[Spoilers Ahead]
We've done it. We've made it. It's finally time for
NO TIME TO DIE, in which Bond must save the world from a murderous gene-altering madman, and also face his own personal demons in order to have a chance at finding love and redemption.
It is actually somewhat rare - in the history of Bond - that the script is written for a Bond movie knowing without a doubt it will be that actor's last go round as the character. Many times the actual casting decision to move on or for a Bond actor to retire was not made until after their last movie was released and done. But here in NO TIME TO DIE, the end is clearly in mind from the beginning as we reach the end of the Craig era.
Let's deal with Daniel Craig, just for a minute. He's better with each movie, and yet I'm not sure if this is his personal growth as an actor within the role, or because the material - and character itself - evolves across his span of movies like nothing we've ever seen before. I may wax poetical in another post about how the Craig-era Bond films are practically an entirely different franchise from the previous 40 years / 20 movies that go before - but whatever the reason, Craig is better than ever in this one. His Bond here is older, wiser, more well-rounded, and a far distance from the never-crack-a-smile version from the first couple of his films. I will ponder for some time Craig vs all the other actors, but it's almost tough to make a comparison, because he's playing Bond in a totally different set of films than anyone who's gone before.
That - combined with the accelerated nature of this viewing project - is one reason I struggled with some elements of Craig's Bond. It's a rebooted / different timeframe, but after the first 20 movies, I had a difficult time watching him make real connection with women in this series - Vesper in Casino Royale (whose presence echos strongly all the way through this movie) - through to Madeline, the most significant and enduring woman we've seen in the entire franchise, having two whole movies to form an emotional, um..bond with Bond. But, by the end of this one, I think I was finally on board with the romantic throughlines of this era - and again, I think any difficulty of that on my part is not necessarily related to the writing, just to my building preconceptions and the immediacy with which they were present when watching these final movies.
This is a long movie. Two hours and 45 minutes - the longest by some stretch - and yet rarely does it drag. Sure, it could be shorter, but I was very impressed at how handily it managed to keep interest the whole run time. There is a LOT happening in this movie in so many layers, from the romantic plots to the main villain/McGuffin to the re-confrontation with Blofeld to the re-connection and loss of key supporting characters - it's honestly a pretty impressive feat that they've managed to layer it all in to a palatable sandwich - it could have been a lot messier.
There are some really great touches - I love the Hall of M's (featuring portraits of Judi Dench and Bernard Lee) in MI6's HQ. We also get a real true-blue gadget scene along with Q's ongoing role as supporting tech advisor. These last 3 movies - especially the last two - have really upped the team/squad dynamic that's never been present before. For 50 years Bond was a lone wolf (accompanied by a Bond girl sidekick if anything) - but here it's not just Bond + 4-5 other people (M, Q, 2nd 00 agent, Bond girl, Tanner) who are all working together in the climax. Bond is the leader, the spearpoint, the head - he will always be a lone-wolf at heart - but he has good, competant people on his side, and that is a wonderful thing to watch.
Rami Malek is a great Bond villain. He has that terrifying air and demeanor that lends itself so well to the sort of maniacal mad-man that Bond must always seem to face against. And Christoph Waltz makes the most of his supporting villain role with a truly chilling face-to-face scene with Bond that was absolutely captivating.
Bond dies at the end. That wasn't spoiled for me, and I'm so thankful. I wasn't surprised, because the movie absolutely makes it work, and yet I was surprised, because whoa that has literally never happened in 60 years / the last 25 days for me. After seeing the Craig era, I will believe anything they do next with the character. Another reboot? An era with old man Bond if they decide they DO in fact want Idris Elba after just hinting at it for a decade? Gender swapped Bond? Anything is possible. The Craig era stands alone as it's own sub-Bond franchise, and I'm impressed with the bold strides they made in how they can tell these stories.
I'm a little melancholy after finishing this project - not sure if that's the emotional denouement of actually hitting the goal of watching all 25 movies in 25 days, or if the emotional stakes and payoff of the last movie actually did get to me. I do know that bringing back Louis Armstrong's "We Have All the Time In The World" was an inspired musical choice (we heard strains of that the one other time in the franchise they tried to really get you invested in Bond's love life - all the way back in 1969 with George Lazenby's Bond getting married only to have his wife be murdered literal minutes later). It's a great song, it's a great moment, I watched the credits all the way through just to start the process of processing my feelings about this movie, about all these movies.
I do know one thing - as promised by the credits - James Bond Will Return. Now that I know who the man is - I'm already looking forward to it.
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