Immediately after the title tune, No Time To Die continues with a heist scene. It opens up brilliantly with figures abseiling down a skyscraper. They are reflected against the glass of the artifice which creates the illusion there are more than there actually are. It’s an eyecatching sequence, beautifully shot and a wonderful way to launch us into the villain’s side of the story; gaining control of the nanobots that will cause havoc.
Later on in the movie, the chief antagonist Safin talks about Bond as if he might as well be himself looking in the mirror. Indeed, throughout No Time To Die there is a sense of duality, of mirror images and of characters or groups moving on parallel lines to eventually meet with very different outcomes. What Safin sees in Bond is what he really wishes he could see himself as in the mirror; a man who survived from childhood trauma to do good deeds. Instead he is a man who has mistaken revenge for elevation. His flawed moral equivalence has made him play God. Bond kills because he has to, Safin does because he can.
Regarding the duality, it is present right through the movie. The CIA have two agents, one beyond question, the other a traitor. This is their downfall. There are essentially two 007’s who work together on the side of virtue. They save the day. There are two villains in conflict wanting essentially the same outcome.
It is fair to say that the previous Bond films featuring Daniel Craig have contained themes that are compelling but were sometimes dealt with in a platitudinous way. Revenge has been a big topic as has betrayal. If Bond wasn’t looking to avenge the death of Vesper, Silva was seeking to take revenge on ‘M’ or Blofeld on Bond himself. If Vesper wasn’t betraying Bond, ‘C’ was doing it to ‘M’.
No Time To Die doesn’t veer away from these themes nor the bi-products that come with them like trust or, rather, who to trust. In fact, it is arguably more about revenge, betrayal and trust than any of the other Craig films. But that is not what drives the movie like, for example, revenge did Quantum of Solace.
You see, as already highlighted by the talk of duality, this is a Bond movie which has a lot going on in it. It’s not a Bond movie which tricks you into thinking there’s a lot going on like Spectre. It is the genuine article. How it gets over the hurdles is what makes the film a very smooth watch.
Let’s look at this in terms of what the storytellers have to do. They’ve got to do a flashback sequence to tie up the tale Madeleine Swann referred to in Spectre before explaining exactly what happened to her and Bond after they went off into the sunset of that picture. Tick.
Next, they have to establish to the audience that not only has Bond retired but he’s been replaced as a 007 by Nomi. Tick. Then they have to introduce the concept of Nanobots killing Spectre off. Okay maybe a small tick. And we have the demise of Felix. Tick.
This procession of chapters goes by in a slick manner whereby there isn’t one that drags or feels rushed. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga and editors Elliot Graham and Tom Cross deserve a lot of credit for enabling the film to flow along nicely. We are not dragged off down rabbit holes as with the L’Americain section in Spectre. The action set pieces in Matera and Cuba are reminscent of Quantum of Solace but far more coherent due to the pacing and camera work.
While Sam Mendes has been praised for his work as director of Skyfall and Spectre, both films had the annoying habit of running exposition alongside action sequences which diluted them and could be confusing. This is thankfully absent here. Bond and Paloma’s scene starts off like this but then plunges into pure action.
What the film does is constantly get the emotional content absolutely right. Before the title credits we have Bond visiting the grave of Vesper before being subjected to an assassination attempt by Spectre. A bomb goes off which gives him shell shock yet, after recovering and resisting a second attack, he goes into full Bond mode in his Aston Martin with Madeleine. Surrounded by the gun toting Spectre men in what is a breathtaking scene which is up there as one of the best in the series, Bond suffers a form of emotional shellshock, unwilling to act as he stops the car to become a sitting duck while Madeleine screams for help. For once, Bond is preserved by the bullet proof windows of his DB5 but seems resigned to being killed by Spectre. He’s always been protected by his gadgets but also a sense of self-preservation and willingness to prevail. In this moment, life seems almost pointless to him until finally he does the right thing and acts to save himself and, more importantly, Madeleine.
You see the Craig era has either intentionally or unwittingly re-evaluated Bond’s moral compass, his heroism and professional motivations. Once again, revenge has been a driving factor as has professional peacocking and resolving personal demons. But in No Time To Die, Bond is driven by a determination to do the right thing. It all boils down to him using his skills and experience to help, otherwise he wouldn’t help the CIA or then return to MI6.
Another feature about the film is that it is unconventional and conventional at the same time. The two tiered pre-credit titles sequence isn’t something we have seen in the series apart from in The World Is Not Enough. Killing off one of the chief antagonists and their entire organization half way through was unusual as was having a new 007 that wasn’t Bond. Nonetheless, resolving the film in Safin’s lair on the island was certainly a more conventional climax, very much paying homage not only to the novel of You Only Live Twice but the movies like Moonraker, The Spy Who Loved Me and Dr No.
There was much in the media and social media about the film being ‘woke’, some levelling criticism at it for this accusation. Quite frankly, this is ridiculous for several reasons. Firstly, there’s been a conscious decision by the makers to revise Bond’s traditional persona as a heavy smoking chauvinist since 1995’s GoldenEye. While the approach was contrary during the Pierce Brosnan era, the Craig films have clearly conformed to 21st century values.
There’s a difference between being a snowflake or ‘woke’ and just making the character personable, kind and brave. When Bond tells Paloma “you were excellent” after their fight with Spectre in Cuba, it felt like a very human and realistic thing to say and it occurred that the only surprise was that we’re simply not used to Bond giving credit to his cohorts, instead a sarcastic remark or quip has been the norm.
During the film there is a contemplation of how an agent’s code is a burden and dehumanises them. Bond, without his recognition code, is a much lighter and seemingly happier man enjoying his retirement. This persists even when he assists the CIA and then returns to MI6. Meanwhile the current serving 007 is portrayed as cutting, smug and aggressive, much like Craig’s portrayal of Bond in previous movies. Indeed, one is reminded of Bond’s exchange with Vesper in Casino Royale during his recuperation when he speaks of having his armour stripped from him. During these sequences, Bond is depicted as more vulnerable and yet more likeable than at any other time in the film. The code and the role carries with it a burden.
If there is anything to shoot at in No Time To Die, then while they undoubtedly get the protagonists right, there is a question mark hanging over the antagonists. Primo as a henchman is near perfect but the chief villains are questionable. Firstly, Safin’s motivations are strange. We know he wipes out Spectre because they killed his family. But what’s puzzling is, when they knew he was looking for revenge especially after he attacked Mr White’s family, why over the course of twenty years, didn’t they assassinate him? Nevertheless, once he gets his wish, he then plans to use the Nanobots for a more sinister use, choosing to try and kill millions of people randomly.
One senses that the problems that arise from Safin are connected with Blofeld in the previous film Spectre. Blofeld’s demise is almost dealt with comically. Much like a recognition code is a burden to an agent like Bond or Nomi, No Time To Die is saddled with what went on during Spectre. It wisely elects to relegate Blofeld to being the secondary villain so that dancing around and past the elephant in the room is possible. This might not have been feasible had he been the main antagonist. The scab that was the horrible plot of Spectre would have been scratched at so the disgusting mess could have tainted No Time To Die.
That Bond dies is not a problem. Many have disliked this twist. It would have been problematic had he not returned from his retirement but it happens at the end of his own timeline as an agent and character.
The retconning and rebooting taking place over the course of these five films has undoubtedly disrupted the Bond canon. Craig’s era has essentially rendered all the 1960’s films apart from Goldfinger as a different iteration of the character because of the presence of SPECTRE in all of them. Add Diamonds Are Forever (Blofeld) and any movies that reference the death of his wife Teresa – The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and Licence To Kill – because it was SPECTRE who killed her, and that’s quite a lot of stories that cannot exist within the Craig/Bond universe. Yet, due to the large gap the audience is led to believe occurred between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, it’s feasible that many of his adventures featuring Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton could have gone on during this window.
Bond’s death is all the more tragic because here is a man who has learned his lessons in life and might finally be on the brink of establishing a family with Madeleine and Matilde. The happy ending we want for this Bond eludes us and him.
No Time To Die might not be a James Bond film in the conventional sense and is difficult to rank against the other heavyweights in the series like Skyfall, Casino Royale, From Russia With Love et al. Yet it is one of the best films in the twenty five that have been released with a protagonist called James Bond.
Athon 