'No Time to Die' Movie Review: A befitting goodbye to Craig’s Bond

A still from No Time to Die

No Time to Die
U/A: Action, adventure
Dir: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux
Rating: 3/5

Daniel Craig's fifth and final 007 action thriller has James Bond getting lured out of retirement and back into MI6 service. The tranquil life he enjoyed in Jamaica has been brought to an end with talk of betrayal and a call back from old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) from the CIA and another named Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen). The mission assigned to him is to rescue a kidnapped Russian scientist, who turns out to be slippery and diabolical and hand in glove with a mysterious villain armed with a dangerous new technology. The storyline for this one has historic connections with Spectre (2015) and Skyfall (2012). So, this experience would be satisfying only if you are in the know of that.

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Director Cary Joji Fukunaga sets the pace agog with a flashback opening sequence with Madelieine Swann (Léa Seydoux) and then catches up with Bond and Swann in Italy where he visits the grave of a woman that haunts him - only to have it explode in his face. That is thereafter served up with an extended chase and shoot-out sequence. A bit of competitive challenge with his new 007 colleague named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and his expanding distrust of M (Ralph Fiennes) is balanced off with Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) helping him behind the scenes.

This 25th instalment, the first to be directed by an American, has assured action coupled with sensitive interludes, but there's way too much plot and far too many characters doing duty. So, memorability is a problem even though, this is Craig's avowed swansong. The narrative is uneven and unwieldy, there's some stray action brilliance and involved human connectedness but the protracted and convoluted angle to the villainy makes it all feel a little overdone. Bond is no longer infallible.

He has trust issues, is at war with himself while fending off star villains in the style he has been accustomed to. This is the most humane and tender portrait of Bond we have seen and it comes at a time when the end is obviously (as the title suggests) close at hand. There are quite a few talented supporting performers marking their presence here and that's a pity really. Regardless of the overpopulated narrative, the uneven plotting and stuttered pacing, there's still enough to whet the appetite of a diehard Bond fan. Hans Zimmer's score and Linus Sandgren's camerawork add the required zing to the thrills whenever called upon!

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