Kudos to Daniel Craig: No Time To Die Lives Up to the Hype

Last night I went to The West here in Duluth to see my first movie in a theater since pre-pandemic. It was just what the doctor ordered, an escape. 

There is much to like about this latest Bond film. First, I still think Daniel Craig makes a great Bond, even if he doesn't toss around twinkle-in-the-eye wit with the flair of a Sean Connery. Daniel Craig is a different kind of Bond, a serious-minded Bond, so the screenwriters give many of those one line zingers to others.

The budget was purportedly a quarter of a billion dollars or more. That's quite a contrast to Dr. No, the first Bond send-up in 1962, which cost the studio barely a million. 

As usual, James Bond has been called on to the save the world. This time a villain named Lyutsifer has stolen a lethal DNA-modified bio-tech product that has been in development by "the good guys" for reasons M will explain later. Echoes of 12 Monkeys and our current pandemic seem to have morphed into a new storyline. 

In addition to Bond being back, so is his remarkable car which is impervious to the most lethal arsenal of automatic weapons ever arrayed against a car window. Why they didn't just blow out his tires is beyond me.

One of the things that makes fiction work is a mind game called "suspension of disbelief." If our critical self is constantly intruding by saying, "Oh that would never happen," then it diminishes our ability to get lost in the story dream. There are often a few of these moments in many films, but we override the critic and go with the flow. Afterwards, though, some of these scenes re-play and one has to laugh.

For example, in that early scene with the Bond supercar, you would think that maybe there might be people on balconies in the background holding up their cell phones so they could show all this drama on Twitter. The same could be said of any public scene with action, drama or violence these days. This is just a heads up to screenwriters. 

No Time To Die begins rather quietly. Bond is retired. As usual, we find ourselves in exotic locations. The quiet opening quickly turns dramatic, the first of many impossible escapes. He soon returns to the life of danger he once lived only at the request of his friend Felix from the CIA.  

Here are some other observations from my seat in the peanut gallery:

The new 007?

--All the usual characters are in this Bond film: M, Q and Moneypenny. Then there's a new 007 introduced, played by Lashana Lynch. Is this the future of the franchise? We shall see. 

--One of the themes in this film is secrets. Everybody has them, including M.  

--I wasn't sure if I'd want to watch a 2 hour and 45 minute film, for fear that it would drag, but it never did. At no point did I feel like I was going to be bored. The pacing carried me along like a good roller coaster ride that is over before you know it. 

--Daniel Craig's existential stance at the end brought to mind Jon Voigt in Runaway Train, or perhaps some legendary gods of Norse or Roman mythology. 

--This was Daniel Craig's fifth and last performance in the Bond role. According to one source his base salary plus bonuses will likely add up to $110 million dollars when all is said and done. Critics may call him the "Grumpy Bond" but he's helped sell a lot of tickets at the box office, so I'm sure he's smiling when he looks at his bank account.

--I personally liked the casting of Lea Seydoux as a more modest "Bond girl." I was happy to see the eye candy being downplayed in favor of the story. 

--The opening credits on a Bond film have always been awash in spectacle, and this one was no less so. How many millions were spent on the credits? I wouldn't mind seeing a whole film that did nothing more than have the opening credits and Bond song from first to last. Has anyone assembled this yet? I say go for it. 

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Related Links

Daniel Craig, License To Kill

Devil May Care, a new Bond novel released on the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birthday. (A review.)

This Day In History: Tuesday October 5

A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LAST 60 YEARS 

Here are some October 5 events that have occurred since since my youngest brother was born in October 1960

2011
American businessman Steve Jobs, a pioneer of the personal computer era who cofounded Apple and transformed it into one of the world's most successful companies, died at age 56. In fact, at this point in time Apple is #1 in revenue and has a market cap of 2.3 trillion dollars, which makes it the largest company in the world.

A Review of Walter Isaacson's Book on Steve Jobs

Tech Tuesday: Lessons for Leaders from Brent Schlender's Becoming Steve Jobs

1970
On this day PBS aired its first broadcast on American television. Notable programs included Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. If you've not seen the film with Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, you should check it out. 

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

1969
On this day in 1969 Monty Python's Flying Circus debuted on the BBC. That same year, astronauts on the moon took one small step for man while Monty Python took a giant leap for comedy.  

1962
The Bond Franchise Begins

Daniel Craig: A more serious Bond.

Hard to believe we're nearing 60 years of James Bond on the silver screen. I doubt that anyone could have imagined that the release of Dr. No on this day in 1962 would launch a nearly endless revenue stream for the Bond franchise. In addition to endless debates over who was the Best Bond, there are probably trivia games in which people identify the which actors played Bond in the various films, as well as who played the various villains and "Bond girls." Of course it all began with Sean Connery, who is still voted #1 by many Bond fans. 

It was probably no accident that No Time To Die, the latest Bond film, was released this past weekend, Daniel Craig reprising the role. That first chase scene in Casino Royale created a lot of enthusiasm for Craig as Bond. In recent interviews he's stated that he's hung up his spurs and is finished with the role. 

It's hard to imagine that the budget for Dr No was barely a million dollars. The budget for No Time To Die exceeded a quarter of a billion dollars. 

Here are a couple blog posts from a decade ago along these same lines. 

Daniel Craig, License To Kill

Devil May Care, a new Bond novel released on the 100th anniversary of Ian Fleming's birthday. (A review.)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

1962
ON THIS DAY, the very same day as the release of Dr. No, The Beatles released their first single in the UK "Love Me Do" which reaches number seventeen on the British charts. When later released in the US in April 1964 it climbed to Number 1. 

Daniel Craig painting by the author. 18"x 24", latex, acrylic on panel.

Daniel Craig, License to Kill

"You only live twice:
Once when you're born
And once when you look death in the face."
— Ian Fleming

When Daniel Craig burst onto the screen in Casino Royale, and what a burst, I was mesmerized. But I couldn’t help wondering where I’d seen that face before. Ah, yes, Munich.

It is impossible to play Bond without being compared to all the previous Bonds. I’m guessing it’s a little like being an eighth husband or wife. So, we watch this Bond and think back on Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan… Of this list, Connery was perhaps the most physical while being simultaneously suave, though Ian Fleming upon meeting him said, "I'm looking for Commander James Bond, not an overgrown stuntman."

The Bonds who followed seemed to exemplify smooth, cool, suave. But the original Bond, with his license to kill, was just that, a killer… not just a lover. Daniel Craig has re-centered the Bond character on his true core, a loose cannon, passionate lover, with honed instincts and purposeful decisiveness.

So James Bond is back and he's alive and well. Any questions about Daniel Craig's worthiness were thrown out almost immediately as we were handed a film filled to the brim with exquisite action and explosive emotion.

Anyone who thought Daniel Craig couldn't pull it off has been proven wrong. He's done ith with style and a cold steel edge not seen since Sean Connery. Even colder, really. He's a very serious fellow, this bond, and I think this actor is surprisingly good, too.

I mentioned the film Munich. I am sure working in Spielberg's sphere was a good experience for Mr. Craig. But to see his range, check him out in Love is the Devil. (1998) It's a film that is definitely not for everyone. This paragraph from Alice Liddel on imdb.com fairly accurately summarizes the story.

'Love is the Devil' captures one crucial decade in the life of the English painter, Francis Bacon, considered by many, for the half century after World War II, the world's greatest living painter. This decade, the 1960s, is reflected through Bacon's relationship with a young hood, George Dyer (Daniel Craig), whom he first encounters ineptly breaking into his studio, and whom he immediately sleeps with. A depressive suffering constant nightmares, Dyer is wined and dined by the artist, initiated into his bitchily hostile coterie of friends, and gradually neglected as Bacon concentrates on his work. Many of the astonishing paintings from this period evince a great understanding and love of their principle subject, Dyer, and one friend notices that Bacon puts more effort into representing his love on paint than into the relationship itself. Dyer becomes increasingly suicidal.

The imagery in this film is not suitable for children, but is insightful as regards this important painter. Bacon left the art world bedazzled and benumbed a half century ago. His significance is such that Hans Rookmaaker, Dutch Christian scholar and friend of Dr. Francis Schaeffer, used one of Bacon's paintings for the cover of his excellent analysis of the arts titled Modern Art and the Death of a Culture.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to more of Daniel Craig.