No Time To Die review: Daniel Craig’s long-awaited swansong fails to hit the target
Daniel Craig’s James Bond has lasted fifteen years and five films and No Time To Die is his epic, 164-minute, swansong. It is also, unfortunately, among his worst.
Craig, a fine Bond by all accounts — although perhaps too much of a bruiser — has been unfortunate to be given the iconic role at a time of shared universes and an overwhelming yearning for nostalgia.
Perhaps the era of the standalone Bond film is over. No more villain-of-the-week 120-minute thrillers, instead the world’s most famous spy (who does almost no spying) must have an arc that develops over several films, recurring characters referencing previous escapades and villains with a deep personal connection to 007.
Ever since bursting onto our screen way back in 2006 Craig’s Bond has been the most emotionally vulnerable. In his 007 debut Casino Royale he fell in love and attempted to retire. Quantum of Solace was the first Bond direct sequel — based on his quest for revenge.
Skyfall had the common sense not to dig up any previous Bond baggage and was rewarded by being Craig’s best and also most interesting effort.
Alas, the disastrous retconning in Spectre tied the Bond producers and writers in knots. Rather than dismiss a tactical Ernst Stavro Blofeld-shaped error, with No Time To Die they have instead doubled-down on it.
Even before the credits Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd is dug up once again. Bond still, apparently, holding a candle for her.
And Vesper is not the only returning face.
Lea Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann is almost a co-lead, while Ben Whishaw (Q), Ralph Fiennes (M), Rory Kinnear (Tanner) and Naomie Harris (Moneypenny) are all back for more.
Jeffrey Wright’s Felix Leiter is the man to drag a once-again-retired Bond back into action once the plot actually gets going (DNA-based nanotechnology being developed by MI6 is stolen by SPECTRE).
However the best parts of No Time to Die are those with no connection to the wider universe. Both Lashana Lynch’s steely take on 007 (she is Bond’s replacement) and Ana de Armas’ bubbly but deadly Paloma deserve much more screen time than they’re given.
As for Craig himself, he gives it his all in one last hurrah. But director Cary Joji Fukunaga never wants to put him in any real danger. He strolls from shootout to shootout with an invisible shield around him, even stopping for a quick whisky in one interlude that is more jarring than charming.
A fog-shrouded sequence in woodland feels like wasted potential, with Bond dispatching his pursuers with ease. The brutal and bloody staircase fight in Casino Royale had more about it in terms of danger and threat.
None of the action scenes are destined to live very long in the memory. Bond’s reign as stunt/action champion is surely over with nothing cutting the mustard of Mission Impossible: Fallout.
Most of No Time to Die’s problems can be traced back to the plot, which is an ambitious mixture of the bombastic and personal (woe betide those who stroll in having not seen any of Craig’s previous efforts).
Rami Malek chews the scenery as the villainous Lyutsifer Safin who has a scheme to kill thousands of people. Why? It’s never made abundantly clear.
Safin is, of course, tied to Bond’s past — this time through Seydoux’s Swann.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s cheeky sense of humour can be felt in spots throughout the script (she was hired to provide polish and humour) but parts of it are still a clunky mess and heavy in the exposition.
The decision to make the role of deadly scientist Valdo Obruchev comic relief baffles and the recurring gags about the ‘new’ 007 grate when the plot is trying to persuade us the fate of the world is at risk.
It’s not Octopussy, Diamonds Are Forever or Die Another Day — but it’s not good and it’s not what Craig deserved.
It’s a shame it was only after filming that Covid delayed the release of No Time To Die, it’s the script that needed more work and, funnily enough, more time.
