CRAIG FINISHES CHARACTER PART IN STYLE

NO TIME TO DIE (2021) IN THEATERS, Friday, October 8, 2021, 11:30 am PST, shown on an AVX Screen, Runtime 2 hours 43 minutes, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and starring Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Ana De Armas, Rami Malek, and Lashana Lynch.

FRANCHISE CHANGES PACE OF NARRATIVE FOR NEW GENERATION OF SPY FILMS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The fifth installment of the Daniel Craig James Bond film series changes the pace of the spy genre franchise.

Director Cary Joji Fokunaga brings the back story forward a bit more, and almost drives the narrative at times with the suspense created in telling how all five interconnected films will be resolved in No Time to Die (2021).

Craig has been a much more physical Bond with narratives filled with non-stop action sequences involving mixed martial arts, car chases, killings and explosions in special agent fashion. The narrative pace of previous Craig Bond films often made the storyline difficult to follow with the backstory sparingly imbedded between explosions and checking gun magazines for bullets.

Fokunaga uses the classic franchise elements, but he also mixes them up differently resulting in a change of tone and atmosphere from what one has come to expect from a Daniel Craig Bond film.

The pace of the narrative is mercifully slowed a bit with the noticeable absence of show jumping and unrealistic physical elements that have become too common ‘game-boy’ scenes in spy genre and action genre films. 

Fokunaga also changes the pace of the trademark introductory scenes in a manner that signals a different tone for the overall film.

The recurring characters are present but less dominant, which is more in line with the pre-Craig franchise films.

Ben Whishaw still has a dominant role to play throughout the film as Q, not only providing gadgets, but he also provides the cyber-surveillance analyses reflective of modern covert operations occurring via cyber space.

Q is given a back story when the camera visits his London apartment. Fokunaga uses several signs to signify the personality behind the Q character, such as Whishaw wearing a cooking apron as he adds the finishing touches in the kitchen just before his dinner guest is supposed to arrive. Bond arrives instead, and then the spy story finally gets underway.

Naomie Harris on the other hand falls back quite a bit to the more traditional Ms. Moneypenny role, which involves being there, but not having a prominent screen presence in any real sense.

Fokunaga creates other characters who have more of an equal screen time such as Lea Seydoux as Madeleine.

Seydoux reprises her role as the innocent daughter of a villain. Madeleine is found in a safe place at the beginning of a Bond story, but through espionage entanglements, gets thrown into a cauldron of emotions, as if personifying the love interest in a struggle for survival all too common in a difficult and challenging world.

Moneypenny had been in and out of Bond’s personal life in the previous Bond films, but Madeleine and Bond formalize a relationship as the camera finds the secret service agent enjoying retirement happily ever after.

Fokunaga casts Lashana Lynch as Bond’s replacement, even taking his 007 agent number. Lynch has a prominent role throughout the film as Bond’s allegiances waiver a bit in retirement.

Lynch becomes very convincing as Craig’s replacement just as the character, Nomi, is asked to stand down a bit, when Bond gets his ‘00’ status back.

Nomi initially is operating apart from Bond, but then MI6 teams the secret agents up to work in the same direction at least.

Ana De Armas has an impact on the script with her character, Paloma, acting as backup for Bond when on his first assignment reentering a life off espionage.

The nub of the story is the pressing need to recover a secret weapon that has fallen into the hands of the film’s villain, Lyutsifer Safin, played by Rami Malek.

Malek plays another franchise villain seeking revenge on the world for the bitter loss of family.

Fokunaga subtly runs the spy narrative parallel with the personal relationship narrative and then ever so gradually spins the two storylines together into a final conclusion. The film methodology works well, just a bit differently than expected.

This approach is reflective of a loyal audience having grown attached to the recurring characters and the interconnected story development since Casino Royale (2006).

Fokunaga creates a clear distinction between a Bond film and another spy genre film, and also the grinding military dramatizations, by dialing down difficult to believe in the real world action, but keeping in play the recurring franchise elements. 

Bond is not so physical and does more acting, thinking and plodding about the right thing to do while still protecting his self-interest.

Seydoux is again cast well with Craig. Fokunaga fills in the back story for Madeleine a bit more to create tension between Madeleine and Bond that drives the narrative a bit.

Fokunaga also adjusts the dialogue in the script by moving Bond’s ‘funny haha’ lines from sexist stereotypes to self-deprecating humor.

The longer runtime is a result of story development and the layering of aesthetic elements, but not necessarily more action scenes, although the film has plenty of car chases, fighting and killing. 

Fokunaga creates an aesthetically pleasing film with the usual film quality expected from the franchise, but the director also adds creativity in framing several scenes, and by giving a bit of stylized attention to the visual impact of what the camera captures.

No Time To Die is showing in theaters.