'No time to die': Daniel Craig's spectacular and emotional farewell to James Bond
No time to die, the new and highly anticipated installment of James Bond and the last with Daniel Craig in the title role, arrives tomorrow in commercial theaters around the world a year and a half after its initial premiere scheduled for April 2020, just when the pandemic kept everyone locked up at home.
After several date dances by MGM and Universal, the film now lands amid great anticipation. And is not for less. Its world premiere in London on Tuesday reunited the team of the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed film with British royalty. Do not forget that 007 is more British than tea and the Majesty of him Queen Elizabeth II, whom he serves without batting an eye on every mission.
That same expectation was evident in yesterday's press pass in Barcelona, and the studio's request to deposit the cell phones in a sealed envelope, in case someone happened to record the nearly three hours of footage -it's the most long of the 25 of the saga-.
The women of the film are strong: Madeleine, the new agent 007 and the Bond girl of Ana de Armas
The result does not disappoint at all. What's more, fans of Ian Fleming's Licensed To Kill franchise will be moved by a never-ending plot not only by the display of a veritable visual feast of intrepid car chase scenes, skipping motorcycles shooting down alleys. straits of Italy or a state-of-the-art aircraft capable of diving into the water as if it were a submarine thanks to the ingenuity of Q.
No Time to Die is an exercise peppered with funny moments and especially truffled with nostalgia that show the most vulnerable and human side of a Bond retired from the secret service who tries to live in peace and bury the painful memories of the past - that truncated love with Vesper Lynd ( Eva Green) in Casino Royale, Craig's first foray as Bond and one of the most critically rated - just like the psychotherapist Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) we met in Specter (2015) does the same with her ghosts of the childhood.
The script signed to five bands shows the feminine touch of Phoebe Waller-Bridge betting on the composition of strong and attractive women, nothing to do with the vase of yesteryear (if Sean Connery raised his head ...): from the French Madeleine, a complete survivor, passing through the ambitious new agent 007 played by the black actress Lashana Lynch, blunt before the obvious racism of a Russian scientist, to the Bond girl of the Cuban Ana de Armas in a small role where she looks intelligence as well as sexy body and some swear word in Spanish that lowers the dramatic intensity of a story that navigates between love, friendship, betrayal and the fight to avoid a warlike conflict wrapped up under the baton of Hans Zimmer and the exquisite voice of Billie Eilish in the main topic.
As a villain, Rami Malek's enigmatic Safin and his toxic garden lack charisma and rage. Nothing to do with the Bond that Craig fires with full honors after five titles (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Specter and No Time to Die. His face now takes on a more relaxed tone than ever, with more nuances, with which he seems to enjoy a story full of surprises, including the apotheosis of the finale. While waiting to find out who will finally be in charge of replacing him in MI6, the actor has done a good job. And that his choice led to many initial doubts such as Blond Bond Definitely sets the bar high.
After five films like James Bond, Craig sets the bar high
