Movie: No Time to Die

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Plot Overview

James Bond (Daniel Craig) having put his love Vesper Lynd (1983–2006) behind him is now moving on with French lovely/psycho­therapist Madeleine Swan (Léa Seydoux.) When their relation­ship blows up in his face, it's uncertain which he needs more, a woman or a shrink. He has trust issues and who can blame him?

His old CIA buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) brings him out of retirement to help him track down and neutralize a missing weapon of mass destruction (WMD.) They are aided by Leiter's smiling side­kick Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen) of unproven loyalty and by three-week trainee Paloma (Ana de Armas.) They cross paths with MI6 who wrote Bond off as MIA, he'd been gone so long.

Being needed again he gets reinstated in the Double–0 section that survived the purge threatened in the last 007 movie. The personnel had indeed been upgraded in “Spectre” (2015). The head of the agency is still played by a youngish Ralph Fiennes who can't quite fill M size shoes in Bond's estimation. Q (Ben Whishaw) is queer. While a poof is no longer considered a security risk, he still doesn't get the same sympathy for a missed date, which breeders Bond and Swan get. Miss Money­penny remains a chocolate brown Naomie Harris. The shocker is Bond's female Double–0 replacement Nomi (Lashana Lynch.) She would fail author Andrew Vachss's paper-bag test:

“What's the paper-bag trick?” I asked him. The Prof had been schooling me for a while, so I didn't even blink at a black man saying “nigger.” I knew words were clay—they took their real meaning from the sculptor.

“I ain't talking about passing, now,” the Prof cautioned me. “It's a class thing. M_f_ers'll hold a paper bag next to they faces and look in the mirror, okay? If they darker than the bag, there ain't but so far up the ladder they can climb. understand?”

“I guess.”

“Nah, you don't get it, son. I'm talking about the colored ladder, see? Mothers want they daughters to marry light. They know high-society niggers don't want no darkies at their parties.” (4–5)

At the party to ferret out SPECTRE operatives, Bond in a tux and Paloma in a gown blended right in. Black Nomi was left to guard the perimeter. Some­times the Double–0's have to operate in other than western cultures, where women command little respect and/or darkies are ostracized. The writers got around that double difficulty here by relegating Nomi to research, driving, and guard duty. What the writers will come up with when a Double–0 needs to infiltrate a high society affair is some­body else's problem further down the line. Maybe the whole world will be woke by then; God help us.

Ideology

The big puzzle this movie presents us with is what is with Bond's latest love interest, which seems more serious and more fragile than others. It is framed by other adventures difficult to track, along the lines of, (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”

“The way of an eagle in the air” is unpredictable. The bird floats on invisible air currents and swoops on hidden prey. Bond while trying to elude multiple pursuers in a forest is also concerned about a helicopter hovering over­head. What is it up to?

“The way of a serpent upon a rock” is a wily course. Bond in his tricked-out Aston Martin and later on motor­cycle gives his chasers the slip with some fancy driving on the serpentine slopes of an Italian citadel. He may know where he's going, but our hearts leap into our throats at every turn.

“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” plays off wind, current, and tides. Bond in a submersible craft piloted by agent Nomi must moor on a towering rock island, on a side with­out any beaches. How are they gonna accomplish that?

“And the way of a man with a maid.” This just doesn't get any easier. First Bond and Madeleine can't keep their hands off each other. Then she gets booted out of his life for a seeming betrayal. Then they end up working together professionally. There are more surprises to come. We're pretty much clueless where this is going.

Production Values

“” was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. Its screenplay was written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga. It stars Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas and Rami Malek. The acting was really smooth. Note­worthy was Ana de Armas as a gung-ho, green CIA agent who had “excellent” moves. Added to the Double–0 stable was a female agent played by Lashana Lynch who was tall, black, and athletic. She would stand out in a crowd. Unfortunately, that is not a desirable attribute in a secret agent. Perhaps they intend to use her to infiltrate a women's basket­ball league. She'd blend right in.

MPAA rated it PG–13 for sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, brief strong language and some suggestive material. The back­ground music by Hans Zimmer is chilling. The action sequences really bring it. This is a well-made if formulaic succession to a franchise, which brings out Bond's softer side. It runs 2 hours and 43 minutes.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

Classic Bond, this has all the expected hallmarks of an espionage thriller but paints Bond closer to the tragic figure envisioned by master story­teller Ian Fleming—Hollywood romanticized him. There's no stopping Bond fans young and old from packing the theaters.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Vachss, Andrew. Pain Management. Copyright © 2001 by Andrew Vachss. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Print.