THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

For the previous James Bond KungFuMagazine review, see Let the SKYFALL in Shanghai and Macao.

It’s been a lengthy journey for NO TIME TO DIE to get into the theaters. Originally scheduled to premiere back in November 2019, the film was delayed after Danny Boyle vacated the director’s chair. That pushed the premiere back to 2020, first to February, then postponed once more to April. But in between those dates, March pounced like an MGM lion, and the world shut down.

Now, nearly two years later, NO TIME TO DIE is finally getting the theatrical premiere it deserves. And ironically, the global threat Bond faces here is a weaponized disease. However, it’s not Covid. It’s not even a virus. It’s nanobots. But the villainous infectious catastrophe that Bond must thwart is in the shadow of the main story – the end of Daniel Craig’s watch over the iconic spy James Bond.

The Craig pentalogy of Bond films has been a great ride. Craig’s story arc has been its own unique tale, with plenty of sly Easter egg nods to the original Ian Fleming novels as well as the previous films. In this regard, the final installment does not disappoint. All five Craig films are tied together in continuous linear story, much more so than the previous Bond films (the novels had a continuity too, which breaks down towards the end and with the short story collections). Because of this, NO TIME TO DIE doesn’t stand on its own that well. Like AVENGERS: ENDGAME or HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, it’s the conclusion to many story arcs, so to truly get the full impact, you need to know what happened before.

That Martial Connection

Craig quickly established himself as the roughest Bond with CASINO ROYALE (2006). No Bond got bloodier or more brutal than Craig. Craig’s fight scenes have been the grittiest from the get-go. His take on Bond has been the most hard hitting. And like a good poker player, Craig anted up quickly with his debut film.

CASINO ROYALE leapt on to the screen with a vertiginous chase scene showcasing one of the youngest martial arts, the free-running style of Parkour. It still stands as one of the best cinematic showcases of this French art, featuring one of the styles founding fathers, Sébastien Foucan as the fleeing Mollaka. CASINO ROYALE showed off this style better than the French-made Parkour film DISTRICT B-13 (2009) or its lackluster Hollywood remake BRICK MANSIONS (2014). Coupled with an artsy film noir B&W opening, Craig’s debut in the role had Bond fans labelling him the best Bond since Sean Connery. Some even felt Craig does it better. Makes me feel sad for the rest.

Beyond Parkour, the 007 film franchise has been pivotal in bringing martial arts into the public eye. Since Bond is more known for his Walther PPK than his martial arts, it’s been his accomplices and adversaries that have demonstrated martial skills. In Connery’s fifth outing as the superspy, Bond ventured to Japan. In YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) Bond teamed with Japanese agent Tiger Tanaka (Tetsurō Tamba) and his squad of sword-wielding ninja, marking one of the very first times that ninjas appeared in a major Western-produced film.

Black Belt Bond Girls

Then there have been the Bond Girls. To keep up with Bond, his femme fatales have compensated for their diminutive yet voluptuous figures with martial arts. Connery’s third Bond film, GOLDFINGER (1964) pitted him against one of the most blatantly named Bond girl ever, Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). Who could resist Connery’s accented pronunciation of ‘Pooseh’? Pussy demonstrates her Judo during a literal roll in the hay. A year later, Blackman wrote Honor Blackman’s Book of Self Defense, a vintage martial arts tutorial for women with the alluring subtitle ‘in which the striking actress demonstrates “defense galore.”’

Connery went on to face Bambi (Lola Larson) and Thumper (Trina Parks) in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971). The acrobatic assassinesses didn’t quite propound a particular martial arts style, but an argument could be made for the bikini clad Blofeld bodyguard babes being the precursors to GYMKATA (1985).

Bond is typically physically stronger than his stable of Bond Girls thus necessitating their martial prowess, but there have been exceptions. May Day (Grace Jones) could have easily taken the then 57-year-old Roger Moore in his final appearance as Bond for A VIEW TO A KILL (1985). That was arguably one of the worst Bond films and I don’t just say that because I lived in Silicon Valley – the target of Zorin’s (Christopher Walken) fiendish plot. Moore should’ve hung up his Walther years earlier. Moore’s take on the role was the opposite of Craig’s, a shallow playboy of almost foppish levels. He was already too old for the role by the eighties and didn’t have the class that Connery had when he returned for his final outing in the role at 52 in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (1983). Craig is now 53, so it’s a good time to move on.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Michelle Yeoh as a martial Bond girl. She bested Pierce Brosnan as agent Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) in TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997). Brosnan also crossed swords with Verity (Madonna) in DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002). Bond had his fencing jacket on backwards, but when facing Madonna in a lace-up black bodice plastron, these things happen, even to a superspy.

