NO TIME TO DIE (2021)
Daniel Craig's 'tenure as James Bond', as they call it, has been less than stellar. There have been many highlights, but beyond the franchise reviving first instalment things have been rather shaky to say the least. Which isn't just a jab at the second unit camera work in Quantum of Solace. It seems at every turn there was a writer's strike or a long production delay of some kind. But this is a definitive conclusion to the rebooted series, for better or for worse. Does it go out on an all-time high or is it just a patchy affair? Unfortunately while this is a major step up from the laughable outing Spectre, the results reflect a lot of what has come before. Which is to say it includes the best, and worst, of Craig's time in the tuxedo, behind and in front of the camera.
Gone are the days of straightforward spy adventures. Now everything has to be an intertwining melodrama instead of a stand-alone movie. The Bond series has always absorbed a lot of mainstream culture ever since the Roger Moore days, and this seems to be another case of that old Eon Productions habit. They've thrown in yet more techno-thriller elements, in a story that still tries to tie the earlier films to one another. Perhaps you'd rather forget the absurd twist of Spectre or the substandard romantic storyline. But now those characters have followed James Bond into his next mission, whether they deserve to or not. Some continuity was always preserved in the past, but it was pretty light. Perhaps it can all be blamed on Marvel Studios.
The movie as a whole feels like bits and pieces of what came before, stitched together by who knows how many writers and producers. Once this was a Danny Boyle film after all. Even the score feels like it was cobbled together from old and new material. Hans Zimmer's faithful riffs on John Barry work nicely in some places. But at times it just sounds like Black Rain (or The Dark Knight) yet again. The title song by Billie Eilish is worked into the score appropriately at times, but the theme itself feels like a slower, mumbling, version of Skyfall. Some pieces work, others don't. Dramatic beats are earned at times early on, but become more forced as things progress. It's still an improvement on Craig's last film, but then it wasn't hard to make an improvement there.
Familiar moments are everywhere in a story that follows Bond as he quits the Secret Service, again. After being tricked by his enemies and betrayed by the woman he loves, again. Didn't he learn to trust no-one back at the start of the revamped series? Soon he's lured back into the fray by Felix Leighter (Jeffrey Wright) to stop a doomsday weapon from being passed into the wrong hands. Bond soon finds himself back in front of an irritated M (Ralph Fiennes) and must join forces with irritated MI6 agent Nomi (Lashana Lynch.) But at the same time all of these boiler-plate elements are being glued against newer, less formulaic ones. This is a franchise that sometimes follows a template a little too closely, but perhaps in this case more tried and tested beats would have worked better.
Certain elements do have the classic 007 vibe, if there is such a thing. There's a great opening in which a gadget laden Aston Martin speeds around an exotic location. Bond's brief excursion to Cuba to meet CIA contact Paloma (Ana de Armas) is a fiery affair filled with sharp outfits and humour. A tight stairwell battle offers tension and well staged action. There's even a brutal callback to For Your Eyes Only during a woodland skirmish. Craig himself feels confident with both the ruthless side and the jokier aspects of the character at this stage. If there's a genuine through line since 2007 it's the ego and swagger of his performance. But at times the jokes don't land and the dialogue style doesn't fit. And structurally a lot of the third act doesn't really work.
Bionic eyes and magnetic escape devices feel more like something from the Mission: Impossible series, or even the Kingsman films. Perhaps it's an odd thing to question in a franchise like this, but they should really be leading the pack rather than aping the competition. Particularly when Casino Royale set up such a good foundation. They tried so hard to ground things for so long, so it's odd to see certain kinds of visual effects and gadgets creep in. It's a stylish movie, but sometimes the overtly dynamic look is a distraction. However, the main things that don't quite fit are story elements during the finale. What is the plan of evil assassin Safin (Rami Malek) and why should we care? Where is the chemistry between Bond and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) to earn such a climactic set piece?
The writing quality takes a big dive late in the narrative, and as a result these puzzle pieces are missing. The story pushes really hard to make things dramatic, but there are strange contrivances and odd choices that undermine the end results. There's a ticking clock that makes no sense, and a lot of it is strangely rushed for a movie of this length. Like Craig's time in the role it's kind of a mixed bag, and a lot of the flaws have to be overlooked if you're going to be swept up in the emotional moments. You can't just throw in callbacks to movies from the 1960s and expect instant heartbreak. The action is mostly good, and supporting characters like Paloma, Nomi, and Felix work well, most of the time. But the villain is sometimes dull, sometimes confusing. Old clichés like a child in peril don't work if the right characterisation isn't woven into the story.
It's often gritty and often light, without ever finding a good balance that can be taken seriously. If this is a story about trust like Casino Royale, or one about ageing like Skyfall then they should have ran with it. These aren't deep inclusions for a blockbuster series, but they're consistent and focused enough. Instead this sometimes just feels like a series of different scripts that have been thrown together. The film-makers really want the viewer to be both shaken and stirred, but I'm not sure if this hits those marks where it counts. Somebody wanted a dark emotional conclusion, someone else wanted laughs, and someone else wanted Christoph Waltz to return. There are even nods to older unused Ian Fleming ideas, but again these aren't fleshed out. At least it didn't all end with Spectre, but the ride is certainly over.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
FINCH (2021)
On the subject of clichéd stories that lose their steam during the second half, Finch is part Wall-E and part Chappie. But it's at least a small scale story about one man, his dog, his robot dog, and his robot assistant. Facing the destruction of his bunker, Finch (Tom Hanks) puts the finishing touches on a machine that will later be named Jeff (Caleb Landry Jones.) Together they must take a road trip across a scorched Earth, after a solar flare has destroyed the ozone, and the ecology, of the world, turning it into a deadly dust bowl. Jeff must learn how to care for Finch's pet in the event he's not able to, and it's soon clear that his time in the unfiltered radiation of the Sun has taken a toll. But can they make it to safety while avoiding extreme weather and hostile survivors?
Your mileage will vary. But while none of this is new it is at least a story full of charm, if not logic. How can Jeff and Dog carry on their journey if Finch's truck is damaged? What kind of safety was he hoping to reach on their trip if the super secure lab he was living in is one of a kind? A lot of this is simply glossed over so that the story can focus on the character dynamics. Finch is a respectful last man on Earth kind of guy, but he's also world weary and cynical. Jeff was born yesterday and wants to learn to drive. No other characters (with actual screen time at least) are introduced so it's all about this central odd couple. There's a lot of neat world building, and it's subtle enough without being too bleak or too preachy.
However there comes a point in their journey where things do start to come undone. Perhaps it's an issue with the pacing. Or perhaps it's just the small scale of the story, which runs out of things to say. The two main performances do carry most of this, but there's a very limited number of stops on the way. It seems like a limited budget was met with a limited screenplay for some reason. The correct use of showing instead of telling is reversed a few too many times as things progress, and as a result the climax feels weirdly thin and rushed. Still, it does stick the landing moderately well at least. Jeff is a neat piece of visual effects trickery and the story is compelling. Sometimes the right amount of charm is enough.
3/5
