy who with every changing scene in the film is dragged further and further down a duplicitous rabbit hole. Seydoux is my star of this film.
“James Bond” (Daniel Craig) The fifth and final instalment of Craig’s overwhelmingly excellent portrayals of Bond, with only “Quantum of Solace” leaving this particular fan cold. I say fan as I’m not really a huge Bond fan despite my obsession with films and cinema, but I am keenly aware of “Jaws” and something about daylights living and the expectations of Mr Bond to die, but I tuned out when they started talking about invisible cars in the 1990’s. That’s ridiculously absurd even for Bond. But I became a fan again with Craig’s portrayal in “Casino Royale” in 2006 as I’ve followed his film career with a keen eye after scene stealing performances in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 opus to the Munich massacre in 1972 and “Layer Cake” the year before that. I was pleased he became the new James Bond and aside from Quantum of Solace I’ve been mightily impressed with the impregnable and almost super human Bond we’ve become accustomed to becoming (perhaps with age), more tender and fragile as well as perhaps most importantly of all, more human and empathetic. I find “Spectre” and “Skyfall” the emotional heart of recent Bond films and Daniel Craig typifies that in spades as well as again here with a continuance of that human theme and of lost loves, fragility and vulnerability unthinkable pre Daniel Craig.
The film falters in the Last Act (no grand showdown with the Baddie) and it verges on the parody of an Austin Powersesque full on James Bond in the final 30 minutes, but this isn’t the fault of Daniel Craig or indeed his tenure as Bond. Veiled criticism of the film aside (I liked it, smiled A LOT but the last Act really let it down), and where the film won me over was with Bond himself and Daniel Craig’s smile at the very beginning of the film, his human reactions to love, loss and a little regret all the way through to the end of his stint here as he clambers to the top of an enemy hideaway to see the fireworks raining from the sky. It brought more than a tear to this film fan’s eye and that speaks volumes for the departure of yet another gentleman spy with a licence to kill from our cinema screens.
Rambling musings
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