A final outing for Daniel Craig as 007

Munya Chimanye Youth Interactive Writer

Closing the curtain on his 15 year tenure as international superspy James Bond, Daniel Craig returned to cinema for one last mission in ‘No Time To Die’ under the direction of Cary Joji Fukunaga.

The film released a year later than originally planned due to delays in production and COVID-19 threatening to harm its performance in cinemas; however, the wait for Craig’s fifth outing as Bond only helped increase the excitement.

The eponymous original song performed by Billie Eilish managed to match up to its predecessors by Alicia Keys, Adele and Sam Smith, setting a sultry and somber tone for the movie offset with well-timed instances of comic relief that were missing from previous films.

Juxtaposed to the pace of previous Bond films that presented Craig preoccupied with parkour pursuits in Namibia or car chases in Italy, ‘No Time To Die’ begins with Bond’s principal love interest in previous outing ‘Spectre’, Madeleine Swann’s (Lea Seydoux) introspection, setting up her spotty connection to Rami Malek’s rendition of a Bond villain, Safin, who we can only recognize as man in the Japanese hattori mask at the earlier stages in the film.

Swann and Bond on the run from the consortium of supervillains, the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, or SPECTRE, find themselves in the South of Italy chasing the ghosts of their pasts; Bond is forced to disburden the loss of former lover, Vesper Lynn (Eva Green), from ‘Casino Royale’, a surprising amount of emotional maturity from the oft rigid superspy, leading to the inevitable action sequences and car chases for which one comes to watch a James Bond film.

After a suspicious instance of sabotage at Lynn’s grave, followed by a quintessential Bond car chase featuring explosive spikes released by the push a button and the classic machine guns in the headlights of Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 while he performs donuts, shooting assailants in 360 degrees, Bond leaves Swann with a promise that she will never see him again and retires to Jamaica, inviting a five year time skip.

Invitation accepted and accounted for, Bond becomes reacquainted with his old friend from from the CIA and series recurring character Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) for whom he tracks down the final remnants of SCEPTRE; followed closely behind by the MI6’s new 007, the charismatically domineering female presence that is Nomi (Lashana Lynch).

A special mention must go to  Ana de Armas and her character Paloma, whose “three weeks of training” and comic relief produced a well choreographed scene with high energy and chemistry accompanying Craig to uncover more of the plot, although ultimately a very short scene.

Chasing down mysterious superweapon Herecles, Leiter finds his cameo cut short in the film, as he gets killed just 20 minutes or so after being reintroduced; this loss resonates with Craig’s Bond, as he becomes more involved in the mission to unmask Safin and the viewer becomes more involved in the film.

Bond reunites with the Bond batch, including Ralph Fiennes’ M, Naomie Harris’ Miss Moneypenny and everyone’s favourite character, Q (Ben Whishaw).

As the plot unfolds climaxing at his admittance of guilt, it becomes apparent that M, in a bid to create a foolproof weapon, was ultimately responsible for the production of Herecles: nanobots that can travel through the air; target the DNA of a specific individual but is also fatal for anyone that shares said DNA; and finally has no cure.

An unexpected surprise springs itself on viewers in the form of Madeleine Swann harboring Bond’s progeny, about four years-old in the film, introducing the dynamic of Bond with something dear to protect.

Malek’s Safin, although armed with a most catastrophic weapon, still does not strike the fear that one would expect of a Bond villain.

The inspiration behind his vengeful character arc rings as juvenile, overall making his reveal underwhelming compared to SPECTRE’s head honcho Ernst Stavro Blofeld who features in the film getting underneath Bond’s skin just as he did the previous film.

Safin’s lair boasts the bluster of a full island, equipped with a bomb shelter and a lab where he manages to mass-manufacture Herecles, as well as, hold both Swann and her daugh

The film ends with a fitting goodbye to Daniel Craig: monologuing to his family while facing off a missile launch, content with his illustrious career as the only man standing between the collapse of civilization on five different occasions.