movie review 007

‘No Time to Die’ Review: Daniel Craig’s Bond Gets the Send-Off He Deserves in the Series’ Best Entry Since ‘Casino Royale’

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga fuses all the elements of a good 007 adventure, including that ineffable touch of soul.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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“ No Time to Die ” is a terrific movie: an up-to-the-minute, down-to-the-wire James Bond thriller with a satisfying neoclassical edge. It’s an unabashedly conventional Bond film that’s been made with high finesse and just the right touch of soul, as well as enough sleek surprise to keep you on edge.

Before I go further, though, let me lay my baccarat cards on the table. I thought “Casino Royale,” the first film in which Daniel Craig portrayed 007, was the greatest Bond film since the early Sean Connery days, and in many ways the most perfectly realized Bond movie ever. (I’ve seen it countless times, and it’s one of my favorite films of its era.) To me, the trio of Bond films that came after “Casino Royale” have added up to one of the most profoundly disappointing follow-throughs of any contemporary film series. “Quantum of Solace” was all trumped-up mechanics, “Spectre” was an elaborate piece of product that went through the motions ­— and “Skyfall,” though I realize many Bond watchers think it’s a masterpiece, was, to me, sodden and overstated, with a meta-hammy megalomaniac performance by Javier Bardem and a backstory to Bond that was maudlin with self-pity. The film was trying to be “emotional,” but that poor-little-spy-boy origin story didn’t enlarge Bond — it diminished him.

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The truth is that so many elements of what the Bond films originally brought to cinema have been incorporated into other film series — the “Mission: Impossible” films, the “Bourne” films, the “Fast and Furious” films — that to create a first-rate Bond adventure, something more is required. You need an ingenious weave of elements: the perfect layered rhythm of brashly timed fights and great escapes and bedazzling chases and delectable quips and cool gadgets and sexy one-upmanship and the ultimate in world-domination stakes. “No Time to Die,” at 2 hours and 43 minutes, is the longest Bond film ever, yet it’s brisk and heady and sharp. The director, Cary Joji Fukunaga (HBO’s “True Detective”), keeps the elements in balance like an ace juggler. He gets the details right — the split-second leaping-off-the-balcony action scenes, the menace of an assassin with a vagrant mechanical eyeball, the persnickety droll fun of Ben Whishaw’s performance as Q.

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Beyond that, though, there needs to be a touch of mystery to Bond. That’s the quality that “Casino Royale” brought back to the series through its fantastically tricky dramatization of the relationship between Craig’s fast, steely, roughneck Bond and Eva Green’s insinuating Vesper Lynd. And “No Time to Die,” though it’s not the work of art “Casino Royale” was, possesses just enough of that quality. Ideally, there’s a romance to a James Bond movie ­— I don’t just mean a love story, but a romance to Bond’s presence, a grander motive behind the ruthless execution of his every move. “No Time to Die” has that.

In the introductory sequence, we see Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine as a young girl and the cataclysm she endured at the hands of a man in a white mask who came to her house to kill her father — who was a member of SPECTRE, and had murdered the masked man’s family. So Madeleine, in her way, has emerged from a chain of vengeance. Then we cut to Bond and the adult Madeleine cruising through the mountain roads of Italy in his Aston Martin. When Madeleine tells him to drive faster, he says they’ve got all the time in the world.

But the idyll is short-lived, as SPECTRE agents hunt them down. How did they know Bond was there? In the midst of some razory action, the most riveting moment is one of pure inaction : Bond brings the gizmo-laden car to a stop in the middle of a town square, a dozen gunmen firing right at him, blasting away at his bullet-proof windows. The windows don’t look that secure, yet Bond does nothing. He’s telling Madeleine, through his silent passive fury: “I know you led them here. I know you betrayed me. Who cares if we live or die?” “No Time to Die” is a popcorn riff on the theme of fatal trust.

That theme gets played out on a grand scale. Bond, drawn back into action, joins forces with the CIA and heads to Santiago de Cuba, where SPECTRE is holding a kind of underworld convention, all built around the criminal cult’s stolen possession of Project Heracles — a chemical weapons project in which the biohazard in question poisons you by injecting your bloodstream with nanobots, which become vehicles for toxifying your DNA, which can then be spread. The contagion element, as conceived in the script, predated COVID (since the film was ready to be released last year), but it acquires a queasy topical resonance, especially when we learn that M (Ralph Fiennes), glowering with anxiety, has a darker agenda than usual. In the old days, Project Heracles could have emerged only from a villainous mastermind. Now it’s a power that the good guys want in their possession. In “No Time to Die,” the whole global order is tainted, which makes Bond even more of a rogue operator.

In Cuba, Bond hooks up with his old CIA colleague Felix Leiter, played with his usual stalwart gusto by Jeffrey Wright, and with Paloma (Ana de Armas), an agent in a slip of a black cocktail dress who turns out to be less naïve than she says. Here’s a place where the film is downright debonair in its cleverness: The espionage logistics between Bond and Paloma are so impeccably timed that they give off a ripe erotic charge — but in the old days, these two would have dropped right into bed. The fact that they don’t deprives the film of nothing; if anything, it’s all hotter as a flippant flirtation. Billy Magnussen, who is such a sly actor, is also on hand as a grinning stooge of a CIA novice who’s a “fan” of Bond’s, until he isn’t.

Craig, his hair chopped into a bristle cut, has mastered the art of making Bond a seemingly invincible force who is also a human being with hidden vulnerabilities. There’s another scene that, decades ago, would have been a seduction — but is now a far more nonchalant encounter between Bond and Nomi (Lashana Lynch), an up-and-coming MI6 agent who has been assigned the codename of…007. For a moment, we look at Lashana Lynch, who makes every line sparkle with a kind of dry sauciness, and think: Could this be the new — the next — James Bond? But the interplay between Nomi and Bond tells a story of its own. It is, on some level, about Bond making way for the new world. The trick is, he’s more than ready to go there. And the film, in a kind of bait-and-switch, is both offering up an honestly progressive piece of casting and winking at our heightened awareness of how much the Bond series could use it.

“No Time to Die,” at heart, is a traditional Bond film, and that’s part of its pleasure. But it’s not just the running time that feels more epic than usual. The movie wants to do full justice to the emotional thrust of this being Daniel Craig’s exit from the series. And it does. The main story is set five years after that opening sequence, when Bond and Madeleine have parted ways. They’re reunited through Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), now a in a padded cell in London, where he’s more Hannibal Lecter than jabbering loony; yet he hasn’t lost his ability to control. Madeleine is a psychiatrist who has access to Blofeld, and when she and Bond meet again, it’s so that Bond can have a face-to-face with the villain he put behind bars. In his one major scene, Waltz invests Blofeld with a more exquisite menace than he did in all of “Spectre.” Blofeld is two steps ahead of Bond, even though his bio-weapon is a step ahead of him.

The film’s main villain is Rami Malek as Lyutsifer Safin, who made his presence felt in the movie before we even knew it. Malek, with mottled skin, an all-seeing leer, and the caressing voice of a depraved monk, makes him a hypnotic creep. (He could give Bardem a master class in how to underplay the overstatement.) Safin has, of course, headquartered himself on a remote island, which is where he’s perfecting his poison and everything he plans to do with it. The setting, and the chem-lab ickiness, are very “You Only Live Twice,” but what’s so good about Malek’s performance is the obscene way that he inserts his presence into the drama of Bond, Madeleine, and Madeline’s young daughter, Mathilde. Bond is there to save the world; he’s there to save Madeleine and Mathilide; he’s there to save himself. Can he do all three? What happens in the climactic scene feels poetic: Bond, in a strange way, takes on the karma of all the people he has killed. I never thought I’d wipe away a tear at the end of a James Bond movie, but “No Time to Die” fulfills its promise. It finishes off the saga of Craig’s 007 in the most honestly extravagant of style.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, New York, Sept. 28, 2021. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 163 MIN.

• Production: A United Artists release of a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Eon Productions production. Producers: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Executive producer: Chris Brigham.
• Crew: Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga. Screenplay: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Camera: Linus Sandgren. Editors: Elliot Graham, Tom Cross. Music: Hans Zimmer.
• With: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Billy Magnussen, Christoph Waltz, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear.

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Daniel craig in cary fukunaga’s ‘no time to die’: film review.

James Bond gets lured out of retirement and back into MI6 service when a new threat to the world and to someone he loves surfaces in Craig’s fifth and final 007 action thriller.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Anyone who has developed an attachment to the grit and gravitas, the coiled physicality and brooding demeanor that Daniel Craig has brought to the reinvigorated James Bond franchise, starting in 2006 with Casino Royale , will feel a surge of raw feeling in the devastating closing act of his fifth and final appearance in the role in No Time to Die .

The 25th installment in the venerable 007 series is the first to be directed by an American, Cary Joji Fukunaga , who handles the action with assurance and the more intimate interludes with sensitivity, never forgetting that there’s a wounded, vulnerable human being beneath the licensed-to-kill MI6 agent. The uneven movie’s big issue, however, is that the path to Craig’s momentous departure is drowning in plot; it’s so convoluted and protracted you might find yourself zoning out through much of the villainy.

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Release date : Thursday, Sept. 30 (U.K.), Friday, Oct. 8 (U.S.) Cast : Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes Director : Cary Joji Fukunaga Screenwriters : Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Even so, it’s doubtful that this will be a deal-breaker for many Bond completists — especially given that the worldwide appetite for the high-speed chases, thundering explosions, gunfire, fight scenes and breathtaking stunt work that are abundant staples of every 007 thriller has been heightened by repeat delays from its original April 2020 release date. Even if the two-and-three-quarter hour running time is occasionally a slog, it ultimately delivers.

