Theatrical Reviews

Studio:
Universal Pictures & MGM   

What’s It About?
Bond has left the service, but peace doesn’t last long, and he is soon pulled back in.  

Cast: 
Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Logan Lucky & more recently Knives Out)
Lea Seydoux (Blue Is The Warmest Color, The Lobster, & more recently Spectre)   

Other notables include:
Rami Malek (Mr Robot, Papillon, & more recently Bohemian Rhapsody)
Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, & more recently The Grand Budapest Hotel)   

Director: Cary Fukunaga (Jane Eyre, True Detective S1 & Beasts Of No Nation)   

Audiences Expect:
Without wishing to visit a junkyard of spoilers, it is safe to say that following his exploits in Spectre, James Bond has left active service and is whiling away his days with some much needed R & R in No Time To Die. But excitement, adventure and danger are never far away from our boys’ own hero, and thanks in large part to Felix Leiter, Bond is soon drawn back into the action.
There are some familiar beats to this 007 outing, but there are some surprising flams as well, with director Cary Fukunaga and his team brilliantly weaving the Daniel Craig era of Bond into a fitting narrative patchwork quilt with an exciting progression of the character’s arc, as well as some nostalgic tips of the hat to former Bond films including music, cars and even gadgets.
The film opens with one of the most stunning action sequences in Bond lore, shot in the visually breath taking Italian town of Matera. There’s a welcome return for Bond girl Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, incidentally only the second Bond girl to return after Dr No’s Eunice Gayson, and once more the supremely talented French actress more than holds her own – as she does with equal aplomb in the Mission Impossible series opposite Tom Cruise.  
Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris, Jeffrey Wright and Ben Whishaw among others are also back, along with the new entries of Lashana Lynch of Captain Marvel fame, Rami Malek as the latest facially challenged Bond baddie, and one of the best cameos in recent cinematic history from Ana De Armas.
Fukunaga certainly maximises the length of this latest Bond, with a formidable runtime of 2hrs 43mins, but given the depth of plot, variety of storylines and remarkable action set pieces, the film does absolutely fly by.
It has been mooted for some time now that Daniel Craig was keen to leave the franchise, but with this final outing, there is no doubting he has managed to go out on an absolute high.   

In A Nutshell:
Director Cary Fukunaga has delivered a breathtakingly memorable slice of Bond, hitting some familiar beats but also adding some surprising flams too.   

Highlights:
Action-packed with a great storyline
Incredible opening sequence
Wonderful narrative thread weaving all the Craig Bond films together
Ending the Daniel Craig era on a high
Ana de Armas’ cameo   

Low points:
Rami Malek was unfortunately woefully underused