Time enough for life

I bet you didn’t see that one coming. (Massive Unmarked Spoilers)

When we last left off, James Bond (Daniel Craig) has decided to retire from his spy work to spend his days with his second love, Madeline Swann (Léa Seydoux). Naturally, they need to do away with all that for this movie to happen. The two of them go their separate ways, and years later, Felix Leiter (Jeffery Wright), Bond’s “brother from Langley,” comes asking for his help with an assignment.

Said assignment is to recover an abducted scientist alongside Paloma (Ana de Armas). Despite getting her own poster and being in the opening credits, Armas is only in a single action scene, and that’s it. Though it’s a very good scene, or else I would have been really upset. It’s important too because it’s how Bond first learns of the new MacGuffin. 

Haracles, a bioweapon commissioned off the books by M (Ralph Fiennes), are nanobots that kill their target like a virus, tailored to a person’s specific DNA, and pass from skin to skin contact while being irreversible. It’s also easily modified to be a weapon of mass destruction. Oh M. You could see the dangers of mass surveillance, but not something like that?

While the motif of Spectre, the previous film, was the dead, in this movie, it’s time. Besides the title and theme song, the word comes up in the dialogue constantly. One of the first things Bond tells Madeline is, “we have all the time in the world. You may not know this because it refers to the George Lazenby Bond, but that’s a strong indication of a doomed romance. 

While Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) returns to do the whole Hannibal Lecter thing, there’s also a mysterious new villain with ties to Madeline’s past. Rami Malek’s character is covered in scars per the series trademark of any physical abnormality symbolizing somebody’s evil. He got them burnin’ through the sky at 200 degrees. That’s why they call him Mr. Fahrenheit. 

Actually, his name’s Lyutsifer Safin because Vilain Baedguy would have been too obvious. His scars are from when SPECTRE had his whole family poisoned. After using Haracles to get his revenge, Safin plans on unleashing Haracles because, well, that’s the thing. I found myself looking forward to him explaining his whole evil plan because I had no idea what he wanted.

During said scene, Safin mentioned overrated free will, being God, and evolution, all of which sound super vague. Usually, when villains make proclamations like that, such as in Hobbs & Shaw, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, they’re a little more specific about who they’re targeting for elimination and why. Safin comes off as a rather underwritten character.

No Time To Die has a lot in common with Skyfall. It uses a relatively simple plot to allow for more of a character-driven piece, fully showcasing Craig’s final Bond film. It combines the dark and gritty tone of Casino Royale with just the right amount of campiness. And the main villains of both films have surprisingly little screen time. Except while Javier Bardem was able to make the most of what he was given, Malek fails to make a lasting impression.

Besides playing up his speech impediment more than usual, Malek doesn’t do a single thing to stand out from his other roles. Safin could easily be if Elliot Alderson ever decided to become a full-blown supervillain. Now, with that said, Malek is too good of an actor to turn in what you’d call a bad performance. 

The main character body count of No Time To Die may surprise you. First, there’s Leiter. Yes, the black guy got killed first and to provide the main character with something to angst about. How original. Then there’s Blofeld, taken out in a hilarious but rather anticlimactic fashion. And finally, there’s Bond himself.

Yes, James Bond dies during one of the movie’s best scenes. Infected with a Haracles programmed to kill Madeline and his newly met daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), Bond goes out in a literal blaze of glory to protect them. Then, at the very end of the credits, we’re told “James Bond Will Return.” After giving Craig a sendoff like that, bringing in somebody else seems like it might be disrespectful. 

Now, my best guess about what the franchise will do going forward is that MI6 will make “James Bond” a designated codename in his honor—making canon a long-held fan theory as to why Bond is constantly changing appearances while everyone around him stays the same. I suppose that might work. 

No Time To Die continues the Craig pattern where his odd-numbered Bond movies are the best. Despite being close to three hours long, this didn’t feel like a long movie for the most part. I felt myself getting that itch a little, but not too much to distract me from how much I was enjoying the film. If that’s not proof you should see this movie, then I don’t know what is.