Viewed within the context of Craig’s tenure, No Time to Die certainly allows the actor to dig deeper on the rewarding character work he’s been doing since his 21st century reinvention of the role. Previous incarnations of Ian Fleming’s British secret agent have been defined by the sexy swagger, the arched eyebrow and the cool, calm composure even in the hairiest of situations, that glib characterization growing particularly tired in the Roger Moore years.

Craig has steadily minimized those more caricatured aspects as he explored the interiority of a man haunted by loss — notably of Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale and Judi Dench’s M in Skyfall — and at war with his own trust issues. He’s also fighting against time, as the new film’s title implies. Another crushing loss awaits him in No Time to Die , well before his final reckoning. But what’s notable here is that this is arguably the most tender portrait of James Bond we’ve ever seen; the emotional stakes are raised by a love that’s far more than the usual passing flirtation.

Just as Vesper stirred something in James’ world-weary heart and then shattered it in betrayal, the romance with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) that began in Spectre evolves here into a potential escape from a life in which he’s constantly looking over his shoulder. The revelation of a secret more than halfway through the movie only intensifies his soulful surrender to the possibility of a personal fulfillment that Bond perhaps never believed was within his grasp.

But in order to fire on all cylinders, James Bond needs a worthy adversary, a seductive, viciously witty villain on the level of, say, Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre in Casino Royale , or Javier Bardem’s Silva in Skyfall . It’s significant that those two films remain the towering standouts of Craig’s self-contained 007 pentalogy, the latter especially.

Regular franchise screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are joined by Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who was brought in to punch up the humor and help drag Bond into the post-#MeToo age. This is all done with sufficient class and subtlety that only those who remain nostalgic for the serial bed-hopping and unapologetic sexual objectification of the Sean Connery years are likely to feel cheated. But what the writers haven’t done is create a memorable villain.

While Skyfall was the first entry to dip into Bond’s early trauma, Spectre got mired in ploddingly familiar territory by investing more heavily in that Bond origin story, giving his arch nemesis Blofeld ( Christoph Waltz ) a grudge that dated back to childhood. Sorry, but James Bond is not Batman. Blofeld resurfaces here in a maximum-security British prison from which he’s still using his influence in the criminal world, his primary aim being the elimination of Bond. Their one face-to-face encounter occurs when Blofeld is rolled out on one of production designer Mark Tildesley’s more elaborate sets, an escape-proof glass enclosure that makes Hannibal Lecter’s security measures look like kids’ stuff.

But the real criminal mastermind here is Safin ( Rami Malek ), who has continued to develop biohazardous weaponry programs initiated by the Spectre organization and has a typically maniacal scheme to unleash them on the world. Not that his evil plan is ever laid out with much lucidity.

The more interesting aspect of Safin is his decades-old connection to Madeleine, which is revealed early on in a gripping scene from her childhood in the Norwegian backwoods. The hold Safin feels he has over her puts him into direct conflict with Bond over something personal — beyond the usual generic agenda of wiping out entire populations. But Craig and Malek are not allowed enough establishing screen time together to give that conflict real teeth. Safin has a cool look, right out of a Yamamoto fashion shoot, and a penchant for Noh masks to hide his pizza-faced complexion. But as a villain, he’s no fun, and Malek can’t do much to make him memorable.

In fact, by far the coolest thing about Safin is his island lair, a high-tech laboratory compound built in an old missile silo and submarine dock, complete with a poisoned garden in a concrete courtyard sanctuary. This setting for the film’s climactic action recalls the fabulous creations of the late production designer Ken Adam for the Bond films of the 1960s and ’70s.

As always, the international locations provide plenty of travel porn, starting with the ancient town of Matera in southern Italy, where James’ assurance to Madeleine, “We have all the time in the world,” proves short-lived. This yields the first of Fukunaga’s big action set pieces, involving a death-defying leap off an aqueduct, motorcycles flying over cobbled streets and steps, and a hail of bullets raining down on James and Madeleine in his shiny new Aston Martin as church bells chime in the piazza. The fact that James was traced there by Spectre makes him instantly suspicious of Madeleine, separating them for a large stretch of the story.

Five years later, he’s officially retired from MI6, living the leisurely life of a fisherman in Jamaica when his old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) asks for his help to trace a kidnapped Russian scientist (David Dencik), believed to be in Cuba. James reluctantly agrees, finding himself rubbing shoulders during an explosive Spectre gathering with his MI6 replacement, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), who tells him, “I have a thing for old wrecks.” He also gets teamed up with CIA agent Paloma (Ana de Armas), who claims to have only three weeks’ training but reveals the skills of a kickass agent. Both Nomi and Paloma are promising additions to the Bond universe, and the swift exit of de Armas once the action moves on from Cuba is a real disappointment. The character begs for a recurring role in future installments.

Just as James is torn by the secrets and ambiguities of his relationship with Madeleine, his frayed ties to MI6 also add texture to the drama. The new M (Ralph Fiennes) has somewhat soured on Bond, feeling the world has moved on and the agency needs to move on with it, and M’s rash choice of collaborators threatens to bring the whole organization down on their heads. But the loyalty of Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) helps bring Bond back into the fold and equip him with new gadgets. Even Nomi ends up in his corner, after getting off to a rough start that eventually comes around to mutual respect.

In a delightful scene that plays like a Waller-Bridge touch, Bond and Moneypenny descend on Q at home with his two hairless cats, just as he’s preparing dinner for a male date; that nod to the fastidious inventor’s sexuality is dropped in with refreshing economy. The genuine affection between Bond and Q here seems no less warm than his bond with Moneypenny, in contrast to the more businesslike terms of his relationship with M and chief of staff Tanner (Rory Kinnear).

The portrait of a professional family — frequently exasperated by but just as often abetting the rogue decision-making of its star agent — is among the new film’s chief pleasures, adding poignancy to the awareness that Craig and his immaculately tailored Tom Ford tuxes are officially signing out. It’s a nice touch, too, that behind the teasing banter between James and Nomi, he shows welcome notes of humility with her, even an unexpected deferential side. And the depth of feeling in Craig’s scenes with Seydoux adds considerable weight to the emotional payoff.

Regardless of the plotting deficiencies and occasional pacing lags, there’s plenty here for diehard Bond fans to savor, with a frisson of excitement every time Hans Zimmer’s stirring score sneaks in a few bars of Monty Norman’s classic original Bond theme. It may not rank up there with Skyfall , but it’s a moving valedictory salute to the actor who has left arguably the most indelible mark on the character since Connery.

Full credits

Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear, David Dencik, Ana de Armas, Billy Magnussen, Dali Benssalah Production companies: Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Distributor: United Artists Releasing Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga Screenwriters: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge Story: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, based on the James Bond novels and stories by Ian Fleming and the James Bond movies produced by Danjaq and its predecessors Producers: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli Executive producer: Chris Brigham Director of photography: Linus Sandgren Production designer: Mark Tildesley Costume designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb Music: Hans Zimmer, Steve Mazzaro Editors: Elliot Graham, Tom Cross Special effects supervisor: Chris Corbould Visual effects supervisor: Charlie Noble Casting: Debbie McWilliams

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No Time to Die First Reviews: A Spectacularly Fitting Sendoff for Daniel Craig's 007

Critics say the latest bond film is a worthy swan song for its longest-running star, with breathtaking action and a surprisingly emotional finale that might catch fans off guard..

TAGGED AS: 007 , Action , blockbusters , Film , films , james bond , movie , movies

It’s been six years since the release of the last James Bond movie, Spectre , which received the lowest Tomatometer score of Daniel Craig’ s run of the franchise. That means anticipation is very high and very demanding for the 25th installment, No Time to Die . Fortunately, reviews of the 007 sequel, which is also Craig’s last, claim it more than delivers. This Bond has all the action and cosmopolitan flair that fans expect while also offering a lot of unique twists on the character and his mythology. Unfortunately, it does seem to have a villain problem.

Here’s what critics are saying about No Time To Die :

So, mission accomplished?

“Raise a martini — it was worth the wait.” – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

“Worth the wait… I enjoyed it tremendously as a James Bond fan.” – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo

“ No Time to Die  exceeds all expectations.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“ No Time to Die  is a disappointment but not a soul-killing whiff akin to  Spectre .” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Is it one of the better Daniel Craig installments?

“Possibly the best film of the Craig era.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“ No Time To Die is Daniel Craig’s best incarnation.” – Jason Solomons, The Wrap

“It’s the third-best Daniel Craig Bond outing.” – Deirdre Molumby, entertainment.ie

“It might not hit the  Skyfall  and  Casino Royale  heights, but it’s a marked improvement on  Spectre  and will give fans plenty to savor.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

(Photo by Nicola Dove/©MGM/©Danjaq)

Is there a lot of fan service?

“The call-backs to the Bond mythology are fun yet resonate on a deeper level.” – Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

“There is a lightness that makes this final film in the Daniel Craig arc a true celebration of all things James Bond.” – Mike Reyes, Cinema Blend

“The film overcompensates to assure fans that James Bond is the ‘real 007.’” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Is it also one of the more original Bond movies?

“ No Time To Die aptly balances the franchise’s classic construct yet totally remakes what a Bond movie can be for a fitting, touching end to Craig’s tenure.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“While the conventions can occasionally feel confining, there are enough significant deviations to make this entry stand out.” – Matt Maytum, Total Film

“This film does things that no Bond film has ever done… It is the unfamiliar things it does that make this such an exciting entry.” – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

“This is arguably the most tender portrait of James Bond we’ve ever seen.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“The 007 franchise-template is still capable of springing a surprise on the fanbase.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

How is the action?

