Title – No Time to Die (2021) 

Director – Cary Joji Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation) 

Cast – Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Christoph Waltz 

Plot – Called out of retirement after some dangerous new players and some old foes conspire for a plan that threatens the world order, James Bond (Craig) must once more confront his demons if he is too protect his country and the people he loves.  

“Harder to tell the good from the bad, the villains from the heroes these days”

Review by Eddie on 12/11/2021

After over a year of patient extra waiting due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bond fans can finally say farewell to the Daniel Craig 007 era that started all the way back in 2006 with the series revival that was Casino Royale, as Craig and director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time to Die arrives onto our cinema screens. 

Six years have passed between martini’s, with 2015’s so-so Spectre now a distant memory and Die wastes no time kicking things off here with a bang that is every bit as good as the famous opening stanza from Casino Royale, setting the tone very quickly for a film that becomes a fitting swansong to the new age Bond audiences have been treated too over the last fifteen years. 

At almost three hours in length, Die has a lot of ground to cover and the time to do it as Bond is once more drawn out of “retirement” to battle old enemies and mysterious new foes that have emerged to threaten the world order and with so many elements needing to be explored and covered off for closure of the Craig inhabited agent, not all of the components of Fukunaga’s epic work but there’s enough here that does to ensure that this bloated but often thrilling blockbuster is a top quality affair. 

As good as his ever been in the role, Craig is clearly enjoying his time here (even more so when you consider he appeared done with the role after Spectre) and he shares some great scenes and chemistry with return players such as Ralph Fiennes M, Ben Whishaw’s Q, Jeffrey Wright’s Felix and Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine, while his all too short mission with the scene stealing Ana de Armas as Paloma makes one wish that the two actors were given more too do across Die’s globe spanning narrative. 

The quality of performances on show and the brilliantly designed spectacles produced by Fukunaga and his D.O.P Linus Sandgren with accompaniment of the films composer Hans Zimmer often carries Die a long way past its weaker areas that are fairly easy to identify as the slightly tedious and mediocre middle stretch, the extremely daft overall villainous plot that doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny and the waste of Rami Malek as much hyped new villain to the saga Lyutsifer Safin, who makes a great entrance but spends most of the films runtime in the shadows only to appear and disappoint in the end game with the Oscar winning actor unable to make any in roads into the film to enhance it to greatness. 

Had the film managed to deliver a plot worthy of its lead character and given him a devious baddie to savor, its very likely that Die could’ve laid a good claim to being as every bit as good as the critically adored Casino Royale and Skyfall and made a valid argument to be regarded as the standout Craig feature of the brand. 

One of the years most well-filmed and produced blockbusters and one that provides a lot of viewing pleasures if you can forgive its collection of over the top elements, underdeveloped ideas and forgettable big bad, ending the modern day Bond with a bang, Die has done a fine job finishing up Craig’s tenure in the shoes of the worlds most famous agent. 

Final Say – 

A blockbuster farewell to the Bond many have come to know and love, No Time to Die is big, silly and a whole lot of fun and has proven too be an event worth the long buildup as we now eagerly await to see what direction Ian Fleming’s famous creation is taken in the future. 

4 unscathed car tyres out of 5