Bullet Points: No Time to Die
After an unprecedented three delays, Daniel Craig’s final bow as James Bond will hit theaters when No Time to Die opens in theaters in the United States on October 8, 2021… nearly 18 months after the film was originally set to premiere.
- The Plot: A retired James Bond (Daniel Craig) finds himself back in the game when his old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) recruits Bond to help the C.I.A. get their hands on a biological weapon that Bond’s former boss M. (Ralph Fiennes) had a hand in helping create.
- The Action: An essential part of any James Bond film is the action and No Time to Die does not disappoint. Before the opening credits we get some explosive action, some motorcycle mayhem and machine gun headlights! But there’s plenty more action where that came from with more bullets flying, an SUV chase, magnets and a sinking ship!
- The Villains: The vengeful Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek, Mr. Robot) may be the one man on Earth who despises Ernst Stavro Blofeld more than James Bond. And it is Safin’s hatred for Blofeld that is the movie’s catalyst. Malek radiates a creepy evil whenever he is on screen and may go down as one of Bond’s more memorable foes… but fear not Bond traditionalists, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) may not be the main villain in No Time to Die, but he maximizes his minutes in his face to face meeting with James Bond, plus he gets an elaborate entrance.
- The Ladies: No Time to Die has a threesome of strong female characters… there’s the returning Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Bond’s love interest in the film, but she proves to be much more than that as the movie progresses… Lashana Lynch plays Nomi, aka the NEW 007. Nomi got the the 007 title after Bond walked away from the MI6. This creates a bit of a rivalry with James Bond once he is back in the picture… Last but not least my personal favorite, Paloma (played by Ana de Armas). Paloma works with Bond in Cuba as the two crash a party full of Spectre agents. Paloma claims to only have three weeks of training, if that’s the case she’s a quick learner.
No Time to Die marks the end of an era. I do not believe Daniel Craig could have asked for a better send-off. No Time to Die is everything you want in a Bond film, plus a ton of emotion, more than a few shocking moments and most importantly, closure for what has been one hell of run for Daniel Craig.
Where will the Bond franchise go from here? That will be the source of speculation in the days, weeks and months to come, but I know where this review is going, to some Bonus Bullet Points…
- Record Breaker: No Time to Die is the longest James Bond movie in history coming in at 2 hours and 43 minutes, beating out the previous record holder, 2015’s Spectre, which was 2 hours and 28 minutes. For those of you keeping track, the shortest James Bond movie is 2008’s Quantum of Solace at 1 hour and 46 minutes.
- Award Winning: In anticipation for the original April 2020 release date of the movie, the theme song “No Time to Die” by Billie Eilish was released on February 13, 2020. The song topped the charts in the UK and hit #16 on the Billboard Top 100 in the United States. “No Time to Die” also earned Eilish a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
- Classic Ending: Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All The Time In The World”, a song that Bond historians and fans will remember from 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, plays during the end credits of No Time to Die.