“The stunts are simply spectacular, with one particular scene involving a motorbike in Italy that will leave you watching through splayed fingers in exhilarating fear.” – Dulcie Pearce, The Sun

“Craig also gets arguably the standout action sequence of his entire run with an astonishing and brutal one-take stairwell sequence.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“The fight choreography by Patrick Vo is excellent, thorough and exciting. The stunts (coordinated by Lee Morrison and Petr Rychlý) are also thrilling.” – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

“Fukunaga’s action seems to partly ape  John Wick , with an emphasis on sharp, savage gunfights and intense chase sequences.” – John Nugent, Empire Magazine

Does it still feel more grounded and intense than most Bond movies?

“ No Time To Die looks like it is taking place in the real world, a huge wide open space that we’re all longing for.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The action’s outlandish yet grounded, the gadgets are ridiculous but work beautifully within the framework of a story.” – Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

“A Bond that is so thrillingly tense, it veers into something close to horror.” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

How is the plot?

“The storyline feels like there were too many cooks, but it still tastes familiar enough to be craved.” – Dulcie Pearce, The Sun

“Fukunaga and his fellow writers inherited a whole mess of plot baggage from Spectre , and they handle it in the only way they possibly could.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

“ No Time to Die [is] a movie with a plot so ridiculous it reaches Roger Moore-era absurdness.” – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

“It’s so convoluted and protracted you might find yourself zoning out through much of the villainy.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

What if you haven’t seen the previous movies?

“You could probably understand it without fresh knowledge of the other movies. It will be a richer experience if you did know them, yet isn’t inaccessible to potential newcomers.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“[As] an explicit sequel to  Spectre … it undercuts the franchise’s appeal as escapist entertainment.” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Does it benefit from Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s writing?

“This film is all about the girls. Unlike the previous 24 Bond films, the ladies in No Time to Die are more kick-ass than just, well, ass.” – Dulcie Pearce, The Sun

“Refreshingly, the women on screen — as uncommonly, unsurprisingly gorgeous as they all tend to be — read more like actual human beings than scenery here, and even James treats them accordingly.” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

“Another worthy note about No Time to Die is the contribution of Fleabag creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge to the screenplay.” – Dierdre Molumby, entertainment.ie

“The movie’s very best joke… classic Fleabag !” – Charlotte O’Sullivan, London Evening Standard

“As much as Fukunaga and company try to diversify the franchise… This movie is solely concerned with white men who feel out of step with the world.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

How is Daniel Craig’s final Bond performance?

“Craig may well have delivered the most complex and layered Bond performance of them all.” – Jason Solomons, The Wrap

“He is brilliant in  No Time to Die , in a way that outshines everything around him.” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

“I believe this is the best he’s ever done as Bond.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“It’s clear that Craig knows and loves this character and that shines through.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“I love Craig’s Bond, but there are times when he’s trying to be a Connery Bond in a clearly Roger Moore Bond movie.” – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

How is Rami Malek’s villain?

“Rami Malek is a menacing presence as Safin and as with the best of Bond villains, less is more.” – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

“Rami Malek seems to be enjoying playing the villain, and that glee is infectious.” – Deirdre Molumby, entertainment.ie

“As a villain, he’s no fun, and Malek can’t do much to make him memorable.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“More a grab bag of character motivations than a felt threat. But Malek’s performance is also lacking.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“Malek himself gives almost nothing to the role beyond the accent and the fake scars he wears.” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

“He is too young, too wet, and too unscary to be a classic Bond villain. He looks as if he spends more time on his haircare than his evil plans.” – Nicholas Barber, BBC

“He’s not the most cogent bad guy ever, but he has ocean eyes.” – Charlotte O’Sullivan, London Evening Standard

“This underwritten and almost incidental role feels entirely left on the cutting room floor.” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

How about Lashanna Lynch as the new 007?

“Lynch is pretty kick-ass in the role…she more than holds her own alongside Craig, injecting the early parts of the film with a fun spy-vs-spy energy.” – Alistair Harkness, Scotsman

“Lynch’s Nomi is a wonderful anomaly. And she has super-duper taste in trousers.” – Charlotte O’Sullivan, London Evening Standard

Will we want more of any other characters?

“Everyone is going to claim to want a Paloma spin-off.” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

“The swift exit of [Ana de Armas’ Paloma] once the action moves on from Cuba is a real disappointment. The character begs for a recurring role in future installments.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“Please, please, please, can someone give Q his own spin-off movie?” – Charlotte O’Sullivan, London Evening Standard

Will we feel that record running time (163 minutes)?

“ No Time to Die is so, so long. But I wish it went a little longer if only to see how else Craig could’ve pushed this dinosaur.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“While the pace never lags and there’s never a moment when you could get bored, it’s just a lot of movie with a ton going on and it’s exhausting.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

“The run length alone dilutes the intended emotional resonance of the final scenes.” – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

“You really start to feel the pacing of the longest Bond installment.” – Deirdre Molumby, entertainment.ie

So is No Time to Die a proper goodbye to Daniel Craig’s 007?

“As Craig’s swan song,  No Time to Die  is everything one could ask for in a final outing.” – Mae Abdulbaki, Screen Rant

“It’s a moving valedictory salute to the actor who has left arguably the most indelible mark on the character since Connery.” – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“ No Time to Die is his perfect ending, a moment worth toasting as a wistful rejection of a character that’ll never be the same without him.” – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

“Gives both Bond and audiences the goodbye he deserves.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“What’s most disappointing about the film is how strangely anti-climatic the whole thing feels.” – Clarisse Loughrey, Independent

“I was hoping  No Time to Die  would give Daniel Craig a noble swan song, but it’ll have to settle for merely being better than  Diamonds Are Forever , A View to A Kill  and  Die Another Day .” – Scott Mendelson, Forbes

Will this finale leave us in tears?

“It leaves you with emotions few filmgoers will be expecting to find in a big budget action film.” – Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“ No Time to Die will be remembered for its emotional impact above all.” – Jason Solomons, The Wrap

“I never thought I’d wipe away a tear at the end of a James Bond movie, but No Time to Die fulfills its promise.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“I want to watch James Bond and feel good after…not feel forlorn.” – Mike Ryan, Uproxx

(Photo by ©MGM/©Danjaq)

Will it be a hard act to follow?

“Whoever’s next has got one hell of job on their hands.” – Jason Solomons, The Wrap

“Whoever steps in next has enormous shoes to fill.” – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

No Time to Die  is in theaters on October 8, 2021.

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‘No Time to Die’: What the Critics Are Saying

After a star-studded premiere in London, this much-delayed Bond film is drawing mostly positive early reviews.

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By Stephanie Goodman

The latest James Bond adventure, “No Time to Die,” was supposed to hit theaters in April 2020. The pandemic hit instead, and the film’s release was postponed more than once. But on Tuesday the 25th installment in the franchise had a splashy world premiere in London .

On hand were 007 himself, Daniel Craig ; his co-stars Léa Seydoux (as Madeleine Swann, the love interest), Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch and Rami Malek; the filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga, the first American to direct a Bond film; and Billie Eilish, who wrote the title song. Also in attendance were Prince William with Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge; and Prince Charles with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; along with the film’s producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

Just as important, critics finally got a look at the movie, which will reach multiplexes on Oct. 8. Here is a roundup of what they’re saying:

A Callback to Dr. No: “Craig’s final film as the diva of British intelligence is an epic barnstormer, with the script from Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge delivering pathos, action, drama, camp comedy (Bond will call M ‘darling’ in moments of tetchiness), heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action in a movie which calls to mind the world of Dr. No on his island. Director Cary Fukunaga delivers it with terrific panache, and the film also shows us a romantic Bond, an uxorious Bond, a Bond who is unafraid of showing his feelings, like the old softie he’s turned out to be.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Unafraid of Risks: Craig “invests the role with more emotion, power and style in a movie that not only marks a milestone as the 25th time around but also one not afraid to take some twists, turns and, yes, risks in a long-delayed entertainment that sees James Bond not only out to save the world from evil forces again but perhaps, in these Covid times, the theatrical exhibition business itself.” — Pete Hammond, Deadline.com

Too Much Time to Die: “In terms of Bond staples, the movie does deliver some impressive chases and action sequences, with Ana de Armas (Craig’s ‘ Knives Out ’ co-star) adding another dose of female empowerment during a mission that takes Bond to Cuba. Still, ‘ No Time to Die ’ feels as if it’s working too hard to provide Craig a send-off worthy of all the hype associated with it — an excess that might be summed up as simply, finally, by taking too much time to reach the finish.” — Brian Lowry, CNN

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Daniel Craig outshines 'No Time To Die' in his final turn as James Bond

Justin Chang

Bond (Daniel Craig) teams up with secret agent Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Havana in No Time to Die. Nicola Dove/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios hide caption

Bond (Daniel Craig) teams up with secret agent Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Havana in No Time to Die.

It's been more than a year since No Time to Die was supposed to open in theaters, and while the pandemic is far from over, the movie's long-overdue release feels like a good omen for an industry that could use it .

Never mind if James Bond can save the world — can he save the movies in the era of COVID and streaming-service domination? I have no idea. I can only say that it's a poignant pleasure to see Daniel Craig as Bond on the big screen one last time, even if the movie around him is seldom as good as he is.

Daniel Craig is the bookend Bond, giving 007's story a beginning — and an end

But then that's always been the case with the Craig Bond movies, with the sole exception of Casino Royale , the first and still the best of the five. Craig put his imprint on the character from the get-go: Like any good 007, he showed he could rock a tuxedo and toss off double-entendres with ease.

Bond With A Broken Heart: Defending Daniel Craig

But he was also a colder, broodier James Bond — closer to Sean Connery than Roger Moore , but with an aching vulnerability all his own. With this Bond, it was personal: We saw just how anguished he could be when he lost the love of his life, Vesper Lynd, a tragedy that haunted him over the next few movies and continues to haunt him in this one.

