The family theme: James Bond traditionally wasn’t known as a family man. But No Time to Die makes a big deal about a family theme.
That’s not me talking. Eon Productions boss Barbara Broccoli played up that idea in a podcast interview with The Hollywood Reporter. She talked about Bond’s “MI6 family” and “his real family.”
Rewatching the movie, that comes through. Safin’s villainous scientist refers to Madeleine Swann and her daughter as “your family” to the villain. Bond (according to the closed captions for the movie) refers to them as his family.
Revisiting the SPECTRE scripts: There were some drafts of the script for SPECTRE (2015) where Bond shot Blofeld in the head. One draft (completed shortly before filming began) ended with Bond telling Madeline, “We have all the time in the world.”
Neither made it into the final film. But with No Time to Die, Eon doubled down.
In the pre-credit sequence of No Time to Die, Bond tells Madeline that, “We have all the time in the world.” Toward the end, just before Bond is blown to smithereens, Bond tells her, “You have all the time in the world.” And, of course, just before that, Bond blasts Safin away.
Scooby Gang gets to emote: It’s not just Bond (Daniel Craig) who gets a big death scene. Lea Seydoux as Madeline gets to emote. So do the Scooby Gang: Ralph Fiennes’ M, Naomie Harris’ Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw’s Q, and Rory Kinnear’s Tanner.
“You promised”: Just before he dies, Bond tells Madeline he’s not going to make it. She replies: “You promised.”
At this point, Bond has apparently lost a fair amount of blood and isn’t moving around very well thanks to a few bullet wounds courtesy of Safin.
Did Bond really have to die? That’s almost irrelevant. The whole movie was designed to have Bond die. Quibbling about nanobots (couldn’t Bond’s EMP watch rid him of the nanobots?), etc., etc. doesn’t really matter. Bond was going to die. The question was how.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Barbara Broccoli, Bond 25, Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Naomie Harris, No Time to Die, Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear |
The Spy Command 
In my opinion Bond shouldn’t die..regardless of what timeline we’re in, this is Bond not Marvel for goodness sake!!! I look at NTTD as a cheep out for Craig’s Bond! It was very obvious to me something would happen to Bond seeing a bloodless gun barrel scene..hoping he would mysteriously go missing but a few moments into the movie Bond utters “ we have all the time in the world “. And the the OHMSS music plays, I immediately thought Bond is going to die in this movie. I have been a fan of this franchise since I was a young boy in 1979.. I’m 53 now a huge fan of all 24 movies.. I cannot get into NTTD/bond 25, the plot, the score, the fashion.. it’s awful and sad. If bond hadn’t died I would still have this film on the bottom of my list. Perhaps I’ve just had enough of this emotional , stressing, depressed, I hate my job ,version of James Bond.. I’ve only seen this movie once, I’m good for awhile, I tried watching Casino the other day couldn’t finish it, I kept thinking this guy is just going to give up and die later on anyway. This is just my opinion..many people I know love this film and that’s awesome and I respect all bond fans no matter what films they enjoy..I will never criticize another fan for what they like. I will be totally shocked if another movie comes out with Barbara still in control, She seems tired of it all, plus the way she gloat’s about Craig she doesn’t want to cast a new Bond.
I’m working my way through Revisioning Bond, a collection of essays on Casino Royale edited by Christoph Lindner. A lot of it is academic wankery, but it does capture some of the excitement that surrounded Craig’s first outing as Bond. And the expectations for what would follow.
Sadly, I don’t think the thrill of CR was ever matched again with Craig as 007. It was gripping from start to finish. Skyfall came very close. Spectre had its moments.
No Time To Die… meh.
Started off well but Daddy Bond meeting Baby Bond was a twist we didn’t need. The ending was long winded and sentimental; much too much so for a Bond movie. Will James Bond return? If this is the best they can do for him, I hope not.