Reviewing "No Time To Die": A soaring swan song for Daniel Craig's James Bond

No Time To Die is a 2021 spy film, the 25th movie in the James Bond series, and the 5th and final Bond film starring Daniel Craig as the famous spy. This film again stars Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Christoph Waltz from Spectre (the previous film), Jeffrey Wright returns from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, and also stars newcomers Lashana Lynch, Ana De Armas, and Rami Malek as the film's villain Safin.

Daniel Craig's final Bond film is undeniably a great send off for his version of James Bond. Is it the best Bond film ever? No.  For me, that honor still belongs to Goldfinger, tied with Casino Royale and Skyfall. But this is still a very good Bond film, certainly better than Spectre, which started off promising but ultimately didn't come through. This is a very exciting film with excellent action and great performances from characters new and old.

The film starts off with a very tense, almost horror film like cat-and-mouse sequence between a masked assassin and a young Madeleine Swann, then leads into a heart-to-heart between Bond and adult Madeleine (Seydoux), before spiraling into a frantic chase scene with mysterious assassins. Just this 20-minute pre-title sequence is worth the price of admission, and is merely a brief initial showcase for the caliber of the action sequences in this film. The highlights would be a fight in a misty forest halfway through the film and the entirety of the third act final battle, especially a fight as Bond moves up a long flight of stairs done in one shot.

The film has also has some quieter moments serving to highlight Bond's humanity and vulnerability in spite of his persona as a hardened killer who happens to be employed by the government. While some people had complaints about the lack of chemistry and believable development in Bond and Madeleine's relationship in Spectre, their relationship is handled much better here. There are a lot of shocking moments throughout the plot, with twists and turns regarding character allegiances as well as darker actions from what were previously largely heroic characters. I also loved a brief moment in the beginning when Bond is affected by a loud explosion and we get to experience it from his point-of-view, with blurred vision, muffled hearing, and balance issues. While the film may have been a little too long, with a few scenes that could have moved a little quicker, and the score is bland (with one exception), the theme song is great.

What makes this film work is the strength of its major characters and their interactions, giving new and old characters time to shine and feel like real people caught up in a very tense situation. The returning characters have witty, emotional resonant interactions building off of the past five films, and the actors do a great job of making the characters engaging. Nomi, the new 007, is great, with Lashana Lynch infusing the character with a sense of playful respect and having a largely friendly rivalry with Bond. Ana de Armas's character Paloma is only onscreen for a woefully short sequence, but the character's enthusiasm brings a lightheartedness to the fairly grim film, what with the plot revolving around a stolen super-weapon that is exceedingly deadly.

The villains are just fine. The best is the scientist Dr. Obruchev, who is a very terrible person who is willing to use his super-weapon on a large scale and kill millions, yet he never has any real agency and there is a lot of comedy surrounding him and at his expense. He is constantly passed around from one group to another who all want him and his work for their own purposes, and since he is ultimately a mad scientist, it's hard not to laugh at all the misfortune that comes his way throughout the film. The main henchman with a token defect, in his case a bionic eye, is serviceable as a largely silent enforcer but not memorable enough to stand up to the likes of memorable henchmen like Oddjob or Jaws. The mysterious Safin is creepy and... walks around creepily while talking creepily about all the death he will cause, but while Malek gives the character a sense of presence, you never quite understand the end goals of his plans. One of his main goals is indeed accomplished quickly and Safin proves himself a ruthless antagonist without falling victim to many of the Bond villain cliches, like needless gloating and explanations of his master plan instead of trying to kill Bond as soon as possible. However, this causes another problem. His plan is so vague is doesn't go any further than "I want to ensure order by killing millions with a super-weapon. Why? Because." In Safin's case, a little more explanation would have been nice and to solidify the high stakes of the film while also perhaps giving the audience some sympathy or understanding of Safin's cause.

Overall, No Time To Die is a great James Bond film, with fantastically-shot action, great characters, and some good character drama. It needs a light trimming in terms of runtime to keep up the pacing at certain points and the villains need some more work to make them more memorable and their evil plan more realized. Nevertheless, for Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond, he definitely goes out with a bang.

8/10