After its glamorous world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London, critics can finally begin talking about the long-awaited No Time to Die, and judging by the first reviews, it looks like Daniel Craig's final entry in the ongoing James Bond franchise will be another hit.
No Time to Die takes place a few years after the events of Spectre and follows the globe-trotting James Bond on his next mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist and save the world from a mysterious villain who's armed with advanced technology. The film has been confirmed to be Craig's last outing as the iconic character, as the search for the next actor to play James Bond will begin shortly after.
Clocking in at 163 minutes, the now longest Bond film to date appears to be a fitting conclusion that wraps up many storylines in the Craig Bond era (a change of formula from previous Bond films that serve more as standalone stories). Oscar-winner Rami Malek, who stars as the film's villain, Safin, confirmed in a recent interview that No Time to Die's longer runtime is justified and worth every second. Craig had initially been reluctant to return as James Bond, but the reviews for No Time to Die suggest his final outing as 007 has resulted in one of his finest performances as the character.
No Time to Die, like most of Craig's previous James Bond films, is receiving positive reviews from critics all around. Many critics are praising the action, emotional weight, assured direction, and Craig's performance. The film is currently fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an 87% from 68 reviews and has a score of 73 on Metacritic with 28 reviews. More initial reactions are below.
NME (Alex Flood)
"Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson should be applauded for taking so many bold risks. The gosmacking ending, in fact, may be the biggest in Bond history."
Score: 4/5
BBC.com (Nicholas Barber)
"The longest Bond movie of all. It feels long, too. But it packs in so much that you can hardly complain... it somehow succeeds in taking something from every single other Bond film, and sticking them all together. To quote a certain song that makes a wistful reappearance: if that's all we have, we need nothing more."
Score: 5/5
TheWrap (Jason Solomons)
"Daniel Craig's best incarnation of an iconic role, an iteration that sees Bond travel to emotional spaces the character has never been to before, at least not since On Her Majesty's Secret Service or in certain passages of Ian Fleming's books."
Score: Unscored
Empire Magazine (John Nugent)
"This is Bond film that dutifully ticks all the boxes - but brilliantly, often doesn't feel like a Bond film at all. For a 007 who strived to bring humanity to larger-than-life hero, it's a fitting end to the Craig era."
Score: 4/5
Times (UK) (Kevin Maher)
"It's better than good. It's magnificent."
Score: 5/5
Guardian (Peter Bradshaw)
"No Time To Die is startling, exotically self-aware, funny and confident, and perhaps most of all it is big: big action, big laughs, big stunts and however digitally it may have been contrived, and however wildly far-fetched, No Time To Die looks like it is taking place in the real world, a huge wide open space that we’re all longing for."
Score: 5/5
No Time to Die began development all the way back in 2016, with its production struggling through countless rewrites and delays. After Danny Boyle's (the film's originally attached director) departure due to creative differences, Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, Beasts of No Nation) hopped on board to helm the project in 2018, co-writing alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge and longtime Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Even if the wait has been six years, it seems that it was well worth it and should leave many fans satisfied.
No Time to Die will also star Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, Ben Whishaw as Q, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M, Roy Kinnear as Bill Tanner, Lashana Lynch as Nomi, Ana de Armas as Paloma, Billy Magnussen as Logan Ash, and Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
No Time to Die is set to release in theatres in the U.S. on October 8th, 2021.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic