After 18 months of waiting No Time to Die has finally made it onto the silver screen. The only question remaining is, was it worth the wait? I can assure all of you that absolutely yes it was worth the wait.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) is enjoying his retirement with Madeleine (Léa Seydoux). Despite having left active service, his old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) shows up asking for help. Bond is then led onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with the most dangerous technology in the world. A fitting end to Daniel Craig’s era of James Bond. All his movies have come together (not you Quantum of Solace) to form a great story arc with No Time to Die wrapping up all the loose ends. It’s also far more emotional than I thought it would be and that’s unexpected for a James Bond movie. Craig’s Bond movies did indeed make the character more human and brought the whole franchise to a level more grounded in reality. No ridiculously over the top gadgets or invisible cars. The action sequences and luxurious locations are everything you’d expect in a Bond movie and more. It also has a terrific movie score that calls back to previous Bond movies like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Casino Royale.
Daniel Craig raised the bar when it came to doing his own stunts to a point where the physical toll it’s taken on him was so bad we nearly almost didn’t get one last movie from him. I’m so glad he did decide to take on the role one more time. No Time to Die is a masterpiece, on the same level as Skyfall and further brings Bond away from the cheesy spy movies of the past. It’s also refreshing to see more women characters kicking ass and not just showing up in a bikini to look good for the camera. Lashana Lynch as a new 00 agent was a great addition to the already star studded cast. Ana de Armas was another great choice for a Bond girl and although she doesn’t have much screen time she made an impact. We all know these type of movies are only as good as their villains and Rami Malek is a terrifyingly eerie villain. Giving a scene stealing performance whenever he is on screen. Right I know this is the longest Bond film to date but despite that I didn’t feel this was overly long at all, there’s a lot packed into it. Compared to Spectre where by the time you’ve reached the third act you’re definitely feeling that it’s a long film. No Time to Die used every one of its 2 hours 43 minutes to entertain and pay homage to old school Bond movies.
Daniel Craig is without a doubt my favourite actor to play James Bond, and I’ll go so far as to say he is the best James Bond. His movies reinvented the character and brought new life into an otherwise jaded franchise. No Time to Die is definitely the perfect way to say farewell to Craig as Bond and I will miss him as 007. Whoever they choose to take on the character next has a tough job as the bar is very high and they have some big shoes to fill. The last 18 months has seen the cinema industry struggling greatly to get people back into cinemas and nothing says welcome back to the movies like a new James Bond film. Get yourselves to a cinema and enjoy, highly recommended.
★★★★★
Mad For Movie Reviews 
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