‘No Time to Die’ is a nearly perfect send-off for Daniel Craig as Bond

Posted on October 15, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

I was never a huge James Bond fan growing up. To be more precise, I liked the character of Bond and the ideas behind him more than I did sitting down and actually watching one of his movies. As such, I really haven’t seen many of the classic Bond films, and most of the ones I did see as a kid or teenager were the Pierce Brosnan chapters hitting theaters at the time.

Then came 2004’s “Casino Royale,” starring Daniel Craig which purposefully tried to strip away the campiness that had permeated many of the previous installments in exchange for a grittier take on the British spy with a license to kill. (It was also a clear attempt to capture some of the excitement of “The Bourne Identity” franchise, which first hit theaters two years earlier.

“Casino Royale” is my favorite Bond movie, but as I just said, I don’t have a full perspective of the entire franchise.

Now, 17 years later (and 17 months after it was originally intended) we have Craig’s fifth and final outing as Bond: “No Time to Die.” Craig’s tenure as Bond has had its ups and down, alternating between great outings (“Casino Royal” and “Skyfall”) and disappointments (“Quantum of Solace” and, to a lesser extent, “Spectre”).

“No Time to Die” continues that pattern and sends Craig out with an installment that might not be the best “Bond” movie of the bunch, but just might be the best overall film of the five.

By that, I mean we’ve come to expect Bond movies will provide high-flying action with a suave leading man who drinks “shaken, not stirred” martinis, meets beautiful women and kills lots of bad guys while looking cool the whole time. It’s summer popcorn entertainment with style.

“No Time to Die” delivers most of that, but it also gives us a deeper, more intense outing with Bond that builds on everything that has come before in the previous four movies to get something out of me that I can’t say has ever happened before in a “Bond” movie — emotional investment.

Subscribe to our e-Edition and read the rest of the story. Already a subscriber? Click here to sign in.