A FILM REVIEW BY NEIL KENNY

Today in a very empty cinema I saw Daniel Craig's last outing as Bond in "No Time to Die".

So, what did I think...?

[spoiler free]

Well, I'll preface this by saying Craig has been very lucky in his tenure with the problems around Casino Royale, Spectre, Blofeld etc. being resolved and with this film Craig has added to or increased his Bond Top Trump scores heavily*.

As a film it is entertaining enough and very well crafted. The performances are extremely accomplished on the whole and without them the plot would not have any resonance. This film has real consequences and wouldn’t work as well otherwise.

The plot could confound casual watchers as this is a direct sequel to Spectre and reconfirms that these films are a separate continuity. Saying that the film does reference previous (pre DC) films a lot in the opening titles and in the music call-backs one particular Bond outing gets more than a passing nod.

The film is long and doesn’t really drag but it can go a bit slow in places. The middle section could actually be removed as it has no bearing on the plot at all and just seems to be there in order to accommodate characters who reappear and a smidgen of character development. If anything, the film would work well in a home environment when watched in sections as it is very episodic although you would lose the grandeur of the cinematography (fancy word for pretty pictures).

The dialogue was very witty throughout but did feel to be the result of different hands. The big bad guy does get some nice lines but in the end is pretty forgettable apart from the mask. The same goes for the lead henchman who apart from the gimmick was pretty forgettable.

The action sequences are very well done and there is a brutality in the quickness of them and all very well shot. In fact, the whole film does look very polished and the only thing that struck me was the limited colour palette as it went all in for the moody muted look.

Was it any good?

Well, I was entertained enough and would watch it again although like I mentioned earlier, I would probably watch it in sections due to its length. As I mentioned earlier Craig has been very fortunate with the availability of the Bond assets his tenure could access and it has led to a very particular series of films. Previous entries have all been very mixed for me with both good and bad and this instalment is very much the same. Some will hate it and others will love it and I fall somewhere in the middle.

Not the answer a review should give but this film is more than a film - it is a last entry in this particular run and tries to be the best of Daniel Craig Bonds.

[still spoiler free but I’m not taking chances as Bond nuts might deduce stuff]

There is one principal plot point which will be the talk of the town but even this has history (You Only Live Twice [novel]) and one thing to mention; remember how some Bond films ended – the last end credit card – well it's there.

* There is one category where he still gets a zero and I’ll leave you all to guess what it is but I’ll say that Ralph Fiennes doesn’t really count.

- Neil