"No Time To Die," 2021.
despite being overstuffed and tonally inconsistent and only speciously connecting the other daniel craig bond movies together, this one is my second favorite sort of bond movie, the one that asks, "what if we took all the elements of what makes james bond james bond and see what we can do if we remix them?" thinking license to kill or on her majesty's secret service or for your eyes only.
(my first favorite sort of bond movie, of course, is the normal type. goldfinger or goldeneye or skyfall or the spy who loved me or whatever. but that's less interesting to talk about)
it's bombastic and joyous in its admittedly messy construction, and i actually find its complete disinterest in rami malek's quasi-Dr. No villain's motivations sort of captivating. we've heard lots of motivations for villains, all of them complete, some of them ridiculously scant and some of them compelling, and this is neither, it's just: there's a bad guy and he will ruin everything for the sake of the story. piece it together yourself, this movie isn't really about that. is that the right solution? maybe not! is it interesting? i think it is!
craig here is doing a sort of never say never again connery performance, finally relaxed and just having fun with it, knowing that this is the end, even before he gets infected with "kill your friends and family" nanobots. (apparently in an earlier draft this was supposed to be a virus, and i'll bet you a million bucks somebody said "um m m m hey guys this might read like a cypher for aids or something" and so they had to change it to salve somebody's mind, but i find it effective even with the smokescreen of nano-technology. being afraid to be around people you love is a good fear to play on for a bond film that plays with themes of family and love and so forth!)
love lashana lynch as new 007, wish she had more to do. lea seydoux fulfills all the unfulfilled promises of spectre and she and craig make you believe they're deeply and fatally in love. ana de armas is ok, don't know why she gets all the ink for this one, she's barely in it, but she's good as always. ben whishaw also good as always. is there a movie he's bad in? i would like to see it just to get a break from how good ben whishaw is in everything!
craig has spent all the previous films playing bond much closer to fleming's fragile-but-closed-off self-destructive sociopath, and here he allows himself to grow a little into a creature unlike any previous adaptation, warm and self-deprecating and quick and engrossing. i really liked the fella by the end. rest in peace, buddy
