Daniel Craig has endured a complicated relationship with James Bond during his 16-year tenure over the role and No Time to Die was supposed to be his swan song as 007, yet little did Craig know the villainous COVID-19 had other plans.
Unlike the fictional Spectre organization or its Quantum subsidiary, the pandemic has gone its way to constantly thwart Bond’s attempts to finally land in cinemas and it’s now been over a year since No Time to Die’s original April 10, 2020 premiere was set to take place. With the film still a good six months away from releasing it does beg to ask the question of whether even Bond himself is capable of completing his mission objectives, as even his 007 gadgets are getting old.
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All things considered, building hype for any movie is something that requires large amounts of money allocated towards advertising, things like throwing one or two exciting trailers out there on strategic dates prior to the film’s release, but by now Craig’s Bond could have run out of ammo in his trusted Walther PPK. This should be especially worrying considering that the films that have come out with simultaneous releases on streaming and cinemas have -for the most part- been met with just the kind of commercial reception that was expected, good but certainly nothing to write home about.
No Time to Die of course lacks the streaming connections films like Wonder Woman, Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat, or the upcoming Black Widow can rely on to make up for less than spectacular box office numbers. Surely that’s the reason MGM chose to delay its prized James Bond blockbuster as far back as October 8. While most experts agree on the pandemic slowly improving in some regions thanks to slowly progressing vaccination programs and even Demon Slayer can put up record numbers in the United States, there’s no telling how good of a recovery cinemas would have experienced by then. After all, it really depends on people’s willingness to visit theaters.
James Bond is by most accounts a billion-dollar franchise, 007 isn’t that far off from Marvel’s superheroes, especially the ones that underperform when compared to the fully assembled Avengers, or solo Black Panther and Spider-Man. The harsh reality is that MGM’s gambit depends on far too many things outside of its control.
Financial considerations aside, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time to Die also comes off a rather eventful production process that saw previous director Danny Boyle leave the project, meaning this is the first Bond film directed by an American. The movie features the typical all-star cast one would expect from a 007 adventure, including Christoph Waltz returning to play the iconic Ernst Stavro Blofeld, though perhaps lacking the signature white feline.
Nevertheless, it bears mentioning Waltz’ role in Spectre suffered due to a lackluster plot that really didn’t do the actor’s impressive talents much justice. And that’s really something that can be said of Spectre as a whole too since the movie notably fails to reach the same heights of its predecessor, just like it went for Quantum of Solace.
Nowadays both Casino Royale and Skyfall consistently rank quite high for Bond fans among the best films in the franchise’s near half-century history. Those two films proved Bond could evolve and set a new standard for what was to be expected of the world’s most famous secret agent, becoming more than a showcase for expensive cars, beautiful women and fast-paced spy action, it could also portray a more vulnerable and relatable 007 more fitting with the times.
Every Bond movie is as much about its eccentric pack of terrorists as it is about 007, and No Time to Die will conjure the craft of the man who played Freddy Mercury so convincingly. Rami Malek seems pretty excited about his character’s more confrontational style, instead of the more mysterious roles played by Waltz and Javier Bardem before him. Waltz’ Blofeld appears to be more of a looming Hannibal Lecter in the trailer, but perhaps that could fit the character’s approach much better than in the last film, the same way Casino Royale's script worked for Mads Mikkelsen.
At the same time, No Time to Die is intended to be an emotionally satisfying conclusion to all the story setups that have been built for Craig’s Bond all these years, losing his first love, losing his mentor, and potentially losing Madeleine now. Spectre ended with Bond driving off into the sunset with his new darling, but No Time to Die’s trailers hint that the relationship fell apart at some point and Leah Seydoux’s character could probably face the same kind of fate that tends to befall James’ romantic interests.
Rounding off the list of reasons to be excited about No Time to Die is Lashawna Lynch’s character, new “00” agent Nomi, who breaks the mold by becoming the first woman amongst Bond’s peers out on the field. The character could signal a new way women could be represented in Bond movies, arguably just as good as having a female Bond, which is something Barbara Broccoli, chief of all things concerning 007, still adamantly opposes and has discarded as an option to replace Craig.
James Bond has a long history of problems trying to deliver two consecutive entries that succeed in gaining favor from both fans and critics, they usually come in a cycle of one good, one not so good (a real shame for the best James Bond actor). Even if that is true, the odds are on No Time to Die’s side, especially with the added boost of very little competition from other blockbusters since it’s comfortably slotted between Shang-Chi and the Eternals.
Unlike Natasha Romanoff, whose solo Black Widow outing has been robbed of some of its shine by Disney Plus’ MCU content, James Bond doesn’t compete with other spies, not even with Mission Impossible’s Ethan Hunt. So everything is set for Daniel Craig to say goodbye to Bond the way he always wanted, in a film that’s much more than its car chases and locations, even if the post-pandemic box office isn’t quite there yet by the time that happens.