James Bond: No Time To Die

No Time To Die is classic Bond in all the worst ways. So polished that you have to squint to even recognise what it once was. We’re left with a hollowed-out shell of an action film, and a star-studded cast without any substance. It’s faithful leading man, Daniel Craig, deserved a better send-off.

5.8

Daniel Craig’s final entry into the storied Bond franchise is, in many ways, everything you might expect from a series that has produced some of modern cinema’s cleanest and classiest action films. Like the entire franchise, No Time To Die is comfortingly predictable and dependable. But there’s an unavoidable sense of disappointment this time around. Ultimately, No Time To Die feels like it doesn’t even contemplate taking risks. The final product feels depressingly meh.

That is not through a lack of variety. The film features gorgeous locales and stars alike. This is not, in any sense, a gritty movie. Nor does it feel like the hard-edged film that Skyfall was. No Time To Die is so polished that you sometimes have to squint hard to identify what is actually there.

The plot is the first obstacle. It isn’t well-developed and a host of excellent actors fall prey. The pitfalls can almost be rattled off like items on a shopping list:

• The excellent Lea Seydoux is an potentially intriguing love interest, but the film seems desperate to convince us that her character is more interesting than she actually is. She feels like a classic Bond girl in all the worst ways: a Macguffin, watery plot device, enviable eye-candy and just an overt sexual presence.

• Christophe Waltz chews his one scene so aggressively that you fear for his jaw. He is nothing more than a tease in this film and a sojourn to fill in the 2.5 hour running time.

• You sense Ralph Fiennes may not be so disappointed to see the end of his involvement. When first introduced as M, he cut a different but altogether intriguing contrast to Judi Dench. More of a physical counterpart to Craig but also hints of a double-agent. Here, he occupies a bland character, with speckles of doubt over the monumental decisions he has to preside over. The film doesn’t appear greatly interested in exploring that doubt, nor does it give Fiennes the chance to mine them.

• Lashana Lynch, introduced as a character with plenty of promise and occupying a very different and potentially exciting position in the Bondverse, is reduced to little more than a sidekick when all is said and done. Her interplay with Craig feels forced. She feels like a painfully calculated answer to recent questions about the next 007.

• And Rami Malek (Safin), who plays the titular villain, suffers worst of all. In fact, this may be one of the worst villains in recent Bond history. If you leave the film wondering what Safin’s motivation was for the monumental destruction he proposed to inflict on the world, you are not alone. Malek, usually captivating with little effort, painfully overacts in this role and simply does not work as a counterpart to Craig.

The only exception to the rule is Ana de Armas, who features in a brief cameo as a colleague of Bond’s and feels as if she’s been dropped in from another movie with a living, breathing core. No Time To Die needed to harness that energy to keep its plot snappy and rolling. She leaves abruptly, and it’s hard not to feel a bit jealous of her.

The plot itself does no favours. Nothing about it is captivating, save for a COVID-19-esque threat that is not developed in any meaningful detail. The threat itself feels a bit absurd, not helped by Safin’s murky motivations. It harkens back to the Pierce Brosnan era of Bond films where the protagonist was on a seemingly-constant mission to prevent world obliteration without it ever feeling at all consequential. The entire affair feels a bit hollow.

Hollow is the right word. There is no marrow in this film. It goes through the (admittedly gorgeous) motions with little spark.

It is in many ways a disservice to the faithful Craig, who deserved a better send-off. Craig has proven to be a complete triumph as Bond, stripping the character of much of his elegance and charm in favour of granite physicality and welcome roguish streak. He dragged the series into the 21st century. Casino Royale and Skyfall mark two of the greater action films of the last 15 years. No Time To Die is perfectly acceptable and it knows how to set up a finale. But it’s star deserved something less timid.