No Time To Die is here and marks Daniel Craig’s 007 swan song in the grandest way possible.
Just like Billie Eilish sang it in the new film’s theme song, we have all “fallen for a lie.”
A lie that maybe Bond could live on forever. After all, the film’s title suggested that there was “no time to die.” Well, that hope ends here as… again, spoiler alert… Bond dies.
Yes, you read that right. No Time to Die kills the iconic spy for the first time in the character’s 59-year-long cinematic history. And it’s not just in a “ha-ha we were only joking, Bond is invincible” kind of way. Bond really is dead. He literally explodes into smithereens.
So how does No Time To Die end? And what does it mean for James Bond’s future?
The movie’s big bad is bioterrorist Lyutsifer Safin, portrayed chillingly by Rami Malek. Safin and Madeleine go way back and have a connected history as her father was responsible for killing Safin’s family for the terrorist organization Spectre when Safin was just a little kid.
In the present day, Safin has created Heracles, a DNA-based bioweapon with nanobots that target specific people, and he wants Madeleine to play a part in his mission to take down Spectre for revenge. However, Bond ends up finishing the mission when he unwittingly kills Spectre’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).
As it goes with any person longing for revenge, Safin’s plan doesn’t end here. He reveals that he plans to launch Heracles globally (Because why not? Let’s have another pandemic). He brings Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) and her daughter Mathilde to an old World War II island base between Japan and Russia, which is where his Heracles plan is being executed.
But of course, Bond is there to save the day with another 00 agent, Nomi (Lashana Lynch). The duo infiltrates the island and opens the silo doors for a missile strike ordered by M (Ralph Fiennes) to obliterate Safin’s base.
Nomi escapes with Madeleine and Mathilde, while Bond stays behind to make sure the mission reaches its conclusion. But, if Bond is staying back, it means the fight is far from over.
As Bond is about to leave the island, he encounters Safin and gets into a tussle with him. Safin shoots him multiple times and then reveals that he infected Bond with Heracles nanobots coded to Madeleine’s DNA. Which means that if Bond ever tries touching Madeleine or Mathilde again, it would instantly kill them. Bond proceeds to shoot him fatally and still has what seems like time just enough to escape the island.
However, faced with a life without Madeleine, he chooses to give up and talk to her one last time on the satellite phone and tell her that he loves her. It is in these final moments that Madeleine confirms what he thought and reveals that Mathilde is his own daughter.
And then, the missile hails down on the base and Bond enfolds into the sea of explosions.
Back at the MI6 headquarters, M, Nomi, Moneypenny, Tanner, and Q give the spy an emotional sendoff toast.
Finally, we see Madeleine driving in Matera, the place where she first met Bond. She is with their daughter as she goes, “Mathilde, I’m going to tell you a story about a man. His name was Bond, James Bond.”
Chills. Goosebumps. Tears.
Louis Armstrong’s We Have All the Time in the World starts playing as the credits roll. This is an iconic tune for two reasons. One, it’s Louis Armstrong, but another reason why it’s nostalgic for Bond fans is that it was also used in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
And thus ends Craig’s journey as 007.
But fret not! There’s still hope. There are ways the spy can still be resurrected. Although there is no post-credit scene, the end credits reassure fans with a “James Bond will return.”
As the film marks Craig’s exit as 007, it is highly likely that Bond becomes a symbol for the excellence one looks for in a spy and hence, becomes a codename for the next 007, whoever it is.
Even Lashana Lynch’s Nomi revealed that she’d been assigned the code number 007 when Bond disappeared after the events of Spectre.
It is clear that whichever direction Bond heads in, the franchise won’t reimagine the character of James Bond as a woman. While talking to Variety, Barbara Broccoli had previously said,
He can be of any color, but he is male. I believe we should be creating new characters for women—strong female characters. I’m not particularly interested in taking a male character and having a woman play it. I think women are far more interesting than that.
Barbara Broccoli
Hey, maybe Bond will get a spinoff where Mathilde follows in her father’s footsteps. That would be a much better choice to have a female spy lead in the Bond universe rather than just “trading” James Bond for a female 007.
The hunt for the next Bond will begin in 2022, but for now, here’s to Craig; who, despite facing backlash, proved everyone wrong and become one of the best and most beloved Bonds ever.
About No Time to Die
No Time to Die is the 25th installment of the James Bond franchise. The film stars Daniel Craig as James Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas and Lea Seydoux.
James Bond is enjoying his retirement in Jamaica when his friend Felix Leiter comes to him for help. The mission is to rescue a kidnapped scientist but a dangerous villain with deadly technology stands in his way.
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