No Time To Die (PG-13)
Daniel Craig appears to be having some actual fun as James Bond in the long pandemic-delayed No Time To Die, allegedly his last time out as the character.
I’ll admit that at some point fairly early in this movie I stopped trying to follow the plot and decided to just enjoy the ride — the zippy European cars, the well-choreographed fights, the handsome Daniel Craig. And I think that’s fine; something about Craig’s performance here is looser and more energetic than, say, Spectre, this movie’s predecessor from 2015. The movie doesn’t need you to think very hard about who this guy is and how he’s connected to that guy from the previous movie to be in and enjoy the moment. Craig’s performance plays into this; he sells some of the jokes and dry humor of Bond better than in previous movies. He gets more fight scenes that seem to have some visual wit and show off his super agent abilities without making him seem like an unharmable robot. When Ana de Armas shows up as an agent on a mission with Bond, she feels just right, just this side of silly, and with a kind of buddy/mentor-mentee/fan chemistry with Bond.
Also, the plot here, like the plot of so many Bond movies, is kind of a jumble of: ridiculously fortified yet easy to breach compounds, shadowy people pulling the strings, not one but three villains, at least two shadowy international organizations whose evil scheme is overly complicated, strife within and between intelligence agencies, moments when Bond has to Go It Alone and a song by a current big deal pop star (Billie Eilish). All the standard Bond stuff. The movie has nice little callbacks to this-iteration-of-Bond characters past, like Vesper (Eva Green) and original M (Judi Dench). There are some fun surprises that aren’t super surprising, there are some fun shots of Bond in beach locales.
More specifically (but still very roughly): The movie opens with Bond and Madeleine Swan (Léa Seydoux), his love interest from Spectre (and yes I did have to look that up because vague familiarity is all that registered for me), on a sunny holiday in some sunny seaside European town. Actually, the movie opens with a flashback of a traumatic event from Madeleine’s childhood and then the sunny European vacation, all cars on cliffside roads and swanky hotels. But then Bond is nearly killed — first by a bomb and then by a bunch of hitmen, one of whom helpfully drives a motorcycle, allowing him to get kicked off his motorcycle and Bond to do some fun motorcycle stunts. Spectre is behind this, which he knows because they have literally left a card with their symbol on it, and Bond is certain that Madeleine is working for them and has helped to trap him. He decides to trust her just enough to get her safely on a train but not enough to ever see her again.
Five years later, Bond seems just fine with his new retirement life in what I think is Jamaica when American CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright, always fun) shows up to tempt him into One More Mission. Felix and the CIA but not British intelligence are looking for a scientist, Obruchev (David Dencik), who has developed a scary weapon and was kidnapped from/sold-out MI 6 (or maybe a little of both). They think Spectre has him in Cuba and they know that Bond is still hot to bring down Spectre, still in operation even though big boss Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is in prison. Bond isn’t interested — or at least he isn’t that interested until a lady whom Wikipedia tells me is named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) seems to pick Bond up at a club but is really just there to tell him that she’s MI 6 and that he needs to stay out of this whole Cuba/Obruchev thing. Naturally, that’s when Bond decides to get involved.
(Without giving away too much about Nomi — like the reason why I didn’t remember her name — she adds a really fun element to the story and becomes a strong part of the adventure.)
It’s not important to know too much more going in. My favorite Bond Scooby gang of M (Ralph Fiennes), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Q (Ben Whishaw) and Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) is back. We get the assistant to the regional manager villain in the form of Primo (Dali Benssalah), who occasionally tips over the line into goofy but it’s fine. In addition to Blofeld, we get another Big Bad in a character played by Rami Malek. There are some fun locations — aforementioned vacation Europe, London of course, Jamaica, Cuba, a forest in northern Europe, a no-holds-barred bad guy lair that combines an almost futuristic minimalism with mid-century Soviet stylings, on an island.
What else could you want from a Bond movie? This movie is two hours and 43 minutes long and I saw it in (totally unnecessary) 3D and I still had fun.
Maybe Craig was struck with some “leave it all out on the field” burst of excitement for this character, maybe this movie leaned in to all the best parts of Bond and wasn’t encumbered by trying to build some ongoing story, maybe that Bond documentary available via Apple (Being James Bond — it’s about 45 minutes long and worth a watch) actually helped me get excited about the franchise again. Whatever combination of movie magic and the pandemic-related drought of big event movies gave this movie its sparkle, the result is a long but highly watchable mix of action and nostalgia helmed by a thoroughly engaging leading man — and a solid final chapter to an overall strong run of Bond films. B+
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, brief strong language and some suggestive material, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga with a screenplay by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, No Time To Die is two hours and 43 minutes long and is distributed in theaters by MGM. Want more Craig as Bond? The four previous films — 2006’s Casino Royale, 2008’s Quantum of Solace, 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre — are all available to rent or own. Spectre and Skyfall are also streaming on Hulu. Paramount + currently has Skyfall.
FILM
Venues
Bank of NH Stage in Concord
16 S. Main St., Concord
225-1111, banknhstage.com
Chunky’s Cinema Pub
707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com
The Music Hall
28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth
436-2400, themusichall.org
O’neil Cinemas
24 Calef Hwy., Epping
679-3529, oneilcinemas.com
Red River Theatres
11 S. Main St., Concord
224-4600, redrivertheatres.org
The Strand
20 Third St., Dover
343-1899, thestranddover.com
Shows
• Poltergeist (PG, 1982) part of the Film Frenzy $5 Classics series at O’neil Cinemas with multiple daily screenings through Thursday, Oct. 14.
• House on Haunted Hill (1959) screening on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres.
• Night of the Creeps (R, 1986) at The Strand on Thursday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $6.
• Small Engine Repair(R, 2021) screening at The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15.
• 21+ Trivia Night for Hocus Pocus at Chunky’s in Manchester on Thursday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. Reserve a seat with the purchase of a $5 food voucher.
• Bergman Island (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres Friday, Oct. 15, and Saturday, Oct. 16, at 1, 4, & 7 p.m. and Sunday Oct. 17, at 4 and 7 p.m.
• Lamb (R, 2021) at Red River Theatre Friday, Oct. 15, through Sunday, Oct. 17, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m.
• I’m Your Man (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres Friday, Oct. 15, through Sunday, Oct. 17, at 4:30 p.m.
• Beetlejuice (PG, 1986) screening at The Strand on Friday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $6.
• Dead Alive (R, 1992) screening at The Strand in Dover on Friday, Oct. 15, 9 p.m. Tickets cost $6.
• Falling For Figaro (NR, 2020) screening at The Music Hall on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15.
• Disney Zombies (TV-G, 2018) at The Strand on Saturday, Oct. 16, 3 p.m. Tickets cost $6.
• Raphaell Revealed (NR, 2020) screening at Red River Theatres on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 1 p.m.
• National Theatre Live Cyrano de Bergerac, a broadcast of a play from London’s National Theatre, screening at the Bank of NH Stage on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 12:30 p.m. Tickets $15 ($12 for students).
• Frankenweenie (PG, 2012) at the Rex Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds going to Motley Mutts Rescue. Tickets cost $12.
• The Shining (R, 1980) part of the Film Frenzy $5 Classics series at O’neil Cinemas with multiple screenings Monday, Oct. 18, through Thursday, Oct. 21.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG, 1993) at the Rex Theatre on Monday, Oct. 18, at 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $12.
The Silence of the Lambs
Fathom Events will hold 30th anniversary screenings of 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs from director Jonathan Demme starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins on Sunday, Oct. 17, and Wednesday, Oct. 20. The film will screen at Cinemark Rockingham Park in Salem at 3 p.m. and Regal Fox Run in Newington at 3 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 and at both theaters on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. Get tickets via Fathom at fathomevents.com.
Featured photo: No Time To Die. Courtesy photo.
