This was a film that we waited for in anticipation. Especially after watching all the old one movies during last years lockdown. Stuff from the 1960s and 1970s.
No Time To Die didn’t disappoint. In fact it was a thrilling. The two opening scenes were riveting.
Daniel Craig acted his part as James Bond exceedingly well. His co-star Léa Seydoux and the villain Rami Malek acted well too.
The plot was nuanced for a Bond movie and brought in links from other bond films. Even the title itself No Time to Die had a tie in with all the other bond movies with “Die” in their titles. The subplots and how they came together was also satisfying.
The main threat from the villain with his bioweapon medical technology was more than believable given the Covid pandemic. I’m sure the threat would also appeal to youngsters of today who may not have seen all the previous Bond movies.
Someone I know living in Australia went with his son and grandson to see the movie. He told his grandson that he had seen his first Bond movie in about 1962. He was watching the latest movie in the Bond franchise after so many decades.
I enjoyed the new tech genius Q, Ben Whishaw, who played the role convincingly.
Bond still has that familiar sense of humour. For example, when Q gave him a special watch later he reported that he showed the watch to one of the minor villains and it had blown his mind. Touches like this help tie back with the previous humour of Bond, especially those early 1960s movies.
The only thing that I was a little uneasy with was casting bond in a ageing role as if he’s come to the end of the line. But I suppose looking at Bond in a chronological way this is the logical conclusion.
It’s unlike stories from the DC and Marvel universe is where characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman can restart from any point in the story. In recent times, the origin stories of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn have had fascinating origin stories.
My first exposure to the Bond movies was in the 1970s in the Muizenberg bioscope called The Empire. That was a time when one could read the Cape Times with great journalists including Stanley Uys, humourist Art Buchwald, John Scott and Fiona Chisholm. I can’t remember the movie reviewer at the time but good reviews always lead us to the Empire bioscope. The Bond movies that showed those days were highly entertaining even for a youngster like myself.
For Bond movie fans this latest movie is a joy to watch, deep in some places, references to old flames like Vesper Lynd, witty and with a credible adversary.
