Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Distributor: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Duration: 163 minutes
No Time to Die (Blu-ray) – Movie Review
It’s hard to imagine that Daniel Craig donned the iconic codename of 007 more than 15 years ago. In 2006 we saw him star as the iconic Secret Service agent in Casino Royale, which would eventually spawn four sequels. Unlike many of the older James Bond movies, these films actually formed one big whole, as they often referred to one another when it came to certain characters and events that transpired. The newest and last movie of the series, No Time to Die, ties everything up with a grand finale. Even though many James Bond enthusiasts often commented that the Daniel Craig movies didn’t always respect the source material, we did very much enjoy how this series of films was handled. The next 007 will have very big shoes to fill.
After seeing a flashback of a horrible childhood memory of Madeleine (Léa Seydoux), we go the to present where Bond (Daniel Craig) is seemingly very happy with his relationship with Madeleine. The couple is growing closer and Bond is clearly happy with his so-called retirement. Sadly, things go awry and he gets ambushed, believing Madeleine has something to do with it. They don’t part ways on friendly terms. Five years pass, and a bioweapon is stolen from right under MI6’s nose. Bond is called in to help, and while reluctant at first, he does eventually fall in line as things get quite personal.
Even though this is a very lengthy movie, it felt like it was a lot shorter than its two and a half hours worth of content. The movie alternates perfectly between information that drives the story forward and action that perfectly suits an authentic James Bond experience. There was never a dull moment to be found, and even some unconventional story choices worked quite well here. The action scenes were reminiscent of the 90s era of Bond movies, while the storytelling felt very modern and deeper than many older films. Even the bold choice of handing the 007 codename to someone else was actually perfectly embedded into the story of Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond.
The acting performances in this movie were absolutely outstanding. There isn’t a single cast member that didn’t give it their all, and even though Daniel Craig may be in the limelight for most of the time, all supporting roles presented us with an equally impressive performance. We had three impressive leading ladies in this film, and each of them handled their role perfectly. Léa Seydoux fleshed out her character superbly, making sure she wasn’t a shallow Bond girl, as is often the case in the older movies. Lashana Lynch handled her role as ‘007’ perfectly, and she showed us there is more to the codename than just a charming man in a suit. And, last but not least, Ana de Armas’ short and powerful role during a key action scene was very impressive. She handled this part of the movie in a true 90s James Bond fashion where the fight scene felt breezy yet intense.
For our review, we received the 2-disc special edition Blu-ray version. One disc was dubbed the Bonus disc, and we expected a lot of special content to be found here. Sadly, we were somewhat disappointed with the content on the disc, as we only got roughly forty minutes of content, which all revolved around the same scenes and content. For the most part, we saw how certain scenes came to life, how the creators used certain practical techniques for stunts, and so on. Of course, this was nice content, but we expected a bit more for this last edition in this specific ‘arc’.
Conclusion
No Time to Die was a very entertaining and emotional ending to Daniel Craig’s era of playing James Bond. We loved this last movie as it tied up everything neatly, allowing a new James Bond to step into the limelight. Even though this series of James Bond movies is less casual than the old films, and it is advised to actually watch them all to fully appreciate all the content that is thrown at you, we are still somewhat sad that this era has come to an end. Nonetheless, those who have eagerly been awaiting the home release for this final Bond movie can rest assured that it was worth the wait.
No Time to Die (Blu-ray) - Movie Review,
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