A Silver Screen Affair:

No Time To Die

It’s been 84 years…

…not really, but it sure as hell FELT like it.

Either way, this is it, folks. We got ourselves a new Bond film. Going to the movies has always been a special treat, one of the few things that have survived my lurch into adulthood – and a Bond film, doubly so. Full disclosure: I’m no Bond buff, but his (mis)adventures have become one of the few sure shot series’ I’ve come to swear by, much like Mission Impossible, Jason Bourne, John Wick or Marvel movies. My first Bond film was “Tomorrow Never Dies” and I’ve been with it until now. I was caught off guard by Pierce Brosnan’s departure, but it didn’t take much to bring me onboard for Daniel Craig – I mean, one look at him and I immediately thought “Okay, this guy is gonna completely WRECK face in a fight”.

And that brings us to “No Time to Die” – Bond’s latest outing that released on October 8th, 2021. It stars Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffery Wright, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes as the iconic James Bond, Madeleine Swann, Q, Moneypenny, Felix Leiter, Blofeld and M, respectively. They’re joined by some new faces: Lashana Lynch as new “00” agent Nomi, Billy Magnussen as CIA agent Logan Ash, Ana De Armas as CIA agent Paloma, Dali Benssalah as the mercenary Primo and Rami Malek as Lyutsifer Safin, among others. Now if some of those names in the first group don’t ring bells, don’t feel bad. At least one of them is returning from a couple movies prior and even the rest that aren’t may not fare much better – it HAS been SIX years after all. You see, the previous film (“Spectre”) released in 2015. It would’ve been more like only four years, but COVID saw “No Time To Die” pushed back from a 2019 release.

Moving on to the movie proper, we open to everyone’s favorite MI-6 agent, happily in the throes of retirement with Madeleine trying their best to leave the terror of Spectre behind. Needless to say, Spectre doesn’t intend to leave THEM behind and the two part ways to flee the organization. In the ensuing years, Bond gets a request from his friend, Felix, to find a kidnapped scientist. Bond’s reluctant to get involved (retirement and all), but a run in with Nomi (and M’s dodgy explanations) convince James to get back in the fray, this time at the CIA’s behest. Everyone involved finds out all too late, however, that this is bigger than they thought. Bigger than a scientist. Bigger than MI-6 or the CIA. Bigger than Spectre, even.

I know that a movie is a movie is a movie. However, this is a James Bond movie and that means there are a few things I pay extra attention to (opening theme, cars and Bond Girls) as they tend to be the most fun parts of the experience.

Theme

So it’s been established that the film was delayed from it’s 2019 release. What WASN’T delayed? The lead single. Bond films are known for their iconic themes, preformed by the likes of Duran Duran and Paul McCartney to Sheryl Crow and Patti LaBelle. The aptly named, “No Time To Die” was written and performed by siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. It was released February 13, 2020. Apparently, this was the first Bond theme by a female artist to top the UK charts. I can see why, I’ve been playing this off and on for the last half a year, at least. It’s a somber affair that fits the theme and feel of the film. The accompanying cinematic that precedes the film isn’t as, uh….”tentacly” as Spectre (thank, God), but feels a little more reminiscent of the iconography we got in Quantum of Solace or Skyfall. It lacks the upbeat bombast of those, but it’s still a good theme in my book.

Cars

This a bond film, so you know what you’re looking for – tricked out sports cars, usually of the foreign variety. In the recent past, these would be something like a BMW Z3 or Z8, but lately we’ve been thumbing through the Aston Martin catalogue. “No Time to Die” features the DBS Superleggera, Valhalla, DB5 and my favorite, the V8 Vantage Series II returning from The Living Daylights, because it looks like a fastback pony car. These beauties don’t get put through the wringer as hard as the Aston Martin in Quantum of Solace’s intro (that’s reserved for the Land Rovers), but that means we get to appreciate them for their speed and beauty untarnished.

Bond girls

The Daniel Craig run of Bond Films seems to have had a non conventional relationship with the Bond Girl concept – likely due to a focus on making a more grounded Bond and shifting attitudes in the greater zeitgeist. Either way, the five films seem to have elected to just fill it’s cast with kickass female agents and let them shine. Madeleine Swann returns to grapple with her (and Bond’s) past, but we also get two great newcomers in the form of Nomi and Paloma. Nomi is a new “00” agent M brings on in Bond’s absence. Played by Lashana Lynch, Nomi is a very capable agent that is trying to marry the competence of her predecessor with the discretion he so sorely seems to lack and all around just crushes it. I must admit that I’m a tad bit partial to Paloma though. She’s a new CIA agent that assists Bond early on in the film. She’s a bubbly, green agent that forgets her security phrases, is super nervous and chugs her martinis – only to proceed to pull off crack shots, dual wield pistol and submachine guns, dispatch multiple foes and drop kick attackers in a dinner dress. She’s definitely rough around the edges, but she was a fun ball of energy for the screen time she got and it would be nice to see her bring the energy back to the franchise again.

“Thank You for your service, Mr. Bond”

“No Time to Die” feels a tad bit meta; very much like an evolution of the Bond formula based on a certain self awareness. Bond gives his iconic introduction, but it’s organically forced out of him, as if the film wants to humorously spoof how this is so routine it’s inescapable for him. I think the most surprising thing for me was the emotional core of the film. Bond gets chewed out in Quantum of Solace for being irresponsible with others’ lives. The Bond we see in the film seems to have taken this to heart – this is a Bond that is still trying to come to grips with having lost the happiness that he once had. He isn’t the horndog one may have expected, staying professional with Paloma. He isn’t as smug, either, initially butting heads with Nomi, but quickly treating her as his equal and her doing the same for him. This is a Bond that is feeling the weight of the last five films and all that it has (and threatens) to take. The lynch pin to this is Madeliene. Seeing him fight to hold on to the remnants of the happiness he thought he had to throw away is quite palpable. I’m not going to ruin the story arc for you, obviously, but Bond is, in some ways, a changed man and while that may not sound very much like Bond, it sounds very human and I’ll take that any day…

******

It’s the end of an era. One the likes of I’ve, technically, seen before and will likely see again, but that doesn’t make it any less sad. I’m gonna miss Daniel Craig’s James Bond.