No Time To Die

As a huge fan of the Bond franchise (I've seen every movie several times and some are definitely better than others) I have been anticipating Daniel Craig's final outing as my favorite Bond for what seems like forever!  I finally had the chance to see No Time To Die at a Thursday preview last night and I think it is an epic conclusion to a story arc that began with Casino Royale.  After the events of Spectre, Bond (Craig) is on holiday in Italy with Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) but an incident at Vesper Lynde's grave leads him to believe that Swann has betrayed him and he leaves her.  Five years later, Bond has retired to Jamaica but CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) enlists his help to investigate the kidnapping of Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), a scientist who has created a deadly bioweapon capable of targeting an individual's DNA.  He joins a rookie CIA agent named Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Cuba to rescue Obruchev at a Spectre gathering coordinated by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) but encounters a new MI6 agent named Nomi (Lashana Lynch) who is there for the same reason.  It turns out that Obruchev is working for Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), a terrorist with a grudge against Blofeld and Spectre, and capturing him forces Bond to work with Nomi and, more importantly, Madeleine.  I really enjoyed so many things about this movie.  There are lots of iconic action sequences, including some amazing car chases featuring several Aston Martin models, but there is also quite a bit of heart because, while the stakes are incredibly high for mankind, they are also high for Bond personally and I love Bond's character arc through the five movies.  I have to admit that I particularly enjoyed the evolution of his attitude towards women (but I am glad the gadgets, cars, and martinis remained).  Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas are fantastic and their characters more than hold their own with Bond in saving the world.  Naomie Harris isn't given much to as Moneypenny but Ben Whishaw provides a lot of comic relief, as usual, as Q and Ralph Fiennes shows some vulnerability as M.  Rami Malek gives an incredibly menacing performance as the villain but one of my few criticisms is his character's lack of motivation for targeting Bond after destroying Spectre (my other criticisms are the length and Lea Seydoux as a bland love interest yet again).  Finally, I didn't especially care for the theme song by Billie Eilish but I loved the score by Hans Zimmer, especially during Bond's visit to Blofeld in Belmarsh Prison.  I had so much fun watching this on an IMAX screen with a large and enthusiastic crowd and I highly recommend it to fans of the franchise.

Note:  Producers will begin the process of looking for a new Bond next year.  Might I suggest Dev Patel?  It would be a bold choice but he is definitely up for an action role (if you don't believe me, watch The Wedding Guest).