Daniel Craig’s bombastic swan song is as big and electric as any film in this storied franchise.
This is, for my money, the best directed film I have seen all year. I have followed Cary Fukunaga’s career since his inspired turn on Season 1 of True Detective. It has been exciting seeing his career evolve and gratifying that it has culminated in this extravagant love letter to blockbuster cinema. No Time To Die’s exhilarating opening act immediately clued me in that I was in good hands, and made me thankful for the IMAX format. What followed was a fast paced, confident, ride that both paid homage to the historic franchise, while providing an emotional depth to the departing protagonist.
What I have always loved about Craig’s take on Bond was the messiness and imperfection absent from some earlier iterations. He is as confident and stylish as previous Bonds, but he is also a brawler whose methods are often inelegant. Craig brings a pathos and emotional stakes to the historically sleek character. Rami Malek as a Bond villain is almost too perfect, he seems like he was manufactured in a lab to play a Bond villain. Despite that perfect casting, his character left me wanting by the finale. I didn’t feel like his ultimate motivation was clearly defined throughout the film and it left his character feeling flat in the third act. While I liked the casting of Lashana Lynch as well, I thought she wasn’t given enough personality or moments to make me clamor for more stories from that character. The score from Hans Zimmer was another highlight, making the sound as big as this colossal film needs, while still maintaining the emotional punch that he is so famous for.
This was the most fun I’ve had at a theatre all year and a fitting conclusion to one of the best James Bonds of all time. I’m interested to see where the franchise goes after this. I hope they continue to give us new takes on the character and take risks with the narrative. Daniel Craig, Martin Campbell, Sam Mendes, and now Cary Fukunaga have etched there names in cinema history with these films, and I am so grateful to have seen them.
