‘No Time To Die’: Latest James Bond film earns five star reviews
The 25th film will be Daniel Craig's final turn in the title role
James Bond film ‘No Time To Die’ is finally out tomorrow (Thursday 30 September 2021) – and it’s earning near-unanimous rave reviews.
The 25th film in the franchise, released after months of coronavirus-induced delays, will be Daniel Craig’s final turn in the title role.
The film also features Lashana Lynch [below] – one of three cover stars on the first issue of Rolling Stone UK, out now.
As such, anticipation for the film has reached fever pitch, but critics seem to think it was worth the wait.
At the time of writing, the movie boasts an 88% certified ‘Fresh’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, from 51 reviews.
In a five-star review on BBC.com, Nicholas Barber wrote: “The film’s director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, clearly doesn’t subscribe to the theory that less is more. He and his co-writers (the veteran Bond team of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, plus Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag and Killing Eve fame) have delivered a sequel to Spectre, with all the continuity and romantic angst we’ve come to expect from Craig-era Bond.
“But No Time To Die is also the kind of outsized standalone sci-fi yarn we might associate with the earlier 007s, complete with gadgets, bonkers world-domination schemes, and a cavernous secret headquarters that could have been built by Ken Adam in the days of Sean Connery and Roger Moore.”
In a similarly glowing five-star review, The Times‘ Kevin Maher hailed it as “magnificent”.
“The new Bond movie, fleeing from cinema release dates ahead of the global Covid wave, from October 2019 to February 2020 to April 2020 to November 2020 to April 2021 to now,” he wrote.
“And during this time the title No Time to Die became a tantalising synonym for delayed gratification, one that suggested any actual, eventual viewing of the film would be the optimal achievement for the prospective movie-goer, while smartly sidelining the more fundamental question: But is it any good? And so, is it? It’s better than good. It’s magnificent.”
Other five-star reviews came from outlets such as The Telegraph and The Guardian, while Empire opted for a four-star verdict.
In a three-star review, meanwhile, Little White Lies praised the role of Lashana Lynch, stating that she “wastes no time in establishing herself as one of M16’s top agents”.
“Third-act fireworks notwithstanding, there are a couple of notable bright sparks. Ana de Armas’ rookie CIA operative Paloma kicks all kinds of butt in her brief time on screen, staking her claim as arguably Bond’s fiercest female counterpart since May Day from 1985’s A View to a Kill (Grace Jones was at one stage set to make a sensational return, only to pull out when she learned how small her part was). Lashana Lynch’s Nomi, having inherited Bond’s iconic code number, wastes no time in establishing herself as one of MI6’s top agents.”
Daniel Craig’s replacement in the role is yet to be confirmed.