NO TIME TO DIE features some fierce female fighting as Bond Girls have grown up. Paloma (Ana de Armas) delivers a solid high-kicking melee in heels and an evening gown. Her part is way too small however, just a connecting scene that would’ve been omittable had she not performed so well.

The new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), can also handle herself nicely. Her Jamaican patois is genuine, and it’s a good nod to Fleming, who lived in Jamaica after WWII. Consequently, Fleming set some of the Bond stories there – most notably Live and Let Die (the novel, not the movie) and had even an airport named after him there.

Overseeing the fights in NO TIME TO DIE were Fight Arranger Grégory Loffredo and Fight Choreographer Patrick Vo. Vo was Fight Choreographer Assistant for SPECTRE (2015). Oliver Schneider was the main Fight Choreographer for that film, who also choreographed TAKEN (2008). Vo also assisted with fight choreography for FAST & FURIOUS 6.

Prep Time for NO TIME TO DIE

As cinematic interpretations of the books go, CASINO ROYALE was relatively loyal to the source, more so than most of the previous twenty films. Casino Royale was the first Bond book, and Le Chiffre (played by Mads Mikkelsen in the movie) did torture Bond by striking him in the soft and tenders while bound to a bottomless chair. Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) was Bond’s first romance in the book too, and the “Vesper martini” was the literary source of Bond’s signature ‘shaken not stirred’ cocktail. What’s more, she did commit suicide in the book, although not in a sinking Venice building, and Bond pines for her in later novels.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008) picked up almost immediately where CASINO ROYALE left off, sending Bond careening in a new direction with a completely original story. The source of the title was a short story by Fleming where Bond hears of an affair at a post-mission dinner party in the Bahamas. The film goes elsewhere, developing Craig’s Bond world distinctly from the rest.

SKYFALL (2012) is a reset. It puts Bond’s stalwart supporting characters in position, replacing Judi Dench after her commanding seven film run as M with Ralph Fiennes, and adds newly cast Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw). This was a gear shift for the Craig arc, somewhat returning to the classic Bond, whilst delving into Bond’s childhood with a final showdown at his dilapidated family estate.

SPECTRE introduces Bond’s nemesis, the iconic criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) and his international terrorist organization, the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, or SPECTRE for short. Blofeld only appears in three of Fleming’s books, Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice. Collectively, these novels are nicknamed ‘The Blofeld Trilogy.’ Blofeld appears over twice as many times in the films.

Time for Easter Eggs

NO TIME TO DIE recalls the novel You Only Live Twice with Safin’s (Rami Malek) Garden of Death. In the book, Bond faces down Blofeld in a sword versus staff duel in his castle hideout, surrounded by the Garden of Death. Bond had also been renumbered as 7777 in this novel, although his signature 007 had not been reassigned like in the film. 

It also echoes ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1969) with its repeated references to Louis Armstrong’s ‘We Have All The Time In The World.’ That’s a cruel irony because the film ended with the assassination of Bond’s (George Lazenby) bride, Tracy Bond (Diana Rigg) by Blofeld (Telly Savalas) and Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat). While he never got that far in the novels, Craig’s Bond pentalogy has been defined by the death of Vesper.

NO TIME TO DIE is a long, self-absorbed film. At nearly two-and-three-quarters hours, it’s almost as long as a Bollywood film, but without the bladder-relieving mercy of an intermission. The finality of this installment is milked like no other previous Bond film, but given the magnitude, it’s forgivable. The action remains exhilarating, replete with death defying stunts and Bond getting bloodied up again. But I can’t help but think that some of its excesses could’ve been trimmed down for a tighter tale.

Craig delivers the deepest take on the Bond character so far, capturing the devasted wreck Bond became in the books with his own brutal panache. It goes some places that neither the books nor the films have dared, humanizing Bond as much as inflating his myth. As we say goodbye to many of the characters that the Craig pentalogy has created, we must give Craig a tip of the blade-brimmed bowler for revitalizing Bond for today’s ultraviolent sensibilities.

Stay to the end of the credits, and that signature sign off appears once more – ‘James Bond will return.’ Craig will be a tough act to follow.