'No Time To Die' Trailer: The Most Bondian Movie For 20 Years

After twenty years of absence, James Bond returns to his former, traditional self in No Time To Die, marking the end of Daniel Craig's four film journey to discover the true essence of the character

Daniel Craig in 'No Time To Die' (CREDIT: Universal/MGM/EON)

                        by Jack Linsdell

Last week, Universal and MGM released a new trailer for Cary Fukunaga's