NO TIME TO DIE
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
The latest James Bond film (of 25) crashed through the Pandemic onto wide bombastic screens to a loyal public anxious for thrills, a clever plot, humor, beautiful girls and classy repartee.
We were robbed. Only one beauty, an American “trainee”, no humor or class, and a dumber than usual plot.
Grumpy and disgruntled, Bond (Daniel Craig) is reluctantly recruited from retirement in Jamaica. He should have stayed. Throughout the film he was annoyed, pained or bored. Whether by his role, his redeployment, or his salary, we don’t know. Like him, we also don’t care.
The opposing villain (Rami Malek) is hardly more credible with his hare-brained, muddy plan for world dominance(?) or destruction(?) that makes no sense even to him. Unlike former villains, Malek has few distinguishing characteristics to make him interesting or reasonably scary. He displays only slightly more interest in the plot than Craig, but not very menacingly. Fleming was always careful to create memorable adversaries. Not here.
What might have been an entertaining “Bond Returns” epic is tiresome in its lack of wit -- despite several obvious opportunities, especially on the changes at MI-6 since his retirement. Perhaps the directors thought Bond fans tired of his droll humor and double entendre. Maybe they thought (if they did think at all) we would be satisfied for Bond to mount a business-like, straightforward hunt punctuated by the obligatory car chase to the inevitable consequences courtesy of Q and Aston Martin. They were wrong.
If there ever was a time for Bond to die, this was it. And he did.
If you like senseless mayhem, loud noises, a stale plot and bad acting, this is the film for you. If not, save your $9.50 to $20.00 and look elsewhere – maybe CDs of 007 by Sean Connery or Roger Moore.