Hey all you lovers of cinema excitement and thrills, you know the name and you know the number. The “gentleman secret agent’ has been delighting movie audiences for nearly sixty years now .Each new adventure just seems to build on the prvious one, with more action, more romance, and, well, just more (not a pun on the 70s into the mid 80s potrayer). Oh, but what an excruciating tease this has been. He was supposed to return to the multiplexes nearly 18 months ago, but a worldwide crisis (one that some felt was similar to some of the villainous schemes of previous movie masterminds) kept him “out of duty”. But the wait is over. I’ve been viewing these films in theatres for over fifty years now, but I must admit that seeing those opening white circles along with the opening strains of his musical theme kicked my pulse rate up a couple of beats. But really, with the official 25th entry will film fanatics worldwide insist that 2021 is NO TIME TO DIE?
The producers still have a few surprises up their sleeve with the franchise as it opens with a traumtic flashback that doesn’t focus on “the pride of the British Secret Service”. No it’s a look into the past of Madeline (Lea Seydoux), who was introduced in 2015’s SPECTRE. Since the end of that mission, she’s the traveling paramour of 007, James Bond (Daniel Craig). While visiting Matera an ambush leads to a painful parting for the couple. Skip ahaead five years as a secret MI6 biological warfare lab is attacked by heavily armed goon who grabs one of the deadly viral creations along with its creator, Valdo (David Dencik). We’re than off to Jamaica, the retirement home of Bond, who suspects he’s had a visitor drop in while he was out. Heading into a nightclub that evening he bumps into the mysterious Nomi (Lashana Lynch), a woman connected to Bond’s past life. A bit later he discovers his “houseguest’, old friend and CIA liason Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) who is mentoring over-eager young agent Logan (Billy Magnussen). After much cajoling, Felix enlists Bond to join them in Cuba to resuce the kidnapped scientist and his work. On that island, Bond is teamed with another agent, the sultry Paloma (Ana de Armas), but the retrieval mission goes fatally wrong. This prompts Bond to return to London and MI6 HQ where he is reunited with weapons wiazrd Q (Ben Whishaw), Miss Moneypenny (Naomi Harris), along with his former boss, M (Ralph Fiennes), who may ulterior motives. Nonetheless, Bond is on the job, one that will have him crossing paths with a former love, an old archenemy, and a sinister new threat named Safin (Rami Malek). Could he be the fiend that finally closes the case file of 007?
With his fifth Bond blockbuster under his belt. Craig easily delivers all the requirements of the iconic role, handling the stunts confidently while looking elegant in his Tom Ford suits. Unlike some of the previous entries he gives us a bit more of the Bond humor, tossing off witty asides while never overdoing the cringe-wothy “bon mots” that several actors couldn’t quite “land”. And, once again, Craig is perhaps the most beaten and battered Bond, but not just phsically in this outing (though his facial cuts and bruises don’t quite fade). This time he’s emotionally “put through the ringer” as he reflects on past romances and deals with a heartbreak in the opening minutes that hits him worse than a “too close for comfort” bomb blast. Craig balances Bond’s ruthlessness with a little explored vulnerability. If this is Craig’s last mission, then he more than the delivers the goods bringing an unexpected humanity to “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”.
Much of the same can be said for Seydoux, who is more than merely the “Bond-girl” damsel-in-distress (it helps that she’s the first major “love interest” to be in back-to-back installments). Turns out that there was much more to Madeline’s story, and Seydoux expertly shows us her complexity and inner trauma. Yet there’s still her passionate protective instinct that kicks in when evil surrounds her and those she loves (not just her James). Malek is suitably unnerving as the “big baddie” Safin, but he’s not very compelling as Malek delivers a hestitant line delivery couple with a constant “deer in the headlights” leer. He’s such a talent, so it’s a shame that these choices don’t work. What does work in this story is another return, that of Christoph Waltz as the now incarcerated mastermind Blofeld. Though he over-indulged on the role’s eccentricities last time, the Hannibal Lechter-like restraints have brought a greater intensity as Blofeld intellectually toys with Bond like a cat with a trapped mouse. Also bringing a new spin on a familiar role, Fiennes gives M some deceptive and devious dark tones as we learn of his twisted machinations when he’s not barking at Bond. Luckily there’s Harris as Moneypenny, the peacekeeper, who displays a cynical sense of irony. Much of that is shared by Whishaw as Q, who still is flusterd by Bond, but has a quiet respect for him. But this time he’s not really sure of his own “gadgets and gizmos a-plenty”. Lynch is impressive as the very capable Nomi along with de Armas as the awlward but very skilled (a deadshot in a deliciously distracting outfit) Paloma, though I wish we saw more of her (and I’m not still talking about that dress). Magnussen and Dencik also provide a bit of comic relief until they both get the proper and very deserved denouncement.
It’s intersting that this actor arc of the series concludes under the skilled eye of a filmmaker new to this world of spies and seducers. Cary Joji Fukunaga , most celebrated for his TV work on HBO’s “True Detective” injects a sense of gritty and grim danger into this globe-trotting movie mission. He brings an edge to the often downbeat dramatics along with a fevered immediacy and even a sence of “gallows humor”. Much of this works thanks to the screenplay that he worked on with Robert Wade, Neal Purvis, and Emmy darling (for Fleabag) Phoebe Waller-Bridge (perhaps she aided in the comic interpaly and the strong female characters). As far as entries in the “Craig-era” of Bond, this is near the top of the quintet. It’s one that’s easily accessable to “new operatives” as it’s stuffed “to the gills’ with breathless action, mystery, and some “grounded gadgetry” ( the pulse-emitting watch is more plausable than the “invisible car’ from the last era). And happily there are lots of nods and winks at the series legacy, from a phrase and a song instramental early in its first act ( a big thanks to master music-scorer Hans Zimmer for his tribute to the great John Barry), to Safin’s attire, which seems to have been swiped from Dr. No’s closet. And that goes for the villain’s hidden lair/fortress (no, it’s not a hollowed-out volcano, but close) and even the hallways of MI6. Sure, this flick is a tad too long (too much dispatching of faceless goons John Wick-style in endless corridors in the big finale), but the surprising (for this franchise) conclusion is a fitting final bow to Craig whose bruised tightly-pursed lips breathed new life into a character who always seems to be re-invented just in time to capture the hearts of eager and always greatful filmgoers.It may be time for him to hang up the tux, but for Ian Fleming’s immortal creation, there’s really NO TIME TO DIE.
3.5 Out of 4
NO TIME TO DIE is now playing in theatres everywhere
