Daniel Craig’s final 007 act in No Time to Die

Though I have seen every James Bond film, I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan, and certainly not an aficionado, but I do enjoy them. Even the bad ones! And No Time to Die is not one of the bad ones. It’s a solid film, showing a human side of 007 that you certainly didn’t see often in Daniel Craig’s predecessors. And it brings Craig’s run as Bond to a satisfying conclusion, as it has been well known that this will be his final tour.

In the beginning of the film, Bond is still with Madeleine Swan, who we met in Spectre. They’ve been living idyllically off the grid, and Bond is, for all intents and purposes, retired. However, someone has ratted on him, and he is attacked by Spectre agents, just narrowly surviving. James thinks Madeleine has given him up, and puts her on a train heading out of town, ostensibly never to see her again. But it’s a pretty girl in a Bond film, so you know she’ll be back, and she does, in a big way, before the end.

Five years later, an MI-6 lab is attacked and a scientist, Obruchev, is kidnapped. The project he was working on involves Project Heracles, a bioweapon that attacks discriminately; a gas let off in public will only be harmful to the DNA of its target, leaving innocent bystanders alive. But since the target DNA can be manipulated, it is a dangerous weapon, and MI-6 needs to get it back. Bond is approached by the CIA first, his longtime friend from the other side of the pond, Felix Leiter. And while Bond is able to get his hands on Obruchev, the mission goes sideways, and Obruchev is ferried away. Brought into MI-6 by M, Bond is lured out of retirement to try to see who is really pulling all the strings in this latest scheme.

Knowing from the beginning that this was Craig’s last go at the character, I couldn’t help but anticipate how he would exit. And the movie doesn’t disappoint, in a way that is a true first for the franchise. While the espionage aspects of this movie aren’t among the best you’ll find in the history of Bond in film, the action scenes are right up there, and there’s a lot of “gripping your chair and leaning in” moments, especially in the final act. Craig’s 5 Bond films were a bit uneven, but all were at least decent, and he ends on a high note. I look forward to who gets to be next 007, and where they go from here. ★★★½