Stylish and gloomy, if not too daring, Daniel Craig says goodbye as 007 in “James Bond 007: No Time to Die”.
“You have all the time in the world,” said Daniel Craig’s James Bond once to his girlfriend, played by Léa Seydoux. 18 years separate the actor from the actress in real life, but on the screen the distance seems much larger. Craig’s angular face has got a few furrows, which makes Seydoux’s flawless countenance appear even more youthful. But if you don’t have time to die, you probably don’t allow yourself much rest either.
What Bond’s words, in which fans immediately recognize Louis Armstrong’s famous title song from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, mean above all: James Bond feels the twilight of the gods is approaching. Difficult to imagine private happiness after the end of service – even if, as a serious painter, you have finally found the love of your life.
“James Bond 007: No Time to Die”: Daniel Craig’s Farewell and Corona
Daniel Craig’s departure from the role of his life has been known for a long time, probably longer than Angela Merkel’s departure as Federal Chancellor (both have been in office since autumn 2005). And just as the film is about a postponed finale – after his release from the Secret Service, the helpless “M” (Ralph Fiennes) has to hire him again – he is one himself: Originally, Craig’s last appearance was in November 2019 worldwide Cinemas should come. The corona pandemic then thwarted all later start dates.
If you now see this largely sinister, perhaps the darkest Bond film ever, it certainly seems formally made for the pandemic. Even a highly infectious weapon threatens humanity – a gene-based poison that the Secret Service has used to get its own hands dirty. Now it has gotten into strangers too. They belong to the prime example of a megalomaniac bond villain, the Lyutsifer Safin embodied by Rami Malek.
“James Bond 007: No Time to Die”: Not the time to joke
In a brutalist bunker he fabricates the deadly material on a lonely island – and immediately recognizes his alter ego in his opponent: “License to kill, a story of violence … It’s as if I’m talking to my reflection in the mirror. Only: Your abilities will die with your body, while mine will survive me for a long time. ”007, however, disagrees:“ The story is not kind to people who play God. ”
It is a dialogue like something out of a James Bond film, and director Cary Joji Fukunaga is well advised to use such trademarks largely without irony. Danny Boyle was originally supposed to direct this episode, but his style may have been perceived as too light. We’re not in a Roger Moore Bond and it’s obviously not the time to be joking.
James Bond director Cary Joji Fukunaga is in his element
No other film series has been around for so long and has passed on rituals and anticipation over the generations in a similar way. Above all, the elegance of some early scenes fulfills these expectations in a thoroughly happy way. A certain Merian elegance of the cinema images only seems to have survived in Bond films, and that’s not just because the agent here is once again steering the 1964 Aston Martin from “Goldfinger” through Italian landscapes.
The exposition, in which Bond’s later lover, already known from the previous film “Specter”, meets the masked villain as a child, is particularly spectacular: the girl escapes from her mother’s murderer on a frozen lake, where she breaks into thin ice. But instead of killing her, he now shoots the ice so that she can appear underneath and save herself. Fukunaga, who became famous for the art-house film “Sin Nombre” and the innovative crime series “True Detective”, is in his element here.
Bond’s enemies make for a spectacular chase
Breaking the taboo of not starting a “Bond” with an adventure for the hero is worthwhile. But soon one misses such emblematic productions in the unexpected resumption of a plot from “Specter”. After all, Bond’s enemies make for a spectacular car and motorcycle chase.
To the movie
No time to die GB / USA 2021. Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga. With Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux. 163 min.
Five years have passed since Billie Eilish’s elegiac title song. The leap in time leads to Cuba and finally to a reunion with Christoph Waltz in the role of the Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who was already invented by Ian Fleming. Unfortunately, the prisoner is held in a glass box like a Hanibal Lecter, which also seems to have a detrimental effect on Waltz’s joy in playing. Which villain actor likes to play second fiddle?
“James Bond 007: No Time to Die”: Bond boys instead of Bond girls?
As I said, the first belongs to Rami Malek as the ruler of a mysterious island that not only houses a chemistry laboratory on a former military base between Russia and Japan. Production designer Mark Tildesley also designed a chic Japanese herb garden for the distinguished villain. The ensemble is a clear homage to the legendary Bond film architect Ken Adam, which could give the final third of the film a classic touch. Unfortunately, the fights that the agent has to fight in the dark bunker stairwells are more reminiscent of first-person shooter games.
But not only the villains are first and second class. Shamelessly, Bond’s London superiors have reassigned the former agent’s number. Lashana Lynch makes her debut here as the new 007, but has little opportunity to really distinguish herself. One can look forward to the first leading role of a female Bond – and whether there will be Bond boys instead of Bond girls. In the meantime, however, the end of an era has to be celebrated. Not at the very highest level, but stylish and traditional enough to make up for the long waiting time. No Bond film was eagerly expected. (Daniel Kothenschulte)
