No Time to Die (2021) Movie Review

The highly anticipated 25th James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” brings a new chapter in the life of one of the most iconic film characters of all time. With the expectation that this will be the last time we see Daniel Craig as Bond, the film faces the difficult task of providing a sense of finality to this chapter while also hinting at the future of the spy with a license to kill. The movie is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and although it has moments of robust direction and quick action beats, it ultimately plays it too safe and too familiar from start to finish.

In the past, each new Bond movie felt like a restart for the character and his universe, but “No Time to Die” seems cut more from the Marvel Cinematic Universe model of pulling from previous entries to create the impression that everything that happens here was planned all along. Although you don’t necessarily have to have seen the previous four films, it will be almost impossible to appreciate this one if you haven’t, especially “Spectre,” to which this is a very direct sequel.

The movie starts with a very clever and taut opening flashback scene for Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), Bond’s love interest from “Casino Royale.” The film catches up with James and Madeleine in Italy, where he's finally convinced to go see the grave of the woman who continues to haunt him. The scene ends with an explosion, but this isn't necessarily a hint that the creators of “No Time to Die” are going to blow up their foundation and give Bond new definition. Instead, it leads to a repeat of the “Skyfall” arc with James off the grid five years after the prologue.

Bond blames Swann for what happened in Italy, convinced she betrayed him. However, the deadly theft of a weaponized virus that can target a specific person’s DNA brings Bond back to the fold, aligning with the CIA via Felix Leiter (a wonderfully laid-back Jeffrey Wright) and a new face named Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen). He's been replaced at MI6 by a new 007 named Nomi (Lashana Lynch), and James doesn't really trust M (Ralph Fiennes). He's convinced M knows more about the new threat than he's letting on, but at least Bond still has Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) helping him behind the scenes.

While there's a crowded crew of espionage experts from around the world, these talented supporting performers are given surprisingly little to do other than push the plot forward to its inevitable ending. Lynch feels like a self-aware nod to the controversy around the casting of Bond, but then she's not given much of a character to make her interesting on her own. Seydoux and Craig have shockingly little chemistry, which was a problem in the final act of “Spectre” and is deadlier here because of what's missing from the final act. A character is added to their dynamic in a way that feels cheap and manipulative.

But when the plot takes over, “No Time to Die” gets bogged down in exposition and dialogue that’s functional but not particularly engaging. It feels like a Bond film that’s just going through the motions, ticking off boxes as it goes along. Even the action scenes, while well-directed and choreographed, lack the sense of danger and excitement that made the best Bond films so memorable.

Ultimately, “No Time to Die” is a film that’s trying to be too many things at once. It wants to be a satisfying conclusion to Craig’s tenure as Bond, while also setting up a new era for the character with Lynch’s Nomi. It wants to tie up loose ends from previous films while also introducing new plot threads and characters. And it wants to be a thrilling, action-packed spy film while also dealing with weighty themes like love, loss, and redemption.

The result is a film that feels disjointed and unsatisfying, never quite hitting the mark it’s aiming for. There are moments of greatness here, but they’re buried beneath a mountain of exposition and plot mechanics. Fans of Craig’s Bond will find much to enjoy here, but for everyone else, “No Time to Die” is likely to be a forgettable entry in the long-running franchise.

In conclusion, "No Time to Die" is a film that tries to do too much and ultimately falls short of its lofty ambitions. While there are some standout moments and impressive visuals, the film is bogged down by a convoluted plot and a lack of real stakes. As a send-off for Daniel Craig's Bond, it's a fitting if not entirely satisfying conclusion, but as a standalone film, it's a middling entry in the franchise. With a new actor set to take on the role of Bond in the future, it remains to be seen whether the franchise can recapture the magic that made it such a cultural phenomenon for so many decades.