No Time To Die (2021)

This movie is way way too long. This is practically a mini-series because while it is just under 3 hours, it seems longer. I recommend two sittings. There is a changing of the guard at MI-6, with James retired and a new agent inhabiting the 007 moniker. This is Daniel Craig's swan song in the role, and so the plot harkens back to old enemy's and new ways for bad guys to wreck world-wide havoc in their diabolical plans for control and revenge. Rami Mallek is the bad guy, and he looks about the way he did in Pappillon, when he was in a jungle prison (ie. not good), and there is an elaborate sub-plot for revenge that he is intent on carrying out. What makes this worth your time is the visual and sound effects (for which the movie is on the short list for an Oscar nomination for). The opening sequence is tightly framed and almost poetic—even just the first shot of a hooded figure coming over a snowy hill has a grace that Bond often lacks. The shoot-out in Cuba moves like a dance scene with Craig and Ana de Armas (a Cuban born actress) finding each other’s rhythms. There’s a riveting encounter in a foggy forest and a single shot climb in a tower of enemies that has a one-shot scene that is beautiful and suspenseful.