“No Time to die” film review

By Quinn Marcus

I’ve only recently been introduced to this character with Casino Royale and Skyfall, both of which I loved, and slowly, James Bond started to become my favorite movie agent with just two films. Admittedly, before I begin this review, I don’t have the lifelong connection to this franchise as many have, I’ve just begun to repeat his awesome catchphrases to myself in the mirror, but after this, I’m definitely willing to continue a run through Ian Fleming’s badass character’s films. Is No Time to Die the best one yet, no, not quite, but it’s a film that closes Daniel Craig’s time in this role with a complete focus on this franchise’s central character. At 2hrs 45mins, there’s a lot to be said about this one, but I’ll try to keep things as brief as possible. Let’s start with the obvious, Daniel Craig embodies this part to perfection, he’s still physically capable for the action and is as charming and likable as ever. It’s probably his most layered performance as the role that I’ve seen, maybe that’s because the film covers A LOT of plot points, but honestly, he’s just really damn good as James Bond.

What about the rest of the cast? Everybody in this film is phenomenal, even Rami Malek, despite his weak character (we’ll get to that later) did a terrific job. Ana De Armas, even with a mere 15mins or so of screen time, was an easy standout, Léa Seydoux is great, her connection with Bond was believable, the discussions about what the number 007 means between Craig and Lashana Lynch were well-acted and written, I had no problems with the performances whatsoever, each member brought their a-game, and clearly understood that they had to go out with style. The action sequences are breathtaking, usually, in average action flicks, you’ll have a couple that stand out, but every single one in No Time to Die was gorgeous, my favorite likely being this amazing chase through a foggy forest that just looked so dope. The bridge jump scene we’ve seen a lot of in the trailers didn’t disappoint, the car with guns for headlights was the coolest thing on Earth, and overall, the action was brilliantly done. Hans Zimmer’s musical score was exciting, exhilarating, and complemented the film’s action so perfectly, of course, Bond’s theme is iconic, but this soundtrack truly was something special, but that’s to be expected from the legend himself. I also thought Billie Eilish’s song was fantastic, and the opening credits fit the tone of the rest of the film with ease.

While not quite as good looking as Skyfall, the cinematography by Linus Sandgren (La La Land) didn’t disappoint, it was colorful, not too shaky, and once again, just made the fight scenes look flawless. Okay, now to get onto the not-so-great stuff. There were five writers for this film, and you can tell because it seemed as though it was trying to be a few different movies all at once. There’s a message of leaving a legacy that will outlive you somewhere in there, and I liked how it explored Bond in a slightly more subdued light, showing an aging man unable to escape his haunted past, but the rest of the script is, unfortunately, too messy to really get all of its ideas across. There are one or two plot holes that feel glossed over, there for the sake of making certain events fall into place, and I feel as though with a touch more polishing of the final draft, and perhaps 15-20mins taken off the runtime, it would have been tighter because the film does occasionally become exhausting at such a huge length.

There’s this scene in the snow at the beginning which serves as a chilling introduction to Malek’s villain, it’s one of my favorite opening’s to an action film ever, I found it to be riveting and compelling, it’s too bad that Malek’s character eventually turns into the weakest aspect of the film. In contrast to Skyfall and Casino Royale’s villains, Bond’s adversary in No Time to Die’s motivations are obscured in an extremely dense plot, and by the way, he’s not in the film that much, which I found to be surprising. The whole evil plot of the movie is so clichéd and rushed, this film clearly wanted to place the majority of its attention on Bond, and that’s respectable, but in the process, it forgot to create a much better and more interesting villain. The film is, however, redeemed by an emotionally impactful ending that caught me off guard quite a bit, I even teared up a little. No Time to Die may be a tad muddled and bloated as a whole, but I felt as if the true goal of the film, which is to say a poignant farewell to Craig was fulfilled with such commitment and love for this character, it’s a beautiful finale that hit me in the heart. Overall, even with the film’s faults, I have to commemorate the effort put into making the proper sendoff to this legend, and how from a technical standpoint, it’s flawless.