From Gregor Wildermann
In the history of the Bond films, there has never been a scene that fans have had to wait so long for since the trailer. James Bond is on the run in the middle of the Italian city of Matera. In the marketplace, his pursuers circled him in his Aston-Martin DB5. With him the woman he loves, but who also seems to have a bad secret. Then shots crackle at the car. The armor stops the bullets, but death draws closer with every crack of the glass. The camera is now almost physically painfully close. Love or death? Truth or Dare?
The now 25 Bond film begins with this gripping scene NO TIME TO DIE and at the same time ends no less than an era. The lead actor appears after five films Daniel Craig from serving His Majesty. He should and wanted to reinvent the character of James Bond. No less than transferring it to the new millennium. A time when change was urgently needed. Because whenever you talk about one of the most successful film characters in cinema history, it’s not just about a film. Not just a man in a tuxedo and a Walther PPK as a weapon. It’s about world history, a type of man and what identification a film character can trigger. And in times of streaming services even about whether such a film has to be shown in the cinema. All in all, a heavy mortgage that 007 had to lug around with every gig.
NO TIME TO DIE: A dignified farewell
The question of the quality of the new Bond film must therefore almost inevitably be countered with a question: What do you expect from this film, the character? A lot is being asked of James Bond: it should be modern and classic at the same time. It should deliver great franchise cinema for the whole family and still have its own action signature. It should be funny and still solve world crises. It almost seems like an irony of fate when a deadly personalized virus is the threat in the latest film. Didn’t we just experience that every day in everyday life?
NO TIME TO DIE wants a lot in almost three hours of running time, but after the first spectacular third, the balancing act between all the expectations breaks out. In the least, this can be ascribed to Daniel Craig, who is completely absorbed in his character in all scenes. In the case of Lashana Lynch, who, as a twist of the story, inherits his Bond title of Agent 007, gestures and words show how one can gain new sides in the figure. With Paloma, Ana de Armis also delivers a beautiful ironic version of the classic Bond girl, the section of which, despite all the political correctness, lets you look extremely deep. The biggest weak point in this current Bond film is once again its opponent.
Who’s Afraid of the Little Man?
Lyutsifer Satin (portrayed by Rami Malek) unfortunately joins a whole ancestral line of rather weak villains, whose commonality is always psychotic behavior. It is precisely this trait that is always her greatest weakness and therefore as predictable as the question about Bonds Martini. In the case of Safin, who has to laboriously explain his own name, it is not really clear even until the end of the film why he wants to bring the world to the brink.
Since the end of the Cold War, the scriptwriters have again not come up with a really convincing motive. And that continues in this case as well. Taking a deeper look at history, it remains annoying when an action film in 2020 still features one-dimensional characters like the clumsy professor or the stubborn secret service chief. Given its length, “No Time To Die” really wouldn’t have lacked the number of minutes for a different depth.
Location, Location, Location
It also remains incomprehensible why the director Cari Joji Fukunaga (“True Detective”) and Eon Productions so thoughtlessly remove one of the strongest elements of the Bond series from the repertoire. Because the different locations in particular have always been the hallmark of the Bond universe. At the same time, they were not just an end in themselves or beautiful postcards. Whenever cities or country names were faded in on the screen, the viewer had certain images in mind.
What would happen to James Bond in Moscow, Paris, Istanbul or Bangkok? Such metropolises were always a playground on which the experience of the agent Bond became a reflection of his training. In the current film, the locations are unfortunately just arbitrary locations, the properties of which are interchangeable. Jamaica could be Johannesburg, the foggy forest in Norway could also be shot near Nuremberg. And that also applies to another trademark, the cars and gadgets.
Although it is still massively advertised, the vehicles for James Bond are nothing more than four wheels or two wings on the way from A to B. When it comes to the family, James Bond even prefers the Toyota to the Aston-Martin. In the context of the story and the redefinition, this may even make sense in part. But this strange mix of reference and ignorance results in a mix that is always undercooked.
A BBC series like “Bodyguard” on the other hand, proved in 2018 how to do it right. The actor Richard Madden In the role of the same name, showed how a Briton can act emotionally and professionally at the same time. The camera and story put the viewer in the midst of an almost simple story, which nonetheless generated perfect cinema fever. On the other hand, why does James Bond look like the copy when he is actually the original?
Future and today
If you finally look at all the films from the era of fifteen years with Daniel Craig, the verdict on the current film can be a bit milder. In every subsequent film he looked even more intensely for his own role as an agent and private person, retired and came back anyway. The love for Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) even lasted for two films and maybe that’s the real redefinition.
If you see James Bond as a love story with good action scenes, you can live with this mixture. Which actor will re-cast the role of 007 is likely to have news value again, similar to a government question or the election of the Pope. And Daniel Craig made sure in his own way that the mortgage for the next James Bond might be a little easier.
Conclusion: Therefore 6/10 points
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, with Jeffrey Wright, with Christoph Waltz and Ralph Fiennes as “M”.
In other roles: Rory Kinnear, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik and Billy Magnussen
CINEMA RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2021
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