{"id":23626,"date":"2021-10-05T10:20:51","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23626"},"modified":"2021-10-05T10:20:51","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:20:51","slug":"no-time-to-die-takes-itself-too-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23626","title":{"rendered":"NO TIME TO DIE Takes Itself Too Seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This film from United Artists Releasing opens at movie theaters on Friday, October 8th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 70 years ago, author Ian Fleming created the iconic British secret agent, James Bond. In the following years, the character has adapted with the times and spawned a film series containing 25 official titles. The latest feature is No Time to Die<\/em> and it marks the final onscreen appearance of Daniel Craig as the famed spy. As one might expect, the action on display is extremely impressive to watch. But the story\u2019s attempts to wrap up threads introduced in previous films is clunky. And for this reviewer, there\u2019s a distinct lack of adventure or thrills present that one would expect from the series. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This story sees James Bond (Craig) off duty and living off\nthe grid with Dr. Madeleine Swann (L\u00e9a Seydoux). When armed figures\nunexpectedly make an attempt on Bond\u2019s life and he learns that Swann has been\nhiding a secret from him, the protagonist ushers her away. Some time later, the\nlead is approached by CIA agents Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Logan Ash\n(Billy Magnussen). They need his assistance with a new threat involving a\nmicroscopic nanobot-based DNA weapon that could potentially wipe out anyone whom\nthe user targets. While Bond follows the trail, he meets new \u201c00\u201d and CIA\nagents Nomi (Lashana Lynch) and Paloma (Ana de Armas). The hero also comes into\ncontact with an old enemy Ernst Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) and a new foe named Lyutsifer\nSafin (Rami Malek). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie starts off quite well, with a memorable opening\ninvolving a masked assassin, followed by Bond being attacked by various thugs\nand racing through a picturesque European village. Since the beginning of the\nfranchise, the stunt work has been fantastic and, as expected, this picture\nkeeps the tradition going. There\u2019s also some entertaining conflict in a Cuba-set\nsequence that features Bond and new agents Paloma and Nomi getting involved in\nan elaborate fracas. In particular, supporting cast member Ana de Armas stands\nout and adds humor as a new and untested spy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s why it is disappointing that the movie becomes\nponderous and convoluted during its second half as the action ceases and motivations\nfor the various foes are revealed. While it\u2019s impressive that all the cast is\ncommitted to depicting the drama with utter seriousness, their tone does contrast\nwith the sillier nanobot-based plot elements. And ultimately, for much of the\ntwo-hour-and-forty-three-minute running time, the movie is content to somberly explain\nwho was responsible for which specific acts and add some last-minute emotional\nreckoning for the lead. Sadly, these revelations aren\u2019t exciting to witness. The\npacing crawls during the second half and the story loses its vitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malek does make for an interesting enough foe with Lyutsifer\nSafin, but the picture also suffers from having too many baddies. This includes\na henchman (Dali Benssalah) with a unique physical attribute, a nasty rogue\nagent and the reappearance of Blofeld. They\u2019re all vying for screen time and\nSafin doesn\u2019t have the opportunity to make a notable impression. In fact, if\nmemory serves, the main villain doesn\u2019t even cross paths or have direct contact\nwith Bond until the final act of the movie. He may very well be a criminal\nmastermind with a nifty poison garden, but it would have been much more dynamic\nto see Bond and this figure trade barbs and blows throughout the picture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, despite some great action early on and the explosive nature of the finale, No Time to Die<\/em> takes itself too seriously and ends in a tired manner. Personally, I\u2019m a big enthusiast of James Bond and adored the first few Craig movies. But as time has passed and the tone has become more and more downcast, the zip and fun associated with the famed character has been drained. And even more surprisingly, this title unexpectedly implies that the most recent movies may not be connected to the earlier Bond film timeline. At least that gives fans some hope that follow-ups will either revitalize the franchise or that some very, very creative writing may right the wrongs committed by this oddball entry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film from United Artists Releasing opens at movie theaters on Friday, October 8th. Nearly 70 years ago, author Ian Fleming created the iconic British secret agent, James Bond. In the following years, the character has adapted with the times and spawned a film series containing 25 official titles. The latest feature is No Time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,206,1329,2772,4362,5070,5133,10208,10541,12097,12190,14970,14971,14972,14973,16630,18907],"class_list":["post-23626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-25","tag-206","tag-ana-de-armas","tag-billy-magnussen","tag-christoph-waltz","tag-dali-benssalah","tag-daniel-craig","tag-james-bond","tag-jeffrey-wright","tag-lashana-lynch","tag-lea-seydoux","tag-no-time-to-die","tag-no-time-to-die-film-review","tag-no-time-to-die-movie-review","tag-no-time-to-die-review","tag-rami-malek","tag-spy"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}