Add No Time To Die To Your 007 Collection

After a very long wait between films, ‘No Time To Die’ finally hit theatres in November 2021. It was a film, that many audiences were worried if they would ever get to see it. The film was originally slated to be released in April 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was delayed a total of 3 times before finally landing a release date on November. 6 long years audiences waited after ‘Spectre’ for another adventure with Daniel Craigs Bond. After such a long wait though, was it going to live up to the hype? I am happy to say it wholeheartedly did. This is a fantastic film and ranks among my favourite in the nearly 60-year-old franchise. The film is headed to Blu-Ray & 4K UHD on January 26th, 2022 and I am here today to tell you why you need to add it to your collection. So here are the five reasons I think you need to add ‘No Time To Die’ to your James Bond collection. So without further ado, here we go, and don’t worry I won’t be spoiling anything.

Daniel Craig's final performance – Daniel Craig has had quite a long tenure as the iconic character created by author Ian Flemming, spanning a total of 15 years and 5 films. He has always been great as the character and this film acts as his final swan song. Craig gives everything to the character here. You feel he is battle-worn from the first four entries and we can see the history of what he has been through, during this time. He nails the comedy beats, delivering some fun lines throughout, he still sells all of the action set pieces, doing a lot of his own stunt work, which might I say at the age of 53 is incredibly impressive. This ranks up there with my favourite Daniel Craig performances as the character, only being beaten out by Skyfall.

The action – A staple of recent James Bond films, especially in the Craig era of Bond, has been the amazing action set pieces. Martin Campbell set the bar very high back in 2006 with ‘Casino Royale’. ‘No Time To Die’ director Cary Joji Fukunaga puts the emphasis back on the action with some of the most exciting in the franchise. This film honestly feels like a Bond action set-piece wish list. We have car chases, an awesome sequence in the ocean, and a typical third act set-piece that goes big! I loved all the action here and think Fukunaga directs the hell out of them, with all of the set pieces feeling like an art piece on the screen. The sound as well of all of these set pieces adds to the overall feel of the film, feeling every bone-crunching punch and stunt on screen.

The story – A Bond film is only ever as good as its story. The story is a culmination of the previous films, with the events of the film taking place nearly directly after the events of ‘Spectre’ with characters such as Blofeld (played again by Christoph Waltz) and Bond girl Madeleine (played again by Lea Seydoux) returning for the film. The basic story starts with Bond’s old friend from the CIA Felix Leiter (played again by Jeffrey Wright) who calls bond out of retirement to help stop a new villain Safin (played by Rami Malek) who is armed with a dangerous new Biological weapon. The plot moves quite quickly going from one stunning location to the next. The story feels personal to Bond and works as a great conclusion to the character.

The villain – Another key ingredient to a successful James Bond film is the villain of the film. We have seen some great villains in the Daniel Craig era with le Chiffre from Casino Royale (played by Mads Mikkelsen), Silva from Skyfall (played by Javier Bardem), and Blowfeld from Spectre (played by Christopher Waltz). No Time To Die’s villain Lyutsifer Safin played by Rami Malek is offbeat, menacing, and incredibly unpredictable. Malek brings the character to life with this unhinged nature, that makes him truly terrifying whenever he is on screen. He doesn’t match Bond’s physicality but through mind games and psychological warfare. He gets the best of Bond on more than one occasion throughout the film. I found him to be captivating when on screen, unable to look away and concerned that he may get the better of Bond. He is truly amazing in the role and without a doubt another memorable villain for the franchise.

The score/music – The music for the Craig era of Bond has been amazing. The Bond theme has become iconic at this point and we have seen Adele deliver the amazing vocals for ‘Skyfall’ in 2012 and Sam Smith with ‘Writing on The Wall’ for ‘Spectre’ in 2015. Now in 2021, Billie Eilish has delivered one of, if not my favourite Bond themes of all time with ‘no Time To Die’. Eilish’s vocals elevate the theme, giving it a lot of weight. It feels like a final song, which I love and it has been on repeat for the better part of a year now, since its initial release in 2020. The score itself composed by legendary composer Hans Zimmer (The Dark Knight, Inception) is also amazing. It elevates every action set-piece and is used appropriately. There are quite a few times during the film, where it hits almost sentimental beats as well. There is a lot of new music, mixed with the theme of the film and classical Bond tunes including the iconic theme as well. I love the score and it is one of the best parts of the film.

‘No Time To Die’ is simply stunning. It’s a beautifully directed send-off to one of the more memorable and iconic performances of all time.  It's sad to see Daniel Craig call time on his tenure as the character, but at the same time, we have been lucky enough to witness something truly amazing. This film is most certainly worthy of making its way into your film collection.

Buy No Time To Die on DVD, Blu-ray & 4K UHD here (and get a bonus POSTER!*)

Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here