“James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ian Flemming
Staring: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes
Release Date: October 8, 2021


We have come to the end of the Daniel Craig era as James Bond, and No Time To Die is leaning into it. This final United States trailer begins just showing flashbacks of all of Craig’s previous adventures as 007, reminding the audience of how charismatic and dangerous Mr. Bond can be. It also forces recall of how much better Casino Royale (2006) and Skyfall (2012) were than Quantum Of Solace (2008) and Spectre (2005). Can you believe that Craig has been James Bond since 2006!?

Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) is introduces gasping for breath, much like how No Time To Die is gasping to make a profit after being delayed for years (literally). We can draw that this reinvigoration of life is part of the scene when he is shooting and Bond underneath the ice.

We get some voice over from M (Ralph Fiennes) noting how enemies of the state (and the world) are becoming less tangible and more opaque. There are new technologies up and coming, and it seems only Bond (with some help of a new agent) can save the day.

One of the biggest plot points in No Time To Die will be that Bond’s love interest Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) has a connection to Safin…and most likely a romantic one. When he later says in the trailer “Speaking to my own reflection” it is going to paint the light on Bond that not everything he has done is hunky-dory. Does this remind everyone of when Silva (Javier Bardem) painted M (Judi Dench) in the poisonous lens in Skyfall?

One other line that Safin says that I love is “Life is all about what you leave behind…” Bond does not have much of relationships or a legacy (because you know, he is a spy and all of his missions were covert.) It also tackles the legacy aspect that was addressed in Skyfall. Returning to another aspect of one of the best Bond movies ever.

Can we also say that “Life is about what you leave behind…” reminds me a lot of “What we do in Life echoes in eternity.” from Gladiator (2000).

Other aspects of the No Time To Die that definitely deserve attention:

  • Christoph Waltz is back as Ernst Stravro Blofeld and what we hear from him is a foreboding message regarding Swann and her relationship to Safin and how it will kill Bond.
  • The line “The people become the weapon” makes me think that the plan put forward by Safin involves a biological weapon that humans spread to one another. Is it COVID?
  • Bond is brought back into the fold by CIA’s Felix Leiter (Jeffery Wright) and even M and M16 are waiting for him to save the day. We also get a dose of Nomi (Lashana Lynch) as the new 007, who will be aiding Bond in his quest to save the world.
  • The Aston Martin kicks ass in the trailer…but Bond seems relucatant to let it loose. I think this ass-whooping he deals out with the car gadgets comes after Swann reveals her past to Bond. He is forced to recollect whether or not he wants to fight for her in that exact moment, when all things are closing all around him.

Bond is back in theaters across the world on Friday, October 8, 2021.


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