No Time To Die Movie Review: After having a long series of delays No Time to Die is finally coming out. I grew up during the Craig era of James Bond and for me this is the definite version of the character, so I am glad to report that this film is really damn fun. Sitting there in the theatre I felt the sense of rush that No Time to Die brought that no other release gave me this year. No Time to Die, follows Bond as he returns back to MI6 to take down a deadly virus and meets his biggest challenge yet. No Time to Die Star Daniel Craig Shares How He Took James Bond’s Character ‘Too Seriously’.

Daniel Craig returns as Bond in which is his fifth and final appearance as the character. Again what’s to be said that’s not already been said about his portrayal, he is again really good here, and surprisingly a lot more emotional. We did see a vulnerable side of him at the end of Casino Royale and in some parts of Skyfall, but in No Time to Die, he is a lot more vulnerable compared to those films. It’s a great sense of growth for this character and one that leaves behind some of the more outdated concepts associated with him.

I liked the side characters over here too as well, some returning and some new. Talking about the new first, Lashana Lynch was great as the new 007, Nomi. With Bond retired in the beginning, Nomi takes over the mantle of 007. She has quite the skillset in the film and her banter with Bond creates a great sense of tension between these characters. Of all the new characters, Lashana Lynch was my favorite. Also a special shoutout to Ana De Armas, she was just in the film for like 10 minutes, but she just stole the show for me everytime she was on screen.

In the returning characters, Madeleine Swann portrayed by Lea Seydoux this time has quite the nice arc with James too. I think she rivals quite well alongside Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd in the regards that her character is close to Bond in many of the same ways. Also there is quite a lot of history behind her too which becomes the crux of our plot. We have M, Moneypenny and Q returning too. They felt a lot more like the old versions of their character where it harkened back to the Conner, Moore and Dalton era for me, which brings me to my next point.

Watch the trailer:

No Time to Die feels the most like classic Bond out of any of the Craig films. You have a world ending plot, an over the top villain whose reasons for doing things seem unclear, the action, the dialogue, the camp, the gadgets, it is all here. It is damn fun to witness just because of how much fan service there is for Bond fans which we don’t necessarily get. I was just grinning from face to face while watching it in the theatre.

The action is the best out of any of Craig's films too and that’s because of Cary Fukunaga’s directing. Anyone familiar with his work knows that he is great at framing scenes. The action is beautiful and captured in wide frames, there is great stunt work, the punches have that oomph to them. There are those near misses that make you jump in your seat, it was great. Also the cinematography by Linus Sandgren of La La Land fame, just wow.

They brought in Hans Zimmer too for No Time to Die’s score, and just hearing the gunbarrel theme being composed by him was fun. His score wasn’t as memorable compared to David Arnold’s work on the series, but it was still strong enough. For example, the fight scene that takes place in Cuba mixes the Bond cues with traditional Cuban music and watching Ana de Armas kicks a guy in the face with that in the background just felt right. Although, there is this one weird track that felt oddly similar to Zimmer’s theme from The Dark Knight. Billie Eilish’s song is quite good too, it’s somber and fits well with the tone of the film. No Time To Die Review: Daniel Craig’s James Bond Movie Is ‘Startling, Exotically Self-Aware, Funny’, Say Critics.

But, a Bond film is nothing without its villain, and how does the villain fair over here? Well that’s a mixed bag. Rami Malek as Safin is entertaining, but his character doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. He is by far the weakest part of the film. Safin’s motivations are unclear and it will leave you confused as to why he is doing what he is doing. I just wish there was a more tighter impact of him on the plot rather than being like “I am a villain, I am going to do some bad stuff”.

Yay!

- The Cast

- Action Scenes

- Cinematography

- Couple of New characters are fun

Nay!

- Safin isn’t a good villain

Final Thoughts

Starting off in 2006, Daniel Craig has finally finished off his tenure as Bond after 15 long years and he completes it off with a bang. No Time to Die is a film that honors this character’s legacy and one that deserves to be seen on the full screen. Whoever the next Bond is, has some really big shoes to fill.

Rating:4.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 21, 2021 11:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).