As No Time to Die begins, Bond has been retired from active MI6 duty for some time and started a new life with Madeleine Swann, played by Léa Seydoux. But he can't shake the memory of Vesper, and before long tragedy tears Bond and Madeleine apart, setting a somber tone that's beautifully captured by Billie Eilish 's opening theme song.

Coronavirus Updates

New 007 release delayed for 3rd time as pandemic continues to batter film industry.

Five years later, Bond is bumming around Jamaica when a fresh criminal conspiracy convinces him to end his retirement. The plot is too busy and complicated to summarize at length: Let's just say it involves a deadly plague of DNA-targeting nanobots that could wipe out millions of people worldwide, which feels just close enough to our real-life pandemic to suggest why the studio might have opted to hold the picture back a year.

That said, nothing about No Time to Die feels especially timely or urgent. It's the usual assembly of Bond movie clichés, which is nothing to complain about, of course, since clichés — the gadgets, the one-liners, the martinis, the sex — are the lifeblood of this series.

Movie Interviews

Bond gadgets stand test of time (but not physics).

But more than once during No Time to Die , I found myself wondering if those familiar beats couldn't have been hit with a bit more panache. Did it really take four screenwriters — including the great Phoebe Waller-Bridge , the comic genius behind Fleabag — to come up with a script this workmanlike? And between Christoph Waltz as returning villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Rami Malek as new villain Lyutsifer Safin, did the movie really need two scheming megalomaniacs, both of whom have facial disfigurements to conveniently signal how evil they are?

Back at MI6, Lashana Lynch plays a highly competent new spy who's been assigned Bond's 007 code number. But their professional rivalry never really takes off. The movie is on more solid footing with Bond's old colleagues: Ralph Fiennes ' M, Naomie Harris ' Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw's Q are as delightful company as ever. And a terrific if under-used Ana de Armas nearly steals the picture as an agent who teams up with Bond during a mission in Havana. It's a witty, suspenseful sequence, with enough flirtatious fun and outlandish stuntwork to recapture some of that escapist Bond-movie pleasure.

James Bond At 50

Picking the best bond: connery and craig rise to the top.

For the most part, that pleasure returns only fitfully over the movie's two-hour-and-43-minute running time. The director, Cary Joji Fukunaga , whose credits include the African war drama Beasts of No Nation and the first season of True Detective , is a skilled filmmaker with a snazzy way with action. But this is a twilight Bond movie, and the mood is overwhelmingly somber. There are continual reminders of Bond's advancing age, of his past regrets and losses. The final showdown feels less like a climax than a benediction.

Craig has been a terrific James Bond, maybe even the best, and his departure certainly deserves a little fanfare. But I admired the impulse behind this very long goodbye without feeling as moved as I wanted to be. There's something a little too strained and self-conscious about the tragic emotional arc the filmmakers have saddled Bond with over the past several movies, and it feels like more than the character can withstand. Will Bond ever be allowed to be Bond again, a dashing rogue leaping deftly from caper to caper? Not this time — but maybe the next.

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No Time to Die Is Fun, But Only When It Dares to Be

“This never happened to the other fella.” That might have been George Lazenby’s quip in the opening sequence of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), but it’s also become the rallying cry for the Daniel Craig era of Bond pictures, which began with him as an inexperienced, impulsive agent just earning his license to kill in Casino Royale (2006) and ends now with him as a weathered, embittered, desperately-in-love man in No Time to Die . In retrospect, it feels as if Lazenby’s cute, fourth-wall-breaking acknowledgment (reportedly ad-libbed on set by the star himself) that his post-Connery turn might be a different Bond perhaps liberated the series a little: Once that line landed, nobody had to worry about keeping any kind of consistency between Bond actors, or even individual movies.

Of course, within the actual Craig cycle, the inter-film callbacks and echoes and through lines have been nonstop — and not always for the best. At the start of No Time to Die , Bond is still grieving Vesper Lynd, his lover and partner from Casino Royale , while also committing to a life with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the assassin’s daughter and psychiatrist he romanced (rather unconvincingly) in Spectre (2015). This new one even opens with an episode from Madeleine’s childhood that she’d related in that previous entry, only now it’s been revised to become our introduction to Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), a psycho who went off the deep end after his whole family was killed by Madeleine’s father, Mr. White.

White was, as you may or may not recall from the previous film, an assassin working for SPECTRE, the international criminal organization led by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), the devious mastermind whom Bond made sure to lock up at the end of that picture. Staying true to our modern age of action movies-as-elaborate-soap operas, it also turned out that Blofeld — organ music, please — is Bond’s long-lost adopted brother. No, this definitely never happened to the other fellas.

Indeed, the central project of the Daniel Craig era could easily be seen as an experiment to see how un-Bond-like one could make these films while still being able to call them Bond films. The experiment reaches its apotheosis in No Time to Die , which opens with Bond in love, then moves on to Bond betrayed, then Bond retired, then Bond working for the CIA, before bringing Bond back into the fold of MI6, where it turns out he’s actually been replaced by a new 007, Nomi, played by Lashana Lynch. (If you think those are spoilers, note that I’ve said nothing of Bond’s [ redacted ], his discovery of [ redacted ], or the dramatic [ redacted ]s of [ redacted ], [ redacted ], and [ redacted ].)

There are opportunities here, many of them missed: The two 007s have a playful rivalry at first, and one wishes the script featured more of their repartee. Lynch certainly seems game, with her character handling Bond with just the right combination of admiration and annoyance. And we know Craig has solid comic chops, as evidenced by some of his previous outings and by the levity he brought to, um, Steven Spielberg’s Munich (2005). If nothing else, Lynch’s 007 seems like a more interesting character for Bond to spend time with than Madeleine; the lack of chemistry between Seydoux and Craig really grates this time around, which wouldn’t be a problem were the film not built around James Bond’s passionate love for this woman. (Craig and Eva Green had it in spades in Casino Royale , which is why we can still buy the fact that Bond is visiting Vesper’s grave, four films later.)

One interesting note on the picture’s otherwise-forgettable (though refreshingly Bondian) MacGuffin: Everyone is after a bioweapon that uses nanobot technology to target specific individuals and anyone else who happens to share their DNA, and which Safin clearly has diabolical plans for. We all remember that No Time to Die was due to open in spring of 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting. News of the release being delayed was among the first signs that much of the global entertainment industry was about to shut down, along with just about everything else. One does wonder what it would have felt like in the middle of 2020 to watch a James Bond film about what was essentially a deadly virus being released into the world.

Some wondered at the time why this potential blockbuster wasn’t just sold to a streaming service so we could all watch it in the comfort of our homes as we did the dishes or folded laundry or doomscrolled Twitter or whatever. If you see No Time to Die on the big screen, you’ll have your answer. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga has not just a terrific eye, but also an intuitive knowledge of where to put the camera for maximum impact — whether it’s inside a bulletproof car that’s being strafed by what feels like a hundred gunmen, or a bird’s-eye view of Ana de Armas (playing a novice CIA agent, a brief highlight of the movie) spinning around in a high-slit gown knocking down baddies, or a handheld long-take following Bond up a stairwell as he pummels his way through a small army of henchmen, or simply a soaring aerial shot taking in the dizzying heights of an Italian mountain town. Shot partly on IMAX, No Time to Die is clearly meant to be seen on a massive screen.

Even that feels a little anti-Bond, frankly; despite their huge sets and international locales, these films pre-Craig rarely trafficked in grandeur or immersion. (I think I initially watched most of them on airplanes.) At times, the director seems to be leading us on a journey through the non-Bond action landscape — a Dark Knight sequence here, a Fast & Furious sequence there, a Fury Road sequence there, a Hanna sequence there, to say nothing of the Mission: Impossible style teamwork that we get when the two 007s start working together. (There’s even a Silence of the Lambs moment so ostentatiously — and possibly inadvertently — goofy that the picture briefly starts to feel like it’s one Wayans brothers polish away from becoming an elaborate, albeit overlong and expensive, spoof of all genre flicks.)

With all its connections to the previous film, No Time to Die ’s biggest failing is probably the fact that it seems to think Spectre had a compelling narrative. But that’s sort of par for the course for the Craig Bonds, too. They extract their pound of flesh. To get to the next action sequence, we often have to sit through another interminable speech or exchange with the bad guy about how we’re both really the same, you and me . Craig has neither the ability nor the willingness to dismiss such blather with a raised eyebrow, as, say, Roger Moore could. Craig wants to commit, to emote, to really tackle the substance of the material; he is, after all, a real actor. Except that the material has no substance: It’s still the same tired nonsense, just longer, and all the added elements to give the story and the characters emotional heft mostly fail as a result. That in turn makes the picture’s forays into genuine darkness, particularly near the end, ring rather false. Still, amid the grit and the attempted emotional catharses and the Sturm und Drang, there is an actual Bond movie in there. No Time to Die is fun, but only when it dares to be.

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James Bond In ‘No Time To Die’ Review: Daniel Craig’s 007 Finale Shoots Blanks

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'No Time to Die'

In an era when too many franchises discard (or threaten to discard) the less-successful sequels, I do admire that No Time to Die is absolutely, come hell or high water, a sequel to Spectre . To be fair, while critics (including myself) carped, the previous James Bond film grossed $200 million domestic and $881 million worldwide in late 2015, second only to Skyfall for the franchise. I might surmise casual moviegoers seemed to enjoy it just fine. When No Time to Die is trying to be “just the next James Bond movie” for its first hour, it’s quite good. But when it reverts course in acts two and three and tries to be an explicit sequel to Spectre , well, it’s hard to make a tasty omelet from rotten eggs. Moreover, it undercuts the franchise’s appeal as escapist entertainment.

