The irony of this title is that the time for Daniel Craig’s stint as James Bond should have died far before the creation of this film. This film is what we have come to expect from the overplayed spy thriller series of slick suits, fast cars and gunfights. That is to say there was nothing to distinguish this film from any other James Bond that has been produced over the past three decades. 007 once again comes out of retirement to fight a white, foreign megalomaniac who hopes to disrupt the world order and once again our hero comes riding in to save the day.
My main issue with this film is that it should be exciting. It has all the ingredients for a great film but it’s as if the chef lost the recipe and just started chucking random things in. Rather than an exciting spy thriller where we are captivated by the motivations of all figures involved I found myself spacing out for unnecessarily long action scenes where we know James Bond will face death and “barely” escape.
Even to the casual watcher this film falls short in so many ways. I for one have watched every Bond film that Daniel Craig has starred in but despite this I still felt lost with the plot. It’s been six years since the last film and yet we are expected to remember large swathes of its plot. For those that have not seen the previous films then this one will make even less sense. Even now while I’m writing this review only days after watching it I can’t remember any scenes being particularly noteworthy. The main memory that comes to my mind is the near three hours of boredom experienced while I tried to stay awake watching this film.
That’s not to say that I hate the James Bond franchise. Some of Daniel Craig’s earlier films were excellent. I just get the feeling that the more recent films have lost that sense of wonder that was first generated through the likes of James Bond. This is not a realistic film. But why should it be? It is meant to be a fictitious action film and this is where one of the major flaws is. It tries to be realistic while existing within a totally unrealistic universe. Some of the things that made James Bond great in the early years were the completely unrealistic and yet somehow feasible gadgets. They toed the line between wonder and realism exceptionally well. This is completely contrasted by the items which he is now equipped with which are just plain boring which in turn generate very little excitement.
Overall No Time to Die is a film that lacks any creative brilliance; a used template which is so worn now that it is close to breaking. Nevertheless, as long as it keeps generating millions in profit it will forever be reused.
Spotlight Magazine 
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