BOND IS BACK
Mild Spoilers (by necessity)*
*Please don’t post big spoilers*
NO TIME TO DIE isn’t a five star movie, it has too many faults, but it may be the most courageous Bond movie and is definitely one of the most moving.
It has an excellent first act, a draggy and uneconomical middle that is not without its pleasures, and a third act that can be split into two aspects: an emotional arc that pays off nicely, and a spy/plot/mission arc that is unsatisfying because handled badly.
It’s as though the film-makers were pushing against the idea of actually making a Bond movie.
It’s two and a half hours, but feels like its first cut was three hours. Some scenes end prematurely, some chases are over too quickly, and the end features a villain who disappears from the story, as though he is just waiting in the wings for his next cue. Maybe the first cut three hour version (if it exists) should have been released.
Rami Malek’s Lyutsifer Safin is served badly by the script / editing. What does Safin actually want, why is he so interested in Bond, who is funding him? Why does he keep popping up at the right time according to the needs of the plot? Does he have supernatural powers? Who is he? Where did he go during the all important bad guy showdown at the end?
The emotional arc is played nicely and Craig handles it well, and it is here the film finds its heart, its brain and its courage. The emotional arc is what people will be talking about - and what gives the film its power - rather than the spy/plot/mission arc.
Hans Zimmer’s score is very good, and I have come to love the Billy Eilish song, which fits in seamlessly, but it is the judicious use of OHMSS’ We Have All Time In The World that lights up the narrative and gives the film additional meaning. It is used three times, as a musical theme within another track in the opening, Bond says the title as a line of dialogue, and the full Louis Armstrong plays at the end. Beautiful.
There are two remarkable Bond images in the third act: one, where, when walking past the end of a circular underground tunnel, Bond turns and shoots an enemy soldier, the composition of the shot mirroring and paying homage to the famous gun-barrel title image; and two, where a lone Bond stands iconically at the top of an island tower against a stunning sky, a child’s toy tucked into his belt.
There’s a sequence in the middle where Bond teams up with American agent, Paloma, played with aplomb by Ana de Armas. It’s excellent. He in tuxedo, she in black party dress. I would happily watch a run of spin-off movies featuring these two.
Cary Fukunaga directs well, except for the choreography of characters in the third. The action sequences are excellent and it’s refreshing to see Bond running out of ammo in the midst of a gunfight and having to pick up weapons from fallen soldiers. Lea Seydoux is surprisingly sullen. Daniel Craig plays Bond with an almost cavalier approach to death in places and this works well. Craig is marvellous through all of it. A pleasure to watch.
