Noh Time

There was no way I was going to skip No Time to Die (2021), the last of the Daniel Craig James Bond movies. But what would Ms. Spenser think? She loved it.

It starts with a young girl and her doper mom in a cabin in a snowy country, waiting for dad to come home. Mom tells her that dad is a killer, and he isn't coming home, so there. Then a weirdo in a Japanese Noh mask breaks in and kills mom. He almost kills the kid, but spares her.

Some time later, we meet Bond and Lea Seydoux (the little girl, all grown up) cruising along a coastal road in Italy. They stop in a quaint town (Matera) for some steamy action. When Bond goes to visit Vesper Lynd's grave, he's attacked. Cool action set piece follows. He thinks Seydoux betrayed him, but just puts her on a train and takes off.

Five year's later (we're all caught up from flashbacks), Bond is retired in Jamaica. His old buddy Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) asks for some help with a job in Cuba. It seems that a SPECTRE bioscientist has defected and they need to get him. When he refuses, he meets his 00 replacement, Lashana Lynch, who helps talk him into it.

In Cuba, he meets up with his partner, new CIA agent Ana de Armas, and they go to a party for, basically, all of SPECTRE. Someone releases a bioweapon, aiming to kill Bond, but instead, everyone in SPECTRE dies. It seems that the scientist is playing games.

And so it goes. We have a little bit of Christoph Waltz as Blofeld, and Rami Malik as Lyutsifer Safin, who turns out to be the guy in the Noh mask. We get sometime with Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Ben Whishaw as Q. Lynch, the new 007, is pretty prickly around Craig as the retired 007. He is pretty flip at first, but quickly starts giving her the respect and deference her role deserves. Which is a nice change - no real conflict there at all.

Lots of plot, a couple of Aston Martins, a cool glider, evil villain's lair, etc. Then Bond gets killed. Quite conclusively blown up. Hold a short memorial, roll credits. It all ends with the promise "James Bond Will Return!" - not 007, but James Bond. OK, we'll see. And we'll see who the new guy will get to be.

As well as a good (maybe a little busy) Bond movie, this also serves as a look back at the franchise, with references to previous movies. Most obvious is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, because he has found a true love. Of course in OHMSS, Diana Rigg is killed. Here it's Bond.

As for Ms. Spenser's thoughts, she liked that there were plenty of women, and women of color, working with Bond, and as partners, not eye candy. She liked that emotional underpinning was sincere and grounded. And of course, cool action and Daniel Craig, with dreamy blue eyes. That last part may be me, though.