By Smilla Eihausen, Year 13
(contains major spoilers for No Time to Die)
From my previous Bond article, it is pretty obvious that I am a huge James Bond fan. Obsessed even. I may not be a qualified film critic, but here are my credentials for assessing the latest Bond:
- I have watched every single Bond at least twice (in regard to my favourite films, I have lost count how many times I have seen them).
- I watched my first Bond at the ripe old age of three years old (don’t worry my parents covered my eyes during the scary scenes in Dr. No), so I have had 15 years of exposure to 007.
- My hobbies include reading, long walks on the beach, and researching James Bond trivia for fun.
- I have taste. Exhibit A: My favourite Bonds include From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, Casino Royale, and Skyfall. Exhibit B: I find that the Pierce Brosnan films are all a disaster, but we won’t get into that now…
Within ten minutes of sitting in the movie theatre I realised that this film would disappoint me. I had been anxiously awaiting the next Bond since Spectre, and my expectations were relatively high walking into the theatre. The film opens with Bond and Dr. Swan ‘facing’ their demons in Matera, Italy, but rather than focusing on any chemistry between the two lovers, there is almost immediate shooting, violence, and destruction. A good Bond always has more witty dialogue and plot than violent action sequences, which this film had way too much of. If I had wanted to sit back and watch violent bloodshed, I would have stayed at home and turned on The Terminator.
From the moment Dr. Swan and Bond appeared on the screen, their relationship felt completely forced and unnatural. I am a huge fan of Dr. Madeleine Swan, but have always found that the relationship between the two characters seemed completely unrealistic, especially because of Bond’s history with Vesper in Casino Royale. The two characters supposedly fell in love after a few days of being together in Spectre, which, in my opinion, makes their relationship in No Time to Die much less believable.
One of my biggest pet-peeves in novels and movies is the miscommunication trope, which is when two characters have a misunderstanding, greatly impacting the plot. If only Bond had put those spy skills to use and put on his thinking cap, actually listening to the woman he apparently loves, so much unnecessary moping could have been avoided and at least an hour would have been shaved off of the film’s run-time. But, I guess that’s a common theme in Craig’s Bond films; he finally trusts a woman enough to fall in love with her, only to feel betrayed the moment a villain hints at her apparent deception.
One thing I have always loved about Bond is the element of class throughout all the films. Innocent people are rarely shot at during a chase sequence, there are no cruel torture scenes at the hands of our hero, and Bond usually keeps his language ‘classy’. However, I found the explosion of Vesper’s grave to be completely distasteful and so unlike a scene to appear in an authentic Bond film. I know that Blofeld is the slimiest man to exist within the Bond universe, personally seeking revenge through Spectre in almost every film, but blowing up Vesper’s grave took revenge one step too far. Not to mention, the picture of Vesper on her grave looked like a portrait from the 1800s, which was, in my opinion, just weird.
Another crucial aspect of a great Bond is fantastic acting from all actors, not just the leading characters. While all actors did a fantastic job, including Lisa-Dorah Sonnet who played Bond’s daughter, Craig’s acting fell short on numerous occasions. Most notably, Craig’s acting during the interaction with Blofeld was extremely cringeworthy and unlike Bond. Craig’s Bond has very distinct mannerisms: he stands with his legs far apart, always wears a soft smile or smirk, and narrowed eyes or a clenched jaw are the only reactions he shows when provoked by a villain. Bond would never lose his composure as quickly as he did during that scene, waving his arms around theatrically and anxiously laughing while interacting with Blofeld. I know that Craig has been trying to get out of the Bond franchise for a few years now, but he should have maintained the acting he has been doing in the previous installments.
Regarding the plot, I was extremely disappointed by the lack of a coherent storyline in this film. One of my favourite Bonds, Skyfall, has one of the best plots in the entire franchise, where Bond has a clear objective and his vulnerability shines through. Not only is the directing fantastic, but the character development of each person within the film is explored. In No Time to Die, however, Bond’s connection to so many characters is hurried along, there is no intense interaction with the villain, Safin, and his only emotional side is explored once he finds out he has a daughter, which was crazy enough for a Bond. Additionally, there were so many unnecessary deaths throughout the storyline that I was getting whiplash. Felix Leiter’s death occurred so suddenly that I was in shock, especially because he has played an important role in so many Bond films, not just Craig’s installments. Blofeld’s death felt just as hurried, making it clear that they were trying to get any characters involved with Craig’s Bond out of the way, foreshadowing Bond’s ultimate death at the end of the film.
The one thing that I loved about No Time to Die was Hans Zimmer’s amazing composition for the film. Before I had even watched the film, I was already listening to the movie soundtrack. Zimmer’s ingenuity needs to be applauded, especially since he maintained the Bond-esque element of Bond music from the earlier movies, especially from the 1969 Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. For those who have not seen On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the film follows Bond as he stops another one of Blofeld’s plots, this time to destroy the world’s crop production, all while falling in love with a head-strong woman named Tracy. The famous song “We Have All the Time in the World,” sung by Louis Armstrong, plays throughout the film, usually as an instrumental version, as Bond and Tracy fall in love. At the end of the film, the two lovers eventually get married and Bond retires his status as 007. However, the film ends tragically when Blofeld shoots and kills Tracy when the newly married couple drive away from the wedding for their honeymoon. The instrumental version of “We Have All the Time in the World” plays as Bond weeps over Tracy’s dead body, and in No Time to Die, the song plays as the credits roll. You can imagine how many tears were shed among my family. Not only does Zimmer include a version of the famous song in the new Bond, but he also interweaves other songs from the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service soundtrack throughout the music for No Time to Die, such as in “Matera” and “Good to Have You Back”.
To end, let’s discuss Bond’s death. Since I started watching Bond at a young age, I would often get scared that our hero would be killed during a fight. However, my parents would always reassure me that Bond never dies because there is always another adventure that awaits him in the next film. So, when Bond started saying his goodbyes to Madeleine saying “you have all the time in the world,” and she responded with “we just need more time,” my heart sank. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond whispers “we have all the time in the world” as he holds onto Tracy’s dead body, all while the instrumental version of “We Have All the Time in the World” plays in the background. After Bond says those words to Madeleine in No Time to Die, I realised that James Bond would no longer be escaping at the last possible second, but would actually die. Instead of giving us hope that he had made a daring escape in some way by solely showing us the explosion from far away, we see the explosion from where Bond is standing, giving us no hope for his survival. I, of course, was sobbing as my childhood hero had just died, and I had no hope for the continuation of the Bond franchise. I mean, where could they possibly go from killing James Bond? You can kill 007, but not James Bond.
I walked out of the movie theatre feeling disappointed, angry, and defeated. As I mentioned in my previous Bond article, there are many issues within the Bond franchise that cannot be continued in the modern era of feminism. Not only are there issues of blatant racism, misogyny, and cultural appropriation within most of the Bond films, but I think most women are sick of seeing women presented as “disposable pleasures” as Vesper so famously says to Bond in Casino Royale. However, No Time to Die’s attempt at being “woke” was not convincing, at least not to me. Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed the banter between Nomi, Bond’s replacement, and James throughout the film, but I would have enjoyed her role much more if she had been working alongside James, not replacing him. It would have been incredible to see her being assigned as 006 or 008, and being forced to work with Bond, showing off her skills at espionage and besting Bond in certain scenes. Similarly, I did not like Ana de Armas’s role as Paloma at all…if their goal was to include a sexy, “bad-ass” spy in the film, they succeeded, but it definitely wasn’t from a feminist angle. Even with all of the terrible special effects such as the anti-gravity/magnetic machine at the beginning of the film, reminiscent of the Pierce Brosnan era of invisible cars, the most unbelievable aspect of the film was that Paloma’s low-cut dress did not shift at all and stayed perfectly in place, even during her fighting sequence. It felt like a male fantasy of what a “bad-ass” female spy should be, especially with her innocent expressions and naivety, similar to Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.
For me, Bond has been killed in both the literal and metaphorical sense. I have no idea how the franchise will come back from this disaster. However, maybe they will pull themselves together, similar to how they did after the disastrous Moonraker (even though Bond did not die at the end of that one). If they make a new Bond, I can only hope they get rid of the extreme violence, develop a better plot, and create a Bond girl similar to Vesper Lynd again (a Bond girl with spunk, a great backstory, fantastic character development, and someone who isn’t just there to eventually sleep with Bond at the end). There are enough violent action movies in existence! We need a classic Bond again with esprit, minus the sexism!
