‘No Time To Die’ Trailer: Looks Like Daniel Craig’s Last Bond Film Has Some Incredible Action Sequences
You know his name, and you know his number. Bond is back in a new action-packed trailer for No Time To Die. Could 007 be facing his most daunting mission yet? Check out the trailer below, and see glimpses of some great throwbacks to early Bond films in Daniel Craig’s last hurrah as the suave British agent.
There’s a definite 1960s /1970s Bond film vibe in this trailer with plenty of international intrigue, scarred villains, secret bases, rockets launching from warships, and all manner of spectacular stunts that take place on land, by air, and on the sea. The grittiness of Craig’s era remains with the addition of some fantastical elements, including a plane that turns into a submarine. The film looks good, and it looks like Craig may dodge the final film curse that Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan experienced.
No Time To Die picks up five years after Spectre. Bond has retired from MI6 and has settled down with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux). But their peace is short-lived, and Bond is forced back into active service to protect Madeleine’s “secret.” The film is connected to Spectre, not only with the return of Madeleine but also with the return of Bond’s arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).
Madeleine Swann (left) is the first leading lady to feature in two Bond films, and the first who has a history with two major villains (three if you count her father, Mr. White). While she is a target of Safin (Rami Malek), she might also be a pawn in Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s (right) own game.
“Your enemy is my enemy”, Blofeld tells Bond. Their mutual enemy is Safin (Rami Malek), a villain from Madeleine’s past who is causing havoc around the globe.
Blofeld is only helping Bond because Safin is a threat to his criminal organization, SPECTRE. Or at least this is what he wants Bond to think. The sight of the incarcerated Blofeld conversing with Bond feels similar to Hannibal Lecter helping Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. Is Blofeld playing a double game, and will he escape?
Since the release of the first trailer in December 2019, many wonder if Malek is playing Dr. No, the first villain to appear in the James Bond series back in 1962. Malek said he prepared for the role by watching Dr. No. And both Malek and Joseph Wiseman (who played Dr. No) share a similar likeness. But neither of these points is concrete evidence to support the rumor.
Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) shares a similar resemblance to Safin (Rami Malek)
All the trailers raise the question of how personal this mission is for Bond? In a special behind-the-scenes trailer, director Cary Joji Fukunaga revealed No Time To Die is about family:
“The people close to Bond, those he considers family are at great risk. From the moment he’s called to action to the end of the film it’s a race, not only to save the world but their lives. No Time To Die is a culmination of all that Bond has become with all that he has seen, the trauma, the loss. What is that mission that would be his most challenging and most difficult?”
Just who does Bond consider family? This clearly refers to Bond’s relationship with Madeleine, and could also confirm a rumor that the couple has a daughter. This rumor arose from the sight of two young girls on set. A scene shot in Norway early in the film’s production depicted a masked villain (most likely Safin) hunting down a young blonde girl. Considering Madeleine’s history with the villain, this scene is probably a flashback of Madeleine as a young child. But the rumor of Bond’s daughter persists after the Daily Mail released photographs of another young girl aged five years or under on location in Matera, Italy. The first trailer added weight to this rumor with the sight of a young girl in the back of a vehicle driven by Bond.
Another mystery is whether Bond is actually 007 in this film. Since he’s retired from the British Secret Service, it’s possible his old recognition code now belongs to new Double-0, Nomi (Lashana Lynch). Nomi can certainly handle herself. She’s no Bond Girl; she’s Bond’s equal. Lynch looks convincing, and a female Double-0 agent is long overdue. What her presence means for the future of the Bond series no one knows, but it’s unlikely she will replace Bond in future films as some speculate. We won’t know for sure if any of these rumors are correct until the film is released.
Is Nomi the new 007?
What appears certain is that Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective, The Alienist, Beast of No Nation) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who are both newcomers to the Bond franchise, have taken the familiar Bond tropes and spun a spy yarn that stretches the formula in some new and exciting ways. Fukunaga is the first American to direct a film in the series, and he’s also one of the best directors in the film industry right now.
He’s also a talented writer who co-wrote No Time To Die with Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve, Fleabag) and longtime Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Waller-Bridge, who’s profile is high after Fleabag scooped the awards pool at the Golden Globes, punched up the dialogue and strengthened the female characterization in the film.
Indeed, the film is driven by Seydoux, Lynch, and Cuban-Spanish sensation Ana De Armas, who plays Paloma, a feisty femme fatale that gets Bond out of a tight squeeze or puts him in one. It should be fun to watch Bond navigate a new world populated with strong female spies. Waller-Bridge is adamant that Bond is still Bond, so don’t expect the British agent to be much different from what we want or expect him to be.
Nonetheless, the logline suggests the 25th installment of the longest-running film series “changes everything”. Expect more buzz over the next three months as the marketing kicks into overdrive. No Time To Die hits theaters on November 20, 2020.
Image via United Artists Releasing