Yes, it’s a better 007 film than Spectre , and yes, it’s a better series finale (relatively speaking) than The Rise of Skywalker . However, I might also argue the two years of release-date delays may have helped the film. In October 2021, critics and audiences may be so thirsty for water that they’ll drink the sand. I don’t entirely blame them/us. Had this film opened in late 2019 or early 2020, it would have paled in comparison to other series finales and other “take stock in our legacy” sequels that opened around that time. Today, the gorgeous “partially shot in and entirely formatted for IMAX” blockbuster is a reminder of what we arguably used to take for granted. The Cary Fukunaga-directed actioner looks spectacular, with gorgeous movie stars doing movie star things in lovely locales.

The 163-minute flick starts with essentially a triple-whammy pre-credits sequence. After a cryptic prologue, we come upon a retired James Bond (Daniel Craig) running for his life and presuming that Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) set him up and is still working for S.P.E.C.T.R.E. The action is strong, but more impressive is the notion of Bond taken by surprise, unsure of his course of action and terrified for his life. Five years later, Bond has ditched Madeline and is living on his own when Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) tracks him down and asks for his help with finding a kidnapped scientist. He reluctantly agrees only to end up working for the CIA and thus sportingly sparring with MI6 in the form of agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch) who took over the 007 designation after Bond chose love over duty.

This stuff is all darn fun, including a goofy romp with Ana de Armas playing Paloma, a cheerfully novice field agent who reveals zero compulsion about killing bad guys. It’s an enjoyable riff on the “strong female character” cliché, while Billy Magnussen plays Leiter’s cohort, a gee-whiz “political appointee” who ironically represents “white guys of privilege failing upward.” Where the plot goes from there, I will not say. However, eventually (and almost tangentially), we meet up with the disfigured and “movie bad-guy creepy” Safron (Rami Malek). Malek has so little to say or do that you might actually be relieved when Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld returns in the Hannibal Lecter role. As someone who likes Rami’s off-kilter sensibilities, I must sadly report that this underwritten and almost incidental role feels entirely left on the cutting room floor.

The big evil plot eventually reveals itself, and I enjoyed Ralph Fiennes’s M being tormented by a seemingly valid peacekeeping tool being used to diabolical ends. But the plan is never really spelled out beyond “lotta people gonna die,” which means the metaphorical doomsday clock carries little weight. The film offers no contextual insight into even the pre-Covid political landscape. I didn’t necessarily expect James Bond to go after a corrupt American government leader aligning himself with diabolical overseas tyrants, but this film acts as if the world hasn’t changed since Skyfall . Instead, we get bogged down with micro-drama concerning Bond’s doomed romance with Dr. Swann. That proves to be a fatal problem since his arbitrary courtship with Madeleine in Spectre was so unconvincing it made me question my adoration of Casino Royale .

That Daniel Craig looks old enough to be Seydoux’s father is even more of a problem here than it was in Spectre . That Malek is presented as seemingly being older than he looks doesn’t help, although Ben Whishaw’s Q.(I.L.F.) being officially denoted as gay prevents audiences from shipping Madeleine with the age-appropriate tech genius. The film’s final third both wanders aimlessly into endless arbitrary run-and-shoot action while trying to make Bond into something he isn’t and frankly never needed to be. No, that’s not to say he’s magically progressive, although Bond as presented was never more than politely amused at changing norms. If anything, the film overcompensates to assure fans that James Bond is the “real 007.” However, the plot and character beats seem once-again determined to place the franchise in a worldbuilding mythology franchise sandbox.

All of this would be less of an issue if the action and spectacle were of a sharper breed. Alas, save for the pre-credit sequence and the fun first-act romp in Cuba (everyone is going to claim to want a Paloma spin-off), this feels closer in spirit to Spectre than Skyfall or even the rough-and-tumble Quantum of Solace set pieces. All is not lost, as Craig is again relishing the chance to give the kind of full-bodied “acting performance” that Pierce Brosnan only got to hint at. I still wish his platonic friendship with Naomie Harris’ Moneypenny got more room to breathe. While not every franchise has to evolve into a story about surrogate families, there is lost potential in terms of Q, Moneypenny and even M having more than just a professional relationship to their proverbial star quarterback.

As the fifth and final entry of the Craig era, there is more suspense and tension than usual in terms of characters being in harm’s way. Moreover, as just one 007 movie amid 25 previous films, with the presumption that more will still follow with a new actor (with the first new film ideally helmed by Martin Campbell), No Time to Die is a disappointment but not a soul-killing whiff akin to Spectre . I was hoping No Time to Die would give Daniel Craig a noble swan song, but it’ll have to settle for merely being better than Diamonds Are Forever, A View to A Kill and Die Another Day . Here’s hoping it represents an end to 26 years of “Is Bond still relevant?” navel gazing. The answer has been “Yes!” since GoldenEye .

The James Bond series has thrived for decades, both when it was the only game in town and when it was but one big action blockbuster franchise, partially by not trying to be something it wasn’t. It doesn’t have to apologize for changing social mores, merely try to adapt to them, and it doesn’t have to be the next MCU or the next Fast Saga . I was optimistic after Spectre precisely because the franchise has the luxury of a clean slate every time out. Ironically, No Time to Die stumbles hardest by not taking advantage of that freedom and instead trying to make lemonade out of lemons. I admire the effort, even if it doesn’t work. James Bond *will* be back, and it just needs to have a little faith and confidence in its continued relevance.

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Review: James Bond saves the day in ‘No Time to Die.’ But can he save the future of moviegoing?

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The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic . Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials .

The James Bond franchise, now in its 27th iteration, is precious in ways you might not have considered until you settle in to pass two hours and 43 minutes of your 2021 with the long-postponed “No Time to Die” and see Daniel Craig do that hokey 90-degree spin as he fires at the camera.

Dum-duddle-um-dum-dum , goes Monty Norman’s classic theme, and perhaps despite yourself, so may your heart, thrumming a silly little bassline that bounces pleasurably between anticipation and familiarity. It’s quite something that franchise newcomer Cary Joji Fukunaga’s “No Time to Die” delivers on both those fronts; when it comes to mixing the thrill of the newfangled with nostalgia for the old-fashioned, nobody — still — does it better.

Fukunaga’s movie, which also serves as Craig’s fifth and final Bond installment, works on those levels because it’s actually about those levels: right down to its DNA — gunshot strands of which are evoked in Daniel Kleinman’s opening title graphics — “No Time to Die” is a twilight movie. Linus Sandgren’s crepuscular photography tends toward the retrospective, honeyed and melancholy: There’s one particularly dazzling shot of Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann — permitting her perma-sulky mouth to twist into the tiniest, saddest of smiles — that simply by the way the evening light trickles through her blond hair, then bursts into sunflare across the screen, delivers a more emotive wallop than words ever could.

And this is despite the springiness of its action, a light dusting of jokes (“Magnets!” says a superscientist at one point, utterly delighted by how freaking cool magnets can be) and an overstuffed plot that feels blissfully irrelevant to the present moment even though it’s about the global threat posed by a virus.

“No Time to Die” is more about aging and creeping obsolescence as about Aston Martins with headlamp-mounted machine guns doing doughnuts on an Italian piazza, though it has those too. It’s about the old guard making way for the new and about the past resurfacing to scare the living daylights out of the present — all of this before a tomorrow, which as we know, never dies. Though in Craig’s brawny, bruiser continuation of the role, it can get pretty badly knocked about.

The past for Craig-era Bond is defined by two things: the death of his “Casino Royale” paramour Vesper Lynd and his own origin story, including his links to currently incarcerated nemesis Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), which were revealed in “Skyfall.” Both of those spectres threaten Bond here: Early on, Madeleine — the rare Bond Girl who has not only survived the transition from one movie to the next but is also aware of Bond Girls previous — asks James to talk about Vesper.

In return, Madeleine promises to reveal her secrets — which we already know involve her childhood encounter with Rami Malek’s rather anodyne villain Lyutsifer Safin, who we mostly understand is the Big Bad this time out because he has a scarred face and the devil’s name. Bond procrastinates on his confession, asserting that they “have all the time in the world” (you’d think he’d be a bit careful bandying around those words, given that they’re the last thing he said to his doomed wife in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” a frequent reference point for the latest film’s music, themes and romance).

Entombed regrets have a tendency to blow up in one’s face, which does happen very literally, the way everything here is literal. For this entirely breakable Bond, it’s possible that all the time in the world is not enough.

Five years and one rendition of the rather lovely Billie Eilish theme song later, Bond is alone, having cut loose from Madeleine while still estranged from MI6, who have reassigned his 007 number to hypercompetent new agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch). Nomi finds him in Jamaica, where he’s living a designer-tatty-T-shirt existence pulling ginormous fish out of the sea — but Bond has already been found by his CIA buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and briefed on the existence of a super-targeted bioweapon that’s fallen into the worst possible hands.

Lashana Lynch redefines what it means to be 007 in ‘No Time to Die’

Lashana Lynch is just the fifth Black actress to occupy major screen time opposite James Bond. The British-Jamaican actress talks representation and her “WandaVision” “daughter.”

Aug. 26, 2021

Reluctant to get embroiled in this particular save-the-world scenario, Bond soon realizes that basically every surviving person he knows is somehow connected, including, perhaps, his erstwhile boss M (Ralph Fiennes, so good at conveying the personal toll that a lifetime of moral relativism can take). So he takes Felix up on his offer and zips over to Cuba, because in a Bond movie many things that an even slightly cheaper film would set in an adjoining room must instead unfold in an exotic sunny locale, or in Norway or Scotland or a trawler in the middle of the sea or a concrete-lined contested island off the coast of Japan.

In Cuba he meets (all too briefly) Ana de Armas’ greenhorn CIA agent, Paloma; in London he’s back with the old MI6 gang — Q (Ben Whishaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Tanner (Rory Kinnear). Inevitably, his frosty relationship with nu-007 thaws under the warming lamps of their mutual respect. We’ve seen caring Bond in some form ever since Craig first donned his double-O tight swimwear in “Casino Royale,” but it’s hard to remember him ever having shared quite so much. Limelight, action setpieces, his pain, his heart, his 007 identity — this guy shares them all, making him, amid all this talk of biology and chemistry, perhaps the most covalent Bond we’ve ever seen.

The spread-the-love mentality originates in the screenplay, which is rudimentary in its plotting but nicely democratic in its characterization. You really notice it in a small role like De Armas’, and in bigger parts like Seydoux’s Madeleine, who is far from the most interesting Bond Girl ever, yet whom screenwriters Fukunaga, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and good-value puncher-upper Phoebe Waller-Bridge gratifyingly treat like she is.

But even more credit is due to Craig: We know, after his expressions of disgruntlement regarding “Spectre,” what the franchise has done for and to him. Now that his tenure in the tux has ended, perhaps it’s time to evaluate what Craig has done for the franchise. It’s largely his resilience as an actor that forced Bond to age as he did, and therefore forced a franchise trapped in an endless-reset adolescence to finally acknowledge the passage of time, and the accumulation of regret that James Bond must experience, if he’s a human being at all.

Here, as Bond winces at his own dad-joke wisecracks, allows himself to be impressed by the mad skills of other agents and doesn’t even try to see if Ana De Armas’ silken evening dress will shuck soundlessly to the floor at the drop of a double entendre, Craig reveals himself as perhaps the most generous actor to have inhabited the role. And not only toward the rest of the cast, but toward the very idea of Bond itself. Craig sets Bond free from the prison of forgetfulness that has previously trapped him like a caveman in ice, though the price is steep, and it remains to be seen if future installments can continue to pay it.

This is not to suggest that your favorite spy is given too much to emote and too little to do. Even retired, he lives and lets die in often spectacular fashion, delivering a contradictory fusion of cordon bleu action with comfort-food satisfaction that is specific to Bond, even in our age of ubiquitous franchise filmmaking. It’s a lot because of his longevity — next year will be 60 years since the release of “Dr. No” — and the Pavlovian memory encoded in all those familiar Bond-world motifs: the tricked-out cars and gadget watches, all the Ms and Qs and ridiculously monikered bikini-clad ladies we’ve loved and lost. And beyond that, there’s the fond memory of those suburban living room Christmases with uncles and grandfathers sliding gently into tryptophan snoozes while on TV 007 waggles his eyebrows at some rando with such slippery suavity that all her zippers unzip.

This shared history means that Bond can make its billions by granting a few hours of meticulously made escapism (even maybe “oblivion” as Safin darkly hints) to a more broadly intergenerational casual fanbase than many other film series can boast. These audience members, who are fond of the mythos but actually have other things in their lives, make it a true four-quadrant property, perhaps the only one left that isn’t led by the nose by fan service and unwieldy shared universes.

Every new Bond movie is a referendum. Not just on the ongoing viability of a franchise that has been part of the cinematic landscape for six decades — fading in and out of relevance, moving through cycles of creakiness, campiness and classiness — but also on the vitality of old-model popular cinema, which is threatened now as never before. If the release of “No Time to Die” marks a widespread return to the cinema, it will be nicely fitting that it’s Bond, a gentleman franchise in a world of whippersnappers, holding the door open on the way in. And then reminding us, on the way out, that every farewell is also a hello, and every time to die is a time to be reborn.

‘No Time to Die’ is finally here: (00)7 things to know about Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie

Now that “No Time to Die” has officially had its world premiere, all your burning James Bond questions can be answered. (Without spoiling all the fun.)

Sept. 28, 2021

'No Time to Die'

Rating: PG-13, for sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, brief strong language and some suggestive material Running time: 2 hours, 43 minutes Playing: Opens Oct. 8 in general release

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In this 50th year of the James Bond series, with the dismal " Quantum of Solace " (2008) still in our minds, "Skyfall" triumphantly reinvents 007 in one of the best Bonds ever. This is a full-blooded, joyous, intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon, with Daniel Craig taking full possession of a role he earlier played well in "Casino Royale," not so well in "Quantum" -- although it may not have been entirely his fault. Or is it just that he's growing on me? I don't know what I expected. I don't know what I expected in Bond No. 23, but certainly not an experience this invigorating.

The movie's innovations begin in its first shots, which abandon the familiar stalking silhouettes in the iris lens, and hit the ground running. Bond and another agent are in Istanbul, chasing a man who has stolen a crucial hard drive, and after a chase through city streets (involving no less than three Fruit Cart Scenes), 007 is running on top of a train. We know from earlier films that Bond can operate almost anything, but "Skyfall" incredibly has him commandeer of a giant Caterpillar and continue the chase by crushing a flatcar filled with VW Beetles.

It's the kind of absurd stunt we expect in a Bond movie, but this one relies on something unexpected: a dead-serious M ( Judi Dench ), following the action from MI6 in London and making a fateful decision. After an enemy agent grabs Bond as a human shield, M's other agent, Eve ( Naomie Harris ), has both men in her gun sights. The stakes are very high. "Take the shot!" M commands. Bond seems to die, although since this happens around the 20-minute mark, we're not very surprised that he doesn't.

M begins to compose the obituary of Commander James Bond, and she might as well also be writing her own. Time has passed her by, she's older, and her new boss, Mallory ( Ralph Fiennes ), convenes a public (!) hearing requiring her to defend her tenure. It's time for a generation to be put out to pasture. Even Q and, as it turns out, Miss Moneypenny are practically kids.

M is not quite ready to retire, and "Skyfall" at last provides a role worthy of Judi Dench, one of the best actors of her generation. She is all but the co-star of the film, with a lot of screen time, poignant dialogue, and a character who is far more complex and sympathetic than we expect in this series. The film is guided by a considerable director ( Sam Mendes ), written by the heavyweights Neal Purvis , Robert Wade and John Logan , and delivers not only a terrific Bond but a terrific movie, period. If you haven't seen a 007 for years, this is the time to jump back in.

There's a theory that you can grade the Bonds on the quality of their villains. In "Skyfall," this is a cerebral megalomaniac named Silva, played by Javier Bardem , whose unpronounceable Anton Chigurh in " No Country for Old Men " approached the high-water mark of Hannibal Lecter. Here he plays a bleached blond computer whiz who stole the drive containing the guarded identities of every MI6 agent. Are we supposed to think of Julian Assange?

This is a brand-new Bond with love and respect for the old Bond. This is dramatized during Bond's visit to the weathered Scottish mansion inhabited by Kincade ( Albert Finney ), which has secrets to divulge and continues the movie's rewriting of the character's back story. During the early Bonds, did we ever even ask ourselves about 007's origins in life? "Skyfall" even produces a moment designed to inspire love in Bond fans: a reappearance of the Aston Martin DB5 from " Goldfinger ," which remains in good operating condition.

Just as Christopher Nolan gave rebirth to the Batman movies in " The Dark Knight ," here is James Bond lifted up, dusted off, set back on his feet and ready for another 50 years. And am I completely misguided when I expect to see Miss Moneypenny become a Bond girl in the next film?

I'm double-posting my review of "Skyfall" to encourage comments, which my main site can't accept.

To read or leave comments on this review, click here.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

Skyfall (2012)

Rated PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking

143 minutes

Judi Dench as M

Ralph Fiennes as Mallory

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Naomie Harris as Eve

Ben Whishaw as Q

Albert Finney as Kincade

Javier Bardem as Silva

Directed by

• Robert Wade
• Neal Purvis

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Since making the jump from page to screen with Dr. No in 1962, Sir Ian Fleming's superagent James Bond has been thrilling audiences for over half a century, cementing his legacy through six actors and 26 films.

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Review: “No Time to Die” Leaves Daniel Craig’s James Bond Legacy Unfulfilled

By Richard Brody

For those whose cinematic consciousness predates “Star Wars,” the James Bond series may be the primordial experience of franchise films, with all the pleasures and limitations that they entail. The appealing predictability of familiar characters and the excitement of seeing variations on their themes has always gone hand in hand with a sense of overmanagement—of the strings being pulled by some puppeteer far from the set. The feeling that what’s onscreen is inseparable from the demands of the balance sheet has never been absent from the Bond market, and the five entries starring Daniel Craig have only intensified it. Together, the Craig films interconnect to form a sort of Bond cinematic universe whose parts slot all too neatly into a series, with all the dramatic engineering that it implies. The most recent and final Craig film, “No Time to Die,” directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, is in that sense a culmination of the series’ necessities, with the boardroom and the writers’ room virtually taking the place of any cinematic action.

On the other hand, the series’ essential virtue was always its extravagant exaggerations—it was gloriously ridiculous and gloriously lacking in self-awareness, its macho ribaldry invested with absurdly high purpose. In the Daniel Craig era, there’s no sense of unconscious or excess expression—it has been digitized out along with any intentional humor. The devices that Bond and his compatriots use are hardly a step from Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone, as are the switch-operated gizmos of his Aston Martin. Yet their depiction and use are so perfunctory that they’re presented as neither silly nor ordinary, just checked off. Craig is a great actor who brings a distinctive affect to Bond—clenched, airtight, impenetrable, abraded. He makes Bond’s social graces seem like the product of work that’s harder than the athleticized superhero business imposed upon the character. Craig’s distinctive persona suggests pathos that the series doesn’t allow; instead, he’s merely used as a Bond-piñata, a straining for an element of realism amid stunts that, in their grandiosity and their excess, preclude it. In “No Time to Die,” Bond is launched with mourning and melancholy: he and his new partner, Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), visit the Italian town of Matera, where the tomb of Vesper Lynd (from “Casino Royale”) is found. Bond visits her tomb—which explodes, as a prelude to a mighty chase and shoot-out. He survives but immediately ends the romance with Madeleine, whom he suspects of setting him up.

Five years later, Bond, retired to Jamaica, gets a visit from an old associate, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), of the C.I.A., along with a smarmy young State Department official named Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen). They want Bond’s help in finding a scientist named Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), who has been kidnapped from a high-security bioweapon facility with a dreadful concoction in hand: a mortal virus-like nanobot, transmitted on contact and engineered to target specific DNA markers, whether of an individual, a family, or an ethnicity. But it takes a visit, that very night, from another M.I.6 operative, Nomi (Lashana Lynch)—who now bears Bond’s former number, 007—to persuade Bond of the urgency of the mission, and he joins in. It seems that Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), Bond’s longtime nemesis (dating back to childhood, as we now know), and Blofeld’s dastardly organization Spectre, is behind the kidnapping. But, infiltrating a Spectre gathering in Cuba, Bond and Nomi note the involvement of another evil mastermind, Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), and the mission now involves targeting him along with Obruchev.

Yet “No Time to Die” offers a new piece of the puzzle, a bit of backstory that’s of obvious and major significance (shh) and that, by its very nature, suggests what’s both right and wrong with the franchise reboot in the Craig era. In the film’s opening, pre-title sequence, Madeleine is a child of about five (played by Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), staying with her mother (Mathilde Bourbin) in an isolated house in a snowy field and yearning for the return of her father (Mr. White, introduced in “Casino Royale”). She thinks he’s a doctor; her mother reveals that he’s a killer. Moments later, a masked gunman—Safin—shows up and breaks in. When Safin was a child, he explains, Mr. White killed his entire family, leaving only Safin to survive. Now, seeking revenge, he kills Madeleine’s mother, and prepares to kill the fleeing Madeleine, yet—in a moment of pity that may also carry an element of self-recognition—lets her go. (The moment, like so many others in the film, is merely conveyed in an informative wink rather than actually unfurled at any length.) Along with imparting the trauma and grief that Madeleine bears, the sequence insures that, later in the film, when Safin intrudes into Bond’s affairs, Madeleine can’t be far behind.

This setup implies a broader question about the role and use of backstory in recent movies. In principle, the prevalence of backstory advances an overdue democratization of the cinema: it eliminates the notion of typecasting and recognizes that each individual’s background and experience are distinctive and significant. Yet, like any dramatic method, the planting of backstory can take a decadent form, as it does in “No Time to Die,” where backstory is used to reduce the characters’ motives to single factors. With the setting up of one past experience, the movie bypasses any consideration of Madeleine (let alone Safin) as a character and turns her into a dramatic mechanism—rendering her not more of an individual but less of one. Fascinatingly and dismayingly, backstories are applied only very selectively and deterministically in “No Time to Die.” The movie brings several important new characters into the franchise, starting with Nomi, the new 007, who is a Black woman, and including Paloma (Ana de Armas), a C.I.A. agent who guides Bond into the Spectre meeting in Cuba. (The closest thing to humor that the movie offers is in the contrast between Paloma’s sunny ingenuousness and her mighty skills.) What motives prompted this admirably diverse cast of characters to serve their country in dangerous missions? What range of experience contributed to their ability to do so? The film never says. The diversity here is purely pictorial.

The formulaic drama is of a piece with the movie’s action sequences, which exhaust their ingenuity from the get-go, with the Matera chase and shoot-out. The single best moment is the very first, when, on a narrow bridge, Bond dodges a speeding car with a deft dive behind a convenient lump of concrete. The action soon grows wilder—a leap while holding a cable and a rough landing, a motorcycle jaunt up staircases and over a wall—and briefly offers a moment of tension, with Bond and Madeleine together in the Aston Martin while facing a barrage of bullets that the car’s windows barely withstand. (Bond’s stoic stillness in the face of Madeleine’s panic is also Craig’s best moment.) But, despite these (very brief) clever touches, the filming does this and other set pieces scant justice. Little attention is given to staging and placing, to ensembles and their timing, to the practicalities of massive stunts, whether chase scenes or shoot-outs or trouble on the high seas. What matters isn’t spatial coherence—which is only a virtue in real estate—but coherence of ideas, of emotions, of images. The shots, whether brief and collaged together or closely following Bond in motion, do little but convey the general concept or the basic facts, the input and the outcome. The rapid cutting and rapid camera movement don’t make the action hard to understand; they make it hard to enjoy. For all the agony that the story’s violence suggests, and the sense of rueful wonder, of horrified fascination, that it depends on, the filming gives no sense of experience either onscreen or behind it—merely a sense of dutiful, approximative technique.

“No Time to Die” wants it both ways: it makes watching violent shoot-outs and colossal catastrophes pleasurable while depicting them merely functionally, a coy fusion of the sumptuous and the abstemious. Similarly, the story is built upon an emotional foundation of melancholy and regret, of the sins of the fathers and the pain of their redemption. But these aspects of the drama get neither discussed nor developed, merely signified in the sweep of the action. Moreover, the story is almost completely depoliticized; the only hint of a viewpoint is when Ash is derisively pinpointed as a “political appointee.” All that remains, besides the vapors of nostalgia, are the broad contours of the drama, which are less matters of character or history than of positioning in the movie marketplace. Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond is defined, ultimately, by the melancholy of unimagined possibilities and missed opportunities—for the actor and the character alike.

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No Time to Die Ending Explained: Is This the Last Bond Movie?

We break down what happened to james bond at the end of daniel craig's final 007 film..

filmWarning: Full spoilers follow for No Time to Die. If you just want to know how many end credits scenes there are in No Time to Die, we’ll tell you right here: There aren't any, but there is a brief title card in the final moments of the flim.

Read on if you want all the details.

Daniel Craig’s James Bond literally goes out with a bang in No Time to Die, the 25th Bond movie and the fifth and final one starring Craig .

And while the finality of Craig’s Bond is not in question, some of the hows and whys of No Time to Die may have left some scratching their heads. After all, there were a lot of plot machinations for viewers to keep straight and pseudo-science being tossed around throughout the film.

So let’s break down how and why James Bond met his fate in No Time to Die.

No Time to Die Plot and Ending Explained

Much of the final act of No Time to Die is spent on Bond and his fellow 00 Agent Nomi’s (Lashana Lynch) infiltration of the headquarters of villainous Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek). Located on an island in disputed waters between Russia and Japan, Safin’s lair is a former missile silo and submarine docking base (that boasts some old school, large-scale, Ken Adam-style production design). Bond and Nomi have three objectives: rescue Bond’s flame Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) and their little daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonne); destroy Project Heracles; and kill Safin.

After a series of brutal firefights and encounters, Bond rescues Madeleine and Mathilde, Nomi executes turncoat scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), and Safin seemingly flees his lair as the British navy prepares to risk an international incident just to destroy the island and Heracles. But in order for the missile strike to be effective, the base’s blast doors must be opened and that means someone has to get to the control room to open them.

Bond initially succeeds in doing that until they get word that the doors are somehow closing again. That means someone has to go back up there to get them open. Bond asks Nomi to get Madeleine and Mathilde out of there by boat while he deals with the blast doors, promising them all he’ll escape in time. But as Bond rushes through the Garden of Death to reach the blast doors, he’s shot multiple times by Safin, who did not flee the island after all ...

No Time To Die Gallery

Does James Bond Die in the New Movie?

As we saw in the sequence where Heracles was used to kill SPECTRE members but spare everyone else, Safin’s able to engineer the Heracles nanobots to kill people that share specific DNA. MI6 witnessed family members who made contact with deceased SPECTRE operatives who then died themselves because Heracles was targeted to kill those sharing specific DNA. And the nanobots, as Q (Ben Whishaw) makes clear, are permanent and can’t be removed from one’s system.

Safin got a sample of Madeline’s DNA from a strand of her hair while he held her and Mathilde hostage. During their brawl, Safin scratched Bond, infecting him with nanobots genetically encoded to Madeleine, and therefore also to her child’s DNA. This means Bond, the biogenetic weapon’s carrier, would cause their deaths if he ever returned to them. Possibly already mortally wounded by Safin’s gunfire, Bond kills Safin and hauls himself back up to the control room to reopen the blast doors shielding the lair.

Bond’s imminent self-sacrifice becomes clear to Q, who is in a plane flying nearby, as well as to M (Ralph Fiennes), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Tanner (Rory Kinnear) tracking the events from back at MI6 headquarters in London. Having reopened the blast doors so that the British navy’s missile strike can succeed, Bond calls Madeleine to say goodbye. She, Nomi and Mathilde had made it to shore and can see the island from their position.

Bond thanks Madeleine for the gift she’s given him with their daughter and tells her he loves her. As the missiles rain down on the island, Bond stares out at the sun over the ocean as he is obliterated in the explosion. Madeline sobs as the island is destroyed in the missile strike and Nomi realizes Bond is dead.

Later, back at M’s office, Bond’s work-family — M, Moneypenny, Q, Nomi, and Tanner — raise a toast to him, with a glass of whisky set aside for Bond in his honor. M reads a passage from author Jack London : “The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

The film’s final scene shows Madeline and Matilde driving along the Italian coast, a similar view from the movie’s opening moments, five years earlier, where she and Bond were on a romantic getaway. Madeline tells Matilde a story about a man. “His name was Bond. James Bond …”

The Next James Bonds Who Never Played 007

No Time to Die Post Credits Scene: Is This the Last Bond Movie?

Yes, there will be another James Bond, although the producers say the search for the next Bond won’t begin until 2022 . Given the amount of closure in this film, it seems the franchise will be rebooted again and with a whole new cast. But despite the finality of No Time to Die, the last words on-screen are the same last four words that have graced many past 007 films: “James Bond will return.”

That's as close as we get to an end credits scene in No Time to Die. But in a way, it's enough, isn't it? There are big questions surrounding the Bond franchise after this film, and those four words pretty much say it all. Will they reboot again? Could they somehow continue on with this cast of characters and no Daniel Craig, perhaps with Agent Nomi taking back the 007 mantle? Sure, it seems unlikely... but we'll certainly be guessing for some time to come about just where the James Bond series will go next!

Did James Bond’s death scene leave you shaken or stirred? What did you think of No Time to Die overall? Let us know in the comments. And for more on James Bond, check out our No Time to Die review and look back at the “ next James Bond actors ” that never actually got the role.

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The role of James Bond is one of the most high profile that any actor could be cast in. Bond has endured for over sixty years , introducing the character to new generations thanks to the revolving casting of the famous spy. While Sean Connery and Roger Moore ’s interpretation of the character certainly have their fans, Daniel Craig is often regarded as the greatest actor to ever play 007. Unlike previous stars, Craig captured the dark, gritty persona that was present in the source material by Ian Fleming .

While being one of the most iconic movie heroes in history would be enough for most actors, Craig has proven himself a very versatile performer who is certainly not going to be bound to his role as 007 for the rest of his career. Craig’s willingness to take on challenging roles and subvert expectations of his stardom has resulted in successful recurring partnerships with directors like Steven Spielberg , Sam Mendes , and Rian Johnson . The 007 movies are obviously enjoyable, but Daniel Craig has several other great and rewatchable movies , many outside the realm of action and espionage.

10 ‘The Adventures of TinTin’ (2011)

Directed by steven spielberg.

The Adventures of TinTin offered Craig the rare opportunity to play a villain, a notable change of pace compared to the more heroic plays he was so often associated with. Based on the iconic comic book stories of the same name, The Adventures of TinTin focuses on the titular boy reporter ( Jamie Bell ) who goes on a search for treasure with the eccentric Captain Haddock ( Andy Serkis ). Craig appears as the main villain, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine, who is willing to kill the two adventurers out of greed.

Craig was well-suited for the technological leaps that Spielberg took with The Adventures of TinTin , which included motion capture and imaginative usage of 3D. Although certainly aimed at a younger audience, The Adventures of TinTin contains electrifying action that rivals Spielberg’s work in Jaws or the Indiana Jones franchise. Tintin is a rewatchable and delightful gem , and it's unfortunate that a sequel has not yet made it to fruition .

The Adventures of Tintin

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9 ‘No Time To Die’ (2021)

Directed by cary fukunaga.

No Time To Die is a fitting end to Craig’s era of the Bond franchise that told what is perhaps the most romantic story in the series. No Time To Die focuses on Bond’s relationship with Madeline Swann ( Léa Seydoux ), who becomes the first woman to truly win his heart after the death of Vesper Lynd ( Eva Green ). The film emphasizes the importance of Bond’s relationship with Mallory ( Ralph Fiennes ), Moneypenny ( Naomie Harris ), Q ( Ben Whishaw ), and Felix Leiter ( Jeffrey Wright ).

Although No Tide To Die 's production was somewhat chaotic , Craig is as charismatic as ever, offering him more room to explore Bond’s feelings after the mild disappointment of Spectre . Given the emotional weight of No Time To Die ’s climax, it will certainly be challenging for the next actor cast as 007 to live up to the precedent that Craig set. It's not perfect, but more than one will want to revisit Craig's swan song if only to see him doing his thing one last time.

No Time to Die

8 ‘munich’ (2005).

Working with Spielberg is certainly a strong way to kick off an actor’s career, and Munich proved just how much Craig could add to a film in a supporting capacity. Based on a tragic true story, Munich stars Craig and Eric Bana as spies who track down terrorists after a bombing at the Olympic games. It’s a sharp and often upsetting depiction of escalation and violent extremism; sadly, the film’s themes are more relevant now than they ever have been.

Munich allows Craig to show the physicality and intensity that were befitting of a professional espionage agent.

Munich is among Spielberg's coldest and most clinical efforts. While it’s a much different spy film compared to the Bond series, Munich allows Craig to show the physicality and intensity that were befitting of a professional espionage agent. Between Spielberg’s inventive use of tracking lots, the thought-provoking conversations about violence, and standout performances from Bana, Craig, and the ever-reliable Geoffrey Rush , Munich is an important work of cinema that gets better with every subsequent watch .

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7 ‘Road to Perdition’ (2002)

Directed by sam mendes.

Road to Perdition marked Craig’s first collaboration with Sam Mendes , who would go on to direct him in two Bond films. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel of the same name, Road to Perdition follows the reformed gangster Thomas Sullivan ( Tom Hanks ) as he attempts to escape from the violent criminal underworld. Craig co-stars as the jealous son of a powerful gangster ( Paul Newman ) and serves as one of the film’s primary antagonists.

Road to Perdition is a rewatchable and deeply emotional take on the gangster genre that opts to treat its violent characters with sensitivity. Craig is a standout, as he offers a more intimate look at a lonely son who desperately wants to appease his father. Seeing Craig act alongside Newman feels like seeing one great actor pass the torch to the big star of a new generation. Indeed, their scenes together are among the film's most compelling.

Road to Perdition

6 ‘logan lucky’ (2017), directed by steven soderbergh.

Craig proved just how funny he could be in the outrageous heist comedy Logan Lucky . The film centers on the siblings Jimmy ( Channing Tatum ), Millie ( Riley Keough ), and Clyde ( Adam Driver ) as they attempt to stage a heist at the Texas Motor Speedway race. To complete the mission, they hire Craig’s character, Joe Bang, an incarcerated criminal known for his safecracking abilities.

While the heist sequences are remarkably well orchestrated , Logan Lucky is at its best when it focuses on the hilarious interactions between the characters. Craig leans into the eccentricities of Bang and uses a thick Southern accent to give himself a unique charm. Logan Lucky is a very rewatchable film packed with many great actors , yet Craig somehow manages to be the definitive scene stealer. His willingness to laugh at himself ultimately makes him the undeniable highlight.

Logan Lucky

5 ‘the girl with the dragon tattoo’ (2011), directed by david fincher.

Expectations were high for David Fincher ’s adaptation of the popular The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo novel series, as the trilogy of films starring Noomi Rapace was already iconic. Thankfully, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo became the definitive version of the story, thanks to its strong characterization. Craig stars as a journalist who helps the hacker Lisbeth Salander ( Rooney Mara ) investigate the case of a girl who went missing many decades ago.

Mara certainly gives the performance of her career , but Craig does a great job at playing a flawed yet engaging leading man, especially in a film that often delves into the horrors of toxic masculinity. While The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo contains some very graphic moments of violence that could be disturbing for some viewers, it's such a brilliantly told mystery that it is very rewatchable for fans of the noir genre.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

4 ‘knives out’ (2019), directed by rian johnson.

Knives Out was a bold reinvention of the mystery genre with several clear allusions to the work of beloved mystery author Agatha Christie . Craig’s performance as the quirky detective Benoit Blanc is the glue that keeps the film’s amazing cast together. Although it initially appears that Blanc is nothing but a bumbling goofball, he quickly proves himself the most savvy and intelligent character in the film.

Craig brings a sensitivity and warmth to the character that makes the conclusion of Knives Out more rewarding. It’s evident that Blanc solves crimes not just out of obligation but because he genuinely cares for the victims and those in danger. Knives Out is so packed with twists and turns , as well as some hilarious moments of physical comedy, that it immediately established itself as one of the most rewatchable mystery films ever made.

3 ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2022)

Although expectations were certainly high, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery somehow managed to be even more compelling than its predecessor. The sequel sees Blanc getting invited to a mysterious weekend party, where a haughty influencer ( Edward Norton ) asks him to participate in an elaborate murder mystery game. The stakes are heightened when the murder becomes real, forcing Blanc to piece together the clues as to why he was really invited.

Glass Onion is more ambitious than its predecessor , as it addresses the rise of internet personalities and the danger of intellectual theft. While the mystery itself is perhaps even more clever than the first film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is also outright hilarious, one of the best comedy movies of the 2020s that gave Craig more than enough room to flex his comedic muscles. Unsurprisingly, another installment in the series is in the works, expected to premiere in 2025.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

2 ‘casino royale’ (2006), directed by martin campbell.

The Bond franchise was in a state of distress before Casino Royale was released, as the latter installments starring Pierce Brosnan had veered too far in the direction of campiness. However, Casino Royale was the first Bond film to explore the character’s origin story and how he earned the “license to kill.”

Director Martin Campbell opted for a darker take on the material that addressed the threat of modern terrorism and political violence. However, Craig’s undeniable charisma retained the signature idiosyncrasy that made Bond such a beloved character. Casino Royale is one of the few Bond films that treat the character as fallible and expose how a heartbreaking tragedy colored his persona for the rest of his career. Casino Royale isn’t just a great introduction to the Bond franchise but one of the most relentlessly entertaining and rewatchable action films of the 21st century.

Casino Royale

1 ‘skyfall’ (2012).

Skyfall is the most rewatchable Bond film ever made , as it brought the franchise full circle by exploring the character’s past for the first time. Craig’s third film in the role saw Bond returning to active service in MI6 after the rogue hacker Raoul Silva ( Javier Bardem ) threatens to dismantle the agency from the inside. The film emphasizes the relationship between Bond and his employer, M ( Judi Dench ), who is put in danger when Silva targets her for revenge.

Craig brings out the heroic side in Bond while respecting the character's stoic and cynical approach, showing how he emerges from personal tragedy to save the agency he dedicated his entire life to. While Mendes incorporates some of the best setpieces in the entire series, Skyfall is notable for its strong writing and more intimate moments. Craig was already an excellent Bond, but Skyfall allowed him to evolve the franchise into something more profound.

NEXT: The 10 Best Pierce Brosnan Movies, Ranked

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