Graphic by Sofía Savid '24
By Lucy Oster ’23
Staff Writer
“No Time to Die,” the latest James Bond installment, is surprisingly emotional for an action film. The movie, which is the final Bond film to star Daniel Craig as the titular character, ups the sentimentality beyond the norms of the spy thriller genre in a fitting goodbye to the longest-running Bond.
The movie follows in the steps of classic Bond films and expands on what a Bond film can look like. “No Time to Die” opens with a scene that imitates a familiar sight from previous Bond movies — Bond, accompanied by a beautiful woman, driving his iconic Aston Martin DB5 sports car through a small European town. In these opening shots, the film nods to similar scenes in the Bond tradition, which can be found in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and “Goldfinger,” to name a few. The film then identifies the woman as Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), a character from “Spectre,” the previous Bond film, and establishes that she and Bond are in a newly-formed relationship. To let go of his past and start anew in their relationship, Madeleine urges him to visit the grave of a past love of his, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), and he complies. This influence on Bond is unusual, particularly since the character has previously been depicted as a notorious womanizer — acquiring and disposing of love interests with famous abandon. In “No Time to Die,” however, Bond seems fully in love — that is, until Vesper Lynd’s grave explodes, endangering his life. Believing that Madeleine has set him up, Bond leaves her behind on a departing train, promising that she will never see him again.
“No Time to Die” isn’t all sentimentality and potential betrayal. The movie also introduces fun new characters, such as Nomi (Lashana Lynch), the new 007 of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service of the United Kingdom. Before Bond retired, 007 was his agent code, and Nomi becoming 007 elevates her character by linking her to Bond through that iconic number. Nomi is even more sarcastic and self-assured than Bond, and, unlike many of the women in the franchise, she is clearly uninterested in him sexually. As a Black woman, Lynch’s character opens up an exciting possibility for the Bond franchise in terms of expanding the types of characters that are centered in major roles. Another new character, Paloma (Ana de Armas), a stylish and charming Cuban woman who Bond briefly partners with on a mission, is the life of the movie while she’s on screen. In one scene, Paloma and Bond banter while engaging in a high-stakes shoot-out, establishing her as an equal to Bond and as more than just a pretty face. Both of these women indicate a powerful future for the franchise, even without Craig.
The movie is aware, as are the viewers, that this is Daniel Craig’s last time portraying Bond. Much of the film revolves around Bond coming to terms with getting older and quitting MI6. The intro, accompanied by Billie Eilish’s haunting song, also titled “No Time to Die,” demonstrates this existential despair by showing statues crumbling into sand. It’s as if Bond might crumble without his title as 007 as well. Instead of reacting to this impending loss with his usual stiff upper lip, “No Time to Die” opens Bond to sentimentality. By the middle of the movie, he is with Madeleine again and even becomes a father figure for her young daughter.
“No Time to Die” also has its weak moments, putting itself at a disadvantage by not updating standard Bond tropes. Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) portrays the classic scarred Cold-War-esque Bond villain, drawing on Cold War era tropes such as an unidentifiable vaguely Eastern European accent and, at one point, giving a speech claiming that people want to be controlled. Another low moment for the film comes later in the movie, when Nomi requests that MI6 reinstate the 007 agent code back to Bond. This move places her in back into the position of a side character, potentially suggesting there’s no possibility of a future non-white-male Bond.
How the franchise will reintroduce Bond is up in the air. Maybe Lynch’s character will be the new star of the franchise after all or perhaps someone entirely new will come along. Overall, “No Time to Die” is an effective end to Craig’s role of Bond and leaves the franchise open to an exciting future.