Review of No Time to Die (2021) by Joeybane — 30 Oct 2021

And here we have it, the end of the Craig era with Bond.

I am a big fan of Daniel Craig's Bond so I must admit I went into this movie with high expectations. I just want to start off by saying there were some woke moments in the movie but really not a lot and nothing that ruins the movie, just makes you scratch your head for a second.

The production:

This was one of the first movies to be delayed by the pandemic which kept getting its release date pushed back further and further. A direct consequence of this I think falls into one of two camps at no fault of the cast and crew. You’ll have the ones who lose interest because of the year+ of waiting for release and you’ll have the ones whose expectations will be built up bordering overhyped. Take that and combine it with a director who walked off the project due to creative difference’s….things could get chaotic. The good: A lot of the films esthetic like music (Hans Zimmer), cinematography, editing and choreography range from very good to decent. The fight scenes weren’t to drawn out or long and the camera work was great also. The film also embraces the old Bond tropes of gadgets and one-liners more than any other of Craig’s series although sometimes to a fault. Bond’s family are all back in this one (Moneypenny, M, Q, Tanner, Felix) for this last hurrah. Ana De Armas stole the show despite her appearance being brief. Lashana Lynch wasn’t too bad, although I wish they did more with her character than “I’m replacing you” The Bad:

The plot…. The plot just makes no sense and the villain is a caricature of bad guys. At no point does anyone explain why things are happening what the plan is. I couldn’t help but feel like this was rushed to wrap up Craig’s tenure as Bond or this was 2 movies smashed into 1 leaving plot holes everywhere. The two main characters just don’t seem to have any chemistry, a similar issue they had in 2015’s Specter. Overall the movie lacked Bond’s charm that was present in Craig’s 4 other outings as 007.

Final:

5 out of 10, would wait for streaming. Not the worst Bond film I’ve ever seen (glares at Die Another Day) but my least favorite of the Craig installments. Even if I didn’t enjoy this movie, I’m grateful for Craig’s work as 007 and he is still my favorite Bond to date.