No Time To Die

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on November 12, 2021, and ABC Radio Central Victoria on November 15.

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Cast: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, Rory Kinnear, Dali Benssalah, Lisa-Dorah Sonnet.

"No time to die, but always time for a drink, am I right?"

I've always graded films on how well they meet their aspirations. Not every film is trying to be Citizen Kane or Lawrence Of Arabia, so the only accurate benchmark to measure a film against is how successfully it achieves what it is trying to achieve.

No Time To Die is trying to do a lot of things. It's trying to wrap up the Daniel Craig era of Bond, while also give Craig a fitting farewell that matches his brilliant entry to the franchise (Casino Royale, which is the best Bond film for my money). It's also trying to push the series into places its never been and continue its modernisation, while also maintaining the essential 007-ness of it all. And it wants to be a damned good Bond film.

No Time To Die is all those things. It achieves every goal, and does so with heart, grit, guts and the occasional wry smile. It's a continuation of the changes that have been evident in the series with every passing decade, but it's also exceedingly worthy of carrying the 007 licence. In short, this will go down as one of the best Bond films of all time.

It certainly carries one of the most Bond-worthy plots - the villainous Lyutsifer Safin (Malek) has taken control of a diabolical superweapon with the capacity to selectively wipe out anyone he wants, one family at a time. Naturally, it's up to Bond to stop him.

What's impressive about No Time To Die is the way it weaves this typical storyline among the threads of the connections Craig's Bond has made along the way. It ups the stakes like no 007 movie before - not just in a "I'm trying to take over the world!" megalomaniacal way, but in a personal way for Bond as well. It shows Bond in a new light, making him simultaneously stronger and more vulnerable than ever before.

Most of this comes down to the script, written by series regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, along with director Fukunaga, and polished by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But a lot of credit also has to go to Craig, who delivers the highs and lows beautifully. His light touch with humour along with his physicality and ruggedness have made him a great Bond, but its been his dramatic chops and emotional range that have set him apart, never more so than here. 

Fukunaga's cinematography is outstanding, the set pieces are brilliant, and the ending is to die for. The cast regulars such as Whishaw, Harris, Fiennes and Wright are great, and the returnees Seydoux and Waltz are also excellent, but its de Armas and Lynch that threaten to walk away with the movie, especially de Armas, who lights up a wonderful sequence set in Cuba. 

Series custodians Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have successful closed one Bond chapter and provided a blank slate for whoever is chosen to pick up the martini glass next. But whoever does so has some huge shoes to fill. No previous Bond has ever gone out on a high like this.