No Time To Die Movie Review OVERVIEW | No Time to Die was fun, clever, funny and at times even emotional. Gone are the days of James Bond in the past, let us welcome the next generation of Double Agent spies with open arms.
	DIRECTOR:	Cary Fukunaga
	STUDIO:	MGM
	GENRE:	Action, Adventure
	MPAA:	PG-13
	RELEASE DATE:	October 8, 2021

No Time To Die Movie Review | We first met Daniel Craig as James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale. Since then, Daniel Craigs has reprised the Bond role a few more times in Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre and now, finally, after several delays, in No Time to Die. Regardless of how you feel about Daniel Craig as James Bond, many new Bond fans have grown up knowing Daniel Craig as James Bond, the sexy, gadget wielding, mysterious British spy with a license to kill. Daniel Craig is James Bond!

Craig stars alongside several big name actors in this latest installment to the Bond series, actors like Rami Malek, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Feinnes, Ana De Armas, Jefrey Wright, Lashana Lynch and many more! No Time To Die picks up after Spectre, with Christoph Waltz reprising his role as Ernst Blofeld. However, what initially got me really excited about this movie was Rami Malek playing a villainous role in a Bond movie! Yeah, Mr. Robot’s Rami Malek! He’s going to play a villain in the new Bond movie? And Cristoph Waltz is going to be in it, too? Expectations are high, finding all of this out! I’m definitely a fan of Christoph Waltz, absolutely! Especially after great performances in Inglorious Bastards and Django. So, again, Rami Malek had some big expectation-shoes to fill.

The film is scored by Hans Zimmer, which marks the composer’s first ever James Bond score. Who would have thought! Of course, Hans Zimmer composes an awesome, captivating soundtrack for the flick and I certainly hope it’s not his last James Bond film, because I was all for it! Speaking of music, Bond films have a history of award-winning songs, too. Songs like “Skyfall, by Adele and “Writings on the Wall,” by Sam Smith. So, it’s expected, based off of history, that every Bond film has a dope intro song accompanying all the cool intro-graphics and titles and No Time To Die doesn’t disappoint in this area. So, it’s no surprise when the film’s intro song, aptly named the same as the movie, “No time to Die,” performed by Billie Eilish, knocks it out of the park for me. Yep, that’s right, Billie Eilish performed the movie’s intro song and I liked it! I liked even more that such a young artist like Billie Eilish got an awesome opportunity to collaborate with an awesome film franchise! Good for her! Truly, I enjoyed the intro song and I definitely recommend you giving the song a listen. Now, I’m not saying the song is award-winning worthy, I’d give it an award for sure if it was up to me, all I’m saying is that the track was great!

Now, let’s talk about what does disappoint me. What was disappointing was Rami Malek’s character, Lyutsifer Safin. Maybe Rami Malek was disappointing, too! I came into this movie expecting to see a certain amount of screen-time for Rami Malek, but instead I didn’t get enough of it. Like when you go to Starbucks, you order a venti size and you get a short sized drink (bet you didn’t know Starbucks had a “short” size, too, eh?), it’s just not enough and not what I was wanting/hoping for! I mean, you get performances like those in Mr. Robot, Bohemian Rhapsody and The Little Things and you kind of, sort of, have certain expectations when you find out his name is tied to this movie. But, I’ll just say that Rami had very little screen time in this Bond flick! What’s more disappointing, depending on who you ask, is the little morsel of screen-time that Christoph Waltz had in this movie. Without spoilers, you’ll see what I mean.

No Time To Die Movie Review

You definitely get some cool, traditional 007 action sequences like bond riding a motorcycle up and down stairs in Italy, some gadgets and guns built into his cars, watch gadgets, the beautiful actors and actresses and characters etc, No Time to Die has all the ingredients of a Bond film, absolutely. However, this particular Bond film felt more like a setup movie. Not in the sense of, like, the Marvel Cinematic Universe sense, but more of, like, the next generation of Bond. 

Daniel Craig has been quoted in the past saying that he’s getting too old to play Bond and now we finally get a chance to witness how this transition plays out. Several times throughout the film there are instances and revelations that make you think to yourself, “Ahhh, I see what they’re doing.They’re setting us up for what’s next.” And it’s certainly not subtle, either. Regardless of how you have felt, or continue to feel, about Daniel Craig playing a blonde-haired, blue-eyed James Bond, this film serves as a good clap-out for Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond. His career experience as James Bond wraps up beautifully, in my opinion. And, for many growing up with modern day Bond films, Daniel Craig is thee James Bond. So, imagine what this generation of Bond fans will think or feel about the next person that gets dealt the role of the famous British spy. Now, what this film also does, is sets the overall idea of what to expect for the next generations of Bond films to come – that 007 is just a number and anyone, male, female, blonde-haired and blue-eye or dark-haired and brown-eyed could assume the identity of 007. Whether that new 007 agent is named James Bond or Jane Bond, don’t discount the idea. 

No Time to Die plays more like a closing chapter in the James Bond lineage, than a typical Bond film with some last minute character development plot twists and revelations and I’m totally fine with that! Aside from hoping that Rami Malek’s character had more screen time and was just a little more menacing than what he really was, No Time to Die was fun, clever, funny and at times even emotional. Gone are the days of James Bond in the past, let us welcome the next generation of Double Agent spies with open arms. 

I can say that I truly have grown with and enjoyed watching Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond and I will truly miss him in this role. Cheers, Mr. Craig. 

No Time to Die premiers exclusively in theaters in the U.S. on October 8th, 2021. Definitely check out this Bond film in theaters, wherever safely possible, of course. No Time To Die Movie Review