The following article contains spoilers for No Time to Die.

Too blond, too big, and lacking experience; those were the words uttered when Daniel Craig was announced to the world as the next James Bond back in 2005. And yet, 16 years later No Time to Die will see Craig retire as arguably the best 007 of all time, depending on personal taste of course.

The unflattering description of Craig matches that given by M towards the start of Casino Royale, decrying Bond for his every fault and signaling that in this cycle 007 was to be a much different character than the man played by Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, or even Timothy Dalton. James Bond’s reboot into a more grounded character coincided with Batman Begins and Christopher Nolan’s attempts to turn Bruce Wayne into a more flawed individual, and in turn, both attempts gave each franchise a standard that will be hard to beat in the future.

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Craig is, for all intents and purposes, an absolutely fantastic actor, very much like his predecessors were, so it’s always worth remembering how his talents were fortunately paired with the right scripts and approach that allowed James Bond to become the character he is in No Time to Die. Bond has had a miserable time in the last 16 years, he fell in love for the first time only to be betrayed by Vesper Lynd, in M he lost his mentor and the closest thing he ever had to a mother figure, he discovered his past, and now it all comes to a gut-wrenching end.

beat up James Bond Daniel craig No Time to Die

This long emotional journey and all this trauma is what makes the Bond seen in No Time to Die believable in the first place, he’s been through hell and come back to live out the life that destiny (and Spectre) took away from him and Vesper. While Spectre was by itself one of the weaker Craig titles, it laid the main foundations for No Time to Die’s magnificent character arc, a base that gets built upon by this film’s intro sequence.

Clocking in at just over 20 minutes before the opening credits, this action-packed run through the streets of Matera does a great job at briefing the audience on No Time to Die’s mission: James and Madeleine are happy, incredibly so, yet the ghosts of Vesper and Spectre still linger over their shoulders, perhaps even more on hers than she lets on. Blofeld’s plan ultimately succeeds at waking up the lingering mistrust that lives inside Bond leading to a heartbreaking end for him and Madeleine.

It’s a highly condensed prologue, but one that paves the way for the rest of the film as Craig tackles the most expressive and emotional take on James Bond ever seen on a movie screen, all without leaving behind the fast-paced action that defines the series. The rugged spy is known for his actions, not his words, and when those get to shine it’s usually due to quips and snide pieces of dialogue put in place to cement Bond’s cool persona.

James Bond and Madeleine Swann Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux

No Time to Die is different, for every word that comes out of James Bond’s mouth showcases the emotional growth of a character 15 years in the making. There are many gripping moments in this movie, it starts off that way, and it reminds everyone just how big the stakes are when Bond watches his good friend Felix Leiter die, completely powerless to prevent it.

The next scene to pick at his emotional wounds is when James and Madeleine meet for the first time after five years, the moment is tense, it digs deeper than any other encounter Bond has had before, but it’s only the beginning. When Bond tracks down Madeleine to Norway, Craig makes use of his acting talents to give what is undoubtedly the franchise’s most romantic moment as he confesses his feelings to the woman he’s loved more than anything else in the world.

Unbelievably so, things only escalate from there as Bond finds out Madeleine has a daughter, his daughter. From this point on it’s not just about saving the world and completing his mission, the stakes rise to protect the two most important things a man could have.

When the movie approaches its climax and it becomes possible that James Bond might just not make it out of this one, the realization hits viewers just like it hits him, this is his time to die. Bond had never died before, there was never a reason to kill him off, but what No Time to Die does for Craig’s arc and the character almost makes it feel inevitable for him to sacrifice himself for the sake of his family.

James Bond in bedroom Daniel Craig

No Time to Die will have plenty of fans shedding tears over 007’s fate, but it’s not just because of Bond's demise, it’s because the movie and the ones that precede it built up this amazing complex spy that put himself on the line countless times. Even to a lesser degree, his relationship with Mallory, Q, and Moneypenny all follow the same track, they’re his friends, his extended family.

This is not Daniel Craig’s best movie as 007, it's not the darkest James Bond movie, but No Time to Die is still incredibly good and that shows how far the actor took the role in all these years. However, it is by far Craig’s most accomplished acting performance as James Bond, one that feels far more personal than any other and makes the ending as good and bittersweet as it could be.

It's not fair to compare Craig's Bond to every other actor that came before, because the mission's objectives were so different, nevertheless, there's no doubt that just like his movie counterpart Craig achieved a type of double-O marksmanship in the role that will go down in history.

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