Movie Review: ‘No Time To Die’ Offers A Fitting Capstone To Daniel Craig’s Run As 007

Bond is back after a six-year hiatus – 18 months of which were due to COVID-19 delays. It was worth the wait. In a slick, modern, nearly three-hour package, No Time Die will arrive in U.S. theaters on Oct. 8. It’s a fitting coda to Daniel Craig’s iconic run as 007, as one of the top-tier actors to ever play the role in league with Sean Connery and Roger Moore. The epic 25th Bond film ties up many loose ends from Craig’s distinguished career helming the franchise.

The film starts off with Madeliene (Lea Seydoux) witnessing the murder of her father, a SPECTRE agent, who had killed the assassin’s family. She narrowly escapes and grows up to become Bond’s new wife. When SPECTRE tries to kill him on their honeymoon, 007 suspects his new bride has double-crossed him and sends her on her way. Bond drifts off into retirement in the Caribbean until CIA agent friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) calls in a favor to help him on a case in Cuba. In this SPECTRE mini-convention, a biological agent that literally could kill the whole world is unleashed.

The action from director Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) is epic, with Bond escaping one trap after the next until he’s brought face to face with the man behind the chemical plot, Lyutsifer Safin (Remi Malek). In a savvy modern twist, Bond finds that he’s been replaced as 007 by a black woman, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), who goes toe-to-toe with him in the mission to stop Safin. The action crescendos to a tragic – if inevitable – climax for Bond. A suitably epic end for our hero.