“No Time to Die” pays homage to the history of the James Bond franchise. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga captures a passionate and dramatic atmosphere within the film, and with a beautiful music score from Hans Zimmer, Daniel Craig’s James Bond is off on a mission that flips and pays off in what is going to likely be the last of Craig’s appearances as the character.

First things first, I want to acknowledge Billie Eilish being the singer for the movie’s theme. It’s such a good choice. Albeit her music style isn’t exactly my preference, she has such a soothing voice that captures the sense of the film’s scenario. 

The visual settings and aethstetics have a darker feeling in general in comparison to other Bond films, as this director Fukunaga employs a feeling for when the actions get serious.

Throughout the film, Bond is met with his own personal challenges, as a secret lying in the shadows, and an ever-escalating conflict grows as the plot goes on. The direction of this film’s plot is quite intriguing, as the film’s main antagonist is constantly a threat to Bond’s former lover, Madeleine Swann.

Over time, Bond comes to find his personal reasoning with where he stands with the people around him. Bond comes to recognize and accept he’s impacted the lives of those around him, and it weighs heavy on him. 

With Bond retired from the spy life after the last film, the new 007 in MI6 is a woman named Nomi. Her role in the film felt unfulfilling in all honesty, as she has nothing special really going on until the film’s climax. In essence, the difference between if she was at the end of the movie or not doesn’t mean all that much. 

The primary antagonist, Lyutsifer Safin, is a villain whose personality I’ve always liked seeing in movies. The tone of his character is cold, apathetic and so willingly chaotic that his physical presence is simply unnerving to say the least. The way Safin’s character is portrayed is almost a parallel of Bond’s, where Bond seeks to protect others so they avoid feeling the same pain of loss as he did. Safin lashes out for his losses with his wrathful plan.

Safin himself is a foreshadowed consequence from the events of the past film. Safin has a bloodthirsty plot for revenge, and if he goes down, he’ll go down bringing the entire world with him. Rami Malek, who plays Safin, genuinely has one of his best appearances thanks to his broad and diverse acting abilities. His looks make him so cunning for an antagonist.

The ending was a bold way to finish off the film. I think it’s an interesting way to end the Daniel Craig-Bond movies. 

I just hope Hollywood doesn’t attempt to pull a Sean Connery on this film (and that’s a minor spoiler if there was one).