No Time to Die

No Time to Die Review

When “Casino Royale” burst on the scene in 2006, it really changed the action landscape. The Bond mythology had grown stale—it was your father or even your grandfather’s franchise—and Daniel Craig gave it adrenaline. For something that once felt like it so deftly balanced the old of a timeless character with a new, richer style, perhaps the biggest knock against “No Time to Die” is that there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better in one of the other Craig movies. That’s fine if you’re such a fan of Bond that reheated leftovers still taste delicious—and even more so after waiting so long for this particular meal—but it’s not something anyone will remember in a few years as films like “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall” define the era. Maybe it all should have ended a couple movies ago. Then we all would have had time for something new. Read full review…

No Time to Die review – Daniel Craig dispatches James Bond with panache, rage – and cuddles

The long-awaited 25th outing for Ian Fleming’s superspy is a weird and self-aware epic with audacious surprises up its sleeve Read full review…

No Time To Die review: Thrilling but inconsistent emotional end to Daniel Craig’s Bond journey

If anything, what Fukunaga and screenwriters Neal Pervis, Robert Wade and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fukunaga also has a “story by” credit) have managed is to really keep fidelity with Bond’s emotional arc. It’s the strength of the series.

Even if you don’t buy into Bond and Madeleine’s endgame romance, you do buy into Bond’s journey – and it’s one you’ll want to see out with Craig as the grittiest, most grounded and most exposed Bond in 59 years.

You may even get a little emotional. Read full review…

No Time To Die review: Daniel Craig’s last hurrah is disappointing and strangely anti-climactic

And despite Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s much-publicised contributions to the film’s script, No Time to Die hardly feels like the radical feminist rewrite we were promised. To her credit, the women (minus Seydoux’s character, who’s always sullen) get to have fun instead of merely traipsing around like over competent femme bots. Ana de Armas’s newbie agent Paloma feels like the audition for her upcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic, and Lashana Lynch, as a rival 00, is such a force of charisma that it feels pointless to look for a new Bond when surely the future of the franchise is already standing right there.

But beyond any potential for future appearances, they only serve as accessories to a film that doesn’t quite know what to do or what it is – it only knows that Craig lies at the very heart of it. Read full review…