No Time to Die

No Time to Die

Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

  • Released: 2021-09-29
  • Runtime: 163 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Adventure, Thrillers
  • Stars: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear, David Dencik, Brigitte Millar, Dali Benssalah, Eliot Sumner, Michael Herne, Lourdes Faberes, Gordon Alexander, Amor Evans, Lisa-Dorah Sonnet, Maya Khosrowshahi, Safi El Masri, Hugh Dennis, Priyanga Burford, Nicola Olivieri, Pio Amato, Andrei Nova, Coline Defaud, Mathilde Bourbin, Gediminas Adomaitis, Amy Morgan, Lizzie Winkler, Andy Cheung, Hayden Phillips, Joe Grossi, Javone Prince, Rae Lim, Steve Barnett, Tuncay Gunes, Clem So, Denis Khoroshko, Philip Philmar, Raymond Waring, Eliot Sumner, Rod Hunt, Ahmed Bakare, Douglas Bunn, Toby Sauerback, Julian Ferro, David Olawale Ayinde, Zoltan Rencsar, Ross Donnelly, John Farrer, Paul O'Kelly, Michael G. Wilson, Davina Moon, Gediminas Adomaitis
  • Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
 Comments
  • Bernie4444 - 22 May 2024
    An up-to-date Bond movie
    This is another installment of the 25th "official" of the 007 or Bond series. It has all the latest gadgets, Daniel Craig in his fifth Bond appearance, and the same old plot. In fact, you have seen this plot many times, but it has been Bondified for this movie. There are good people and bad people; you cannot tell which is which until they act or react.

    We have love, bullets, and chases. Naturally somewhere in there is the statement "Time to die." And many people do. Will bond finally get his Up-and-come'ns?

    This was filmed in several places such as Scotland, Norway, Faroe Islands, and Jamaica.

    Unfortunately, there will be more bonds but not better Bonds.
  • Zooha-47207 - 16 February 2024
    A Bond Film with Depth and Drama
    No Time to Die, the latest installment in the James Bond series, garners a respectable 7/10 for its attempt to infuse depth and complexity into the classic spy narrative. This film stands out for its emotional depth and character development, alongside the expected thrills of a Bond movie.

    The film delves deeper into James Bond's character than many of its predecessors, offering a more personal and emotionally resonant story. This approach adds a layer of depth to the film, making it more than just an action-packed spy thriller. The exploration of Bond's relationships and vulnerabilities brings a new dimension to the character, which is both refreshing and intriguing.

    The action sequences in No Time to Die are, as expected, spectacular and well-choreographed. They provide the high-octane excitement that fans of the series crave, while the narrative ensures these moments are more than just visual spectacles. The film successfully balances intense action with its more dramatic elements.

    However, despite its strengths, No Time to Die doesn't quite reach the heights of some of the more iconic films in the Bond series. While it makes bold choices in its storytelling, not all these choices may resonate with traditional Bond fans, which is reflected in the 7/10 rating.
  • thajose - 29 November 2023
    Best James Bond Movie in a Long Time
    I've been watching James Bond movies since I was a little kid, and at this point, that makes 4 decades. While I find something to enjoy about every Bond film, at a certain point, most of the Bond movies becomes wash, rinse, repeat. Bond basically goes on a mission, gets a hot chick or three, fights some bad guys, saves the world. This is pretty much the plot to almost every Bond film ever made, with a few rare exceptions.

    "No Time to Die" is one of those rare exceptions. I understand that people like the traditional Bond formula (so do I, it is an entertaining formula) however, there are 20 something other Bond movies that offer that. "No Time to Die" offers something different, something that moves the story forward. There are elements here that have never been done in a Bond film before. These new elements give much more weight to the decisions that Bond has to make, and adds a lot more depth to the character. This movie also gives Daniel Craig's James Bond a definitive arc that made me appreciate all of his Bond movies even more. His Bond movies now seem like a cohesive story, rather than one-off adventures where James Bond will be played by a new actor after a few years.

    One thing I thought was interesting - the weapon plot of this movie is so similar to the "Fighting American: Dogs of War" comic book mini-series from the early 2000s, that I thought the writers must have been reading those comic books for inspiration. Probably strictly a coincidence, however the similarities are really strong.

    I regret I didn't see this in theaters. I can't remember a Bond movie that left me thinking about it days after I saw it. I also can't remember the last Bond movie I saw that I enjoyed this much. Hats off to the cast and crew who made this film.
  • pauljrutter - 2 January 2023
    It Would Have Lost The Plot...If It Had One.
    Like so many, I really wanted this movie to work. But it had very little to offer except for some great special effects. The best part of the film was when that British comedian gets shot. Something was missing from this movie - maybe quality in the writers, the director perhaps...there just wasn't any plot. It was simply all over the place and didn't help the audience follow where it was going. Can't fault the actors - Craig was excellent...but then they can only perform what's been written and what they're told to follow. Some will say this movie was great (as always) but I just couldn't get into it and losing Felix Leiter and Bond pretty much summed it up.
  • andrewdyer1 - 26 December 2022
    Exciting, action packed, Craig's final Bond.
    Daniel Craig signs off with his final Bond movie No time to die an epic, relentless action thriller, which throws everything at the viewer, No Time to die wants to entertain you, thrill you, even move you to tears, it does most things very well, but one thing didn't work, Rami Malek, his character was overdone, the epitome of the Bond villain, for a modern audience I thought he was overplayed. Best of all, that supercharged ending, it had the room in tears. Lea Seydoux was incredibly good as Madeleine, many fans will never forget her! You can't read a movie page or magazine without speculation as to who's next, but Bond continues, regardless of actor.

    Re watched 12.24.22.
  • ralph-41 - 14 November 2022
    One of the few Bond films made for adults
    We haven't had many James Bond films that ventured beyond comic book tropes; too many ventured in the other direction and even became comic as in comical.

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service was an early example of a grown up depiction of Bond as a genuine, emotion-afflicted human being. We didn't see this kind of thing again until Timothy Dalton took over the role. And after that, not again until Daniel Craig's portrayal.

    But even considering those previous exceptions, Daniel Craig's Bond has been less two dimensional than that of any of his predecessors. For the first time there has been a genuine sense of continuity between successive episodes. In his world, as in ours, actions have consequences and people have mixed motivations. It was only fitting in my opinion that the final film in this sequence had Bond sacrifice his life for someone he cared about. I actually felt something at the end of this story and overall, for me at least, this was the best film of the franchise since it first began back in the 1960s. There seem to be lots of people here who didn't like it but it's clear from what they've written about it that the problem lies with them. They only want spectacle, they care nothing for drama.
  • adamjohns-42575 - 21 October 2022
    "Who throws a shoe?"
    No Time To Die (2021) -

    Well! I've really had to rethink what I thought I knew about James Bond films after seeing this one. 'Casino Royale' (2006) may have established Daniel Craig in the role and done a very good job at bringing the franchise up to date and even 'Quantum Of Solace' (2008) wasn't a bad film in comparison to those that preceded Mr Craig, but I really fell in love with 'Skyfall', (2012), probably for its diversion from the standard 007 flick and it's inclusion of the relationship he had with M (Dame Judi Dench). 'Spectre' (2015) didn't really wow me however, but I still enjoyed it far more than all of the films featuring Bond's other incarnations. As such I didn't rush to watch 'No Time To Die' because I'd heard that it was mucked about too much as a result of COVID-19, so to find out that it was absolutely fantastic was a huge and pleasant surprise to me. I would say that it was the most "Traditional Bond" of the latest 5 films, but it still managed to maintain that updated momentum that had been brought since 'Casino Royale' by blending only the best of the old, with the new.

    I have recently watched the 'Bourne' (2002-16) and 'Mission: Impossible' (1996-) collections all the way through and I can honestly say, with my hand on my heart, that they will never compare with this Bond quintet. The producers and writers worked some kind of magic in to these stories and enough that I think they will always be recognised as a turning point for the James Bond films as a whole. These 5 will surely always be used as a yardstick with which to measure the agents success in the future.

    And it's difficult to consider what is to come from the same people, especially without knowing who will take the place of the gorgeous man, with those beautiful blue eyes, but I'm not sure that they will ever be able to replicate the work they've done in these films again, because it will never be as fresh and Ian Fleming's stories can only be recycled so much. I'm hoping to be proved wrong though.

    While I really did appreciate this film in the series and in it's own right it was probably the best of the five, I couldn't mark it on my list as highly as 'Skyfall' purely because I enjoyed that one so much, but also because without the first four films, a lot of this story wouldn't have made much sense. I did think that it had something over and above 'Casino Royale' though.

    There were lots of recurring characters and references to those films that had been and gone, which I liked, because it kept a continuity for those of us that had enjoyed the other four films, although I could have easily enjoyed an entirely new adventure too. And what I really liked about this one, was the clever way that they wrapped this James' story and made references to the fact that 007 is just a number and anyone can take on the mantle. I do hope that the franchise will continue, but I hope they can do it the justice it deserves and bring something new to it that we didn't know it needed and without changing it too drastically. Spy films are definitely not my go to genre, but these were so accessible, with a star quality all of their own. Too many changes and they may lose that X factor.

    I would imagine that the man who wore those well fitted trousers so well would be happy with how his tenure was brought to a close too, because Daniel deserved a good final fight. It proved so many things to me about the type of personality he had brought to James and what that version would do to save the world and I loved the nods to George Lazenby's film that also utilised Louis Armstrongs fantastic 'We Have All The Time In The World', while I've already forgotten the theme song to this one. That would be one of my biggest criticisms of these films. Apart from Adele's 'Skyfall', none of the theme songs stood out at all, yet 'Goldfinger' and 'Nobody Does It Better' still feature on my playlists.

    If I were to criticise anything else, it would be that this film was quite long, although that seemed appropriate for the content, I did start to drift off and get a bit lost at times, because there was a lot to take in or to remember from the previous films. If I hadn't seen them all so recently, I might have struggled, but that's probably more to do with my Brandy addled cognitive functions than the film.

    Personally, I didn't think that Freddie Mercury could be so evil until I saw what he got up to in this film and while Rami (Not really Fred) did a good job, it was hard to separate him from the stellar performance he gave in 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (2018), because there wasn't much about his delivery here that differed from it.

    Ralph Fiennes was starting to look a bit like a combination of the older M's (Bernard Lee & Robert Brown) from the earlier Bond films, but at least he wasn't being Voldemort in this one. I do rate him very highly, but I find that he can easily slip in to that character in some of his work. He was superb in 'A Bigger Splash' (2015). It's well worth a watch just for his dancing.

    I also thought that it was a lovely dress that Paloma (Ana de Armas) was nearly wearing and I enjoyed her awesome moves too. I think that the film needed a real kick ass feminine presence actually, because the new girl at MI6, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), looked like she was happy to save the world as long as she was back by 3 to pick up the kids.

    And, as a gay man (I hate saying that), I also liked the fact that Q's (Ben Whishaw) LGBTQ+ nature was not intrusive to the plot. He was a valuable presence for the community to have representation in the film, but his sexuality had no impact on the actual story. Nobody needed to see an emotional coming out scene from him or a bullying in the workplace subplot in a James Bond film, that wasn't what we turned up for. It might have been nice to see Mr. Craig snogging some hot guy to get some answers in one scene somewhere, but maybe the next guy will bring that, like when Christopher Eccleston's 'Doctor Who' (2005-) showed his fluidity by dancing with Captain Jack Harkness.

    Overall, I think this film really ticked all of the boxes. Even my Mother managed to stay awake AND focussed on it, which said a lot.

    If you like Bond or action films in general, this had all you need.

    955.13/1000.