No Time To Die: 10 Ways It Reinvigorated The James Bond Formula
The Bond producers have shaken up their familiar formula throughout the Daniel Craig era. Casino Royale was a refreshingly gritty origin story; Quantum of Solace was a straightforward action thriller; Skyfall culminated in a Straw Dogs-style home invasion; and Spectre introduced the notion of serialized storytelling.
With Craig’s final film in the role, No Time to Die, director Cary Joji Fukunaga has brought back some of the well-worn traditions of the 007 formula. With a modern blockbuster sensibility, No Time to Die has reinvigorated a bunch of fan-favorite Bond motifs.
10 There’s An Inventive Spin On The Opening Gun Barrel
Traditionally, Bond movies open with a shot from the perspective of a gun barrel as 007 walks into frame, draws his own weapon and fires, and the frame is draped in blood. The Daniel Craig movies haven’t always stuck to this, with some putting the gun barrel at the end of the cold open or even at the very end of the movie.
In No Time to Die, not only does the gun barrel appear at the beginning of the movie where it belongs; Fukunaga puts a unique spin on it, as the globe in the Universal logo turns into the barrel.
9 The Pre-Title Sequence Has All The Action Bond Fans Could Want
Ever since the motif was solidified by Goldfinger’s exploding drug laboratory, each Bond movie has opened with a mind-blowing set-piece that sets a high bar for the rest of the movie’s action. In The Spy Who Loved Me, for example, Bond makes a death-defying cliff jump with a Union Jack parachute.
No Time to Die has the longest pre-title sequence in the entire Bond series at a whopping 20 minutes. As Bond is chased by Spectre assassins, he swings from a bridge, jumps a motorcycle over a parade, and does gun-toting donuts in a gadget-laden Aston Martin. This opening has all the action that Bond fans could’ve hoped for.
8 The Villain Is A Megalomaniac With A God Complex
Most Bond villains are megalomaniacs with apocalyptic plans that Bond has to quash, but some of the Craig era’s villains fell short in this regard. Skyfall’s Raoul Silva is motivated simply by a personal vendetta against M. No Time to Die brings back the traditional megalomania as its villain Safin plans to wipe out most of humanity so he can establish a new world order.
Broadly, Safin has a lot in common with all the classic Bond villains, but in particular, he seems inspired by Dr. No, the titular baddie from the very first Bond film. Like Safin, Dr. No is a deranged genius with a “god complex” and a secret lair.
7 All The One-Liners Land Beautifully
Thanks to the gritty, realistic approach to Casino Royale, the Craig-starring Bond movies have generally avoided the classic quippy one-liners. And that’s a shame, because when Craig has had the chance to deliver these one-liners – like in Skyfall – he’s knocked them out of the park with hysterically dry deliveries.
In No Time to Die, there are plenty of great one-liners and they all land beautifully. Arguably the best one is when Bond blasts out a henchman’s bionic eye with a Q-Branch wristwatch and tells Q, “I just showed someone your watch. It really blew their mind.”
6 The Movie Has Three Strong Female Characters
During the making of No Time to Die, Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought aboard the project to punch up the script. In particular, she was tasked with strengthening the movie’s female characters. With the characters of Madeleine, Nomi, and Paloma, No Time to Die has proven that the “Bond girl” is a thing of the past.
Madeleine is a more nuanced, emotionally involving love interest than 007 has ever had before; Nomi satisfies as the successor to Bond without shallowly imitating his personality; and the hilariously reckless Paloma makes an unforgettable impression in just one sequence.
5 M’s Mission Briefing Has A Dark Twist
The character of M has always primarily existed as a tool for exposition. At the beginning of each Bond movie, 007 joins M in his or her office and gets briefed on his latest mission.
The same thing happens in No Time to Die, but there’s a dark twist this time in that M is partly responsible for the villain’s deadly bioweapon. M initially developed the Heracles virus in a secret government lab in a bid to reduce collateral damage for MI6 agents (and ended up pushing the whole world to the brink of annihilation as a result).
4 The Story Takes Bond Across The Globe
Exotic locations have been a staple of Bond stories since before they were adapted for the screen. The globetrotting narratives of Ian Fleming’s novels were celebrated by fans long before Harry Saltzman snapped up the film rights.
The plot of No Time to Die, as usual, takes Bond all over the globe. It opens in Italy, then Bond retires to Jamaica, then his next mission takes him to Cuba, then he returns to London, then he reconnects with Madeleine at her childhood home in Norway, before finally tracking down Safin’s headquarters to a remote island.
3 The Villain Has An Extravagant Lair
From Blofeld’s volcanic hideout in You Only Live Twice to Karl Stromberg’s supertanker in The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond villains usually have a huge, extravagant lair as a base of operations.
Aside from Blofeld’s desert compound in Spectre, the Craig era has largely done away with ludicrous secret lairs, but they’re a big part of what makes the Bond series so much fun. Thankfully, No Time to Die brought this back with Safin’s over-the-top lair: a disused World War II base located on a remote island between Japan and Russia.
2 The Action Gets Bigger And Bigger
Action movies that open with an explosive set-piece can sometimes run out of steam. Spectre, for example, never managed to top its Day of the Dead opening. Fortunately, No Time to Die doesn’t have this problem.
It starts off big with the Spectre chase in Matera, but after that, the action gets progressively bigger, bolder, and more spectacular – Bond gets trapped on a sinking ship, Safin sends a private army after him, etc. – until the final set-piece literally sees 007 being wiped out in a nuclear missile strike.
1 Bond Infiltrates The Villain’s Lair In The Finale
Not only does Safin have a cool, Bond-style lair; 007 infiltrates it in the big finale, just like he did in his earliest on-screen adventures. In Spectre, Bond was captured by the bad guys, so the lair was brought to him. In Craig’s previous movies, the villain never had a hidden lair.
In No Time to Die, Bond and Nomi take an experimental aircraft under the sea to sneak into Safin’s lair, where they shoot their way through legions of henchmen on the way to the villain’s hideout. This sequence was No Time to Die’s biggest, boldest throwback to classic 007 lore.