“No Time To Die” has all the ingredients of a great Bond film and some heart too.
Rating: 4/5
Set after the events of “Spectre”, James Bond (Daniel Craig) has left active service.
His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
When it comes to the Craig’s Bond era, I’ve been a casual watcher, dipping in and out of which films to watch and which to skip.
As the final film featuring Craig as our Bond, the movie had a lot to live up to. This time around, director Cary Joji Fukunaga and the screenwriters found the perfect balance between action, comic relief and heartfelt moments.
After playing the character for a long time, Craig knows exactly who his Bond is and in this final hurrah, it’s clear he’s having a lot more fun with the character and gives the usual two-dimensional character some depth.
Since Bond retired, his 007 designation was transferred to Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch. While the two have some friction at the beginning, the actors find a groove and play well off each other.
Rami Malek’s take on the villain, Lyutsifer Safin, was surprisingly complex and the screenwriters gave him a real motivation for his actions.
Unlike many other Bond villains, he isn’t evil for the sake of being evil. Malik brought a weight and depth to the character that I wasn’t expecting.
The music score is as always pure perfection. Hans Zimmer has missed a beat once.
The action sequences are as grandiose as always and while this movie has an almost three-hour runtime, it flew by since it’s well paced.
I understand why they wanted to wait until it was safe again to go to the cinema during the pandemic – you can’t experience the movie at home. The cinematography is spectacular and takes you on this globetrotting journey with Bond like only a 007 movie can.
“No Time To Die” is a great send off to Craig’s Bond for those who have been long-time fans and it delivers on every level. From action sequences to dialogue and overall storytelling this is a much-watch movie.
“No Time To Die” is showing in cinemas nationwide on Friday.