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A GLOBAL JOURNEY – Exotic locations are synonymous with all Bond movies and No Time To Die is no different. As well as returning to Bond's spiritual home, Jamaica, for Daniel Craig's final outing, we also go on a global journey taking in Italy, Norway and Scotland. We'll hear from Daniel Craig, Cary Fukunaga, other key cast and filmmakers, on what it was like filming at these spectacular locations.
The trouble here is that Malek's Safin doesn't show up until mid-way through the three-hour film and even then, his disfigured face and zero motive to be the bad guy does nothing for the story. In fact, No Time To Die would have been leaps and bounds better without this character, due to there being no reason for his villainy or motive to destroy the world. Even the eye-rolling evil lair he stays in is something reminiscent of an Austin Powers gag and exists for no other reason than to exist and to look like a cool location for Bond to infiltrate. stage engagement and low end support. Atmospheric effects are richly realized and seamlessly integrated. The top end is used more in support rather And that's not necessarily the fault of the impressive director Cary Joji Fukunaga ( True Detective). Perhaps the iconic producer of all Bond movies Barbara Broccoli's decision to allow at least five writers to pen this final screenplay - including the great Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge - has more to do with it. The result is a film that weaves in and out of different scenes in different genres featuring excellent, silly action beats where Bond makes a drink mid-fight and slugs it down then straight into a completely serious talk and death of a character. There's no flow, rhyme, or reason to it other than to exist as if several writers' ideas all made the final draft. And letting the dust settle on this legacy of Craig’s, what’s perhaps most interesting is that his Bond, from his very first film and especially through to his epic conclusion here, is very much an emotional beast, governed more by his feelings for three women than the more traditional notion of an endless treadmill of megalomaniacal uber villains. Maybe not by design – the narrative muddle of the five films shows that at least from a storytelling perspective there was no single, overarching plan – but certainly by theme, it makes you wonder why with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service often topping so many polls of best Bond film, with its devastatingly emotional payoff, we haven’t seen Bond as such a human animal before.Is it Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Lyutsifer Safin or maybe even Dr. Madeleine Swann, the women Bond loves, that is the real threat? It’s hinted at several times but we never get the Bond theme at setting 10, it’s a missed opportunity considering this is Craig’s final outing. We get bruisingly efficient and grounded action sequences that here are intrinsically linked to the emotional beats of the film – there’s no wasted or flippant action excesses to pad out the run time or meet test audiences’ desires for blood and fire. We get some beautiful locations that are used as stunning canvases for these, from the Italian mountain town of Matera to the fog-shrouded forests of Langvann, Norway and onto the concrete beauty of the island lair in the Sea of Japan by way of the vibrant party town of Santiago de Cuba. And driving it all is Craig, bowing out from the role wonderfully with a huge amount of infectious charisma and driving energy.
But such a focus on theme and character often means storytelling can suffer and sadly that’s very much the case here – at the 80-minute mark, Bond, and Mallory (Ralph Fiennes – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The King's Man, The English Patient) are talking about the motivations of the film’s mysterious antagonist and their exchange pretty much sums up the entire plot here: what do they want? Hard to imagine… world leaders, innocent civilians, freedom, you know that sort of thing….” Of course the film's technical expertise carries it through much of the essential ebb and flow, elevating the experience through sheer force ofAnatomy of a Scene: Matera – In true Bond fashion, there is an incredible pre-credit sequence featured in No Time To Die. A breathless chase shot in Matera that starts on foot, then motorcycle, then car. Not just any car either - the iconic Aston Martin DB5! Through interviews with Daniel Craig and director Cary Joji Fukunaga, plus on-set interviews with key members of the crew, we discover how the filmmakers shot this breathtaking sequence. Related: No Time to Die is a "love story" that "ties up all the storylines" of Daniel Craig's 007 era Without spoiling it too much for those of you that have yet to watch it, the film is intent on bringing an end to this idea of Bond, presumably so the next incarnation can be a fresh woke start. Daniel Craig bows out from the most famous role in all of cinema, his stewardship of Ian Fleming’s iconic character finally at an end after fifteen years and, whatever your thoughts on his swansong, there can be few who would deny that he completely reinvigorated both Commander James Herbert Bond as a viable cinematic commodity and worldwide audiences’ interest in his continued adventures.
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