No Time To Die — No Spoilers Edition —

Talk about anticipation – I have been waiting for nearly two years for this movie. COVID really messed up movie premiers. This is to be the last outing for Daniel Craig as James Bond, 007, licensed to kill. I am going to miss his Bond. He is a superb actor and his James Bond was tough and vulnerable at the same time. Daniel Craig’s swan song is a very entertaining movie. Many loose ends are summed up, old favorites are alluded to, and new characters are introduced. Fans of an earlier Bond may catch a bit of foreshadowing early on. Moneypenny and Q (Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw) get some well deserved screen time. M in the role that Judy Dench vacated several movies ago is again well played by Ralph Fiennes. The story is complicated; but it’s basically the usual evil villain out to destroy the world. Safin has gotten ahold of genetic nanobots that can be individually targeted by a person’s DNA, so he can destroy virtually any person on Earth, individually or in very large numbers. The villain in this go around is played by Rami Malek, who I love. But he just isn’t given enough to do here. He doesn’t really appear until a bit late in the film, and his evilness is very understated. For a Bond villain, he’s kind of not involved, and he never really seems diabolical enough to pull off his plan. Christoph Waltz has a small, but memorable part as Blofeld, whom Bond put in prison in the previous Bond outing, and manages to taunt Bond from his cell. I also enjoyed a very brief appearance by Jeffery Wright who plays the CIA agent and friend of Bond, Felix Leiter. Bond is still having a hard time getting over Vesper Lynd, his love interest from Casino Royale, but may have finally found someone to settle down with. Lea Seydoux plays the love interest and Bond tenderly protects her and her daughter from Safin and his nanobots. Some people will not be happy with the way the writers decided to end this iteration of Bond. No matter what you think of the ending, this movie is full of chases, gadgets, intrigue, martinis (shaken not stirred) and rousing action. What more could you ask for in a Bond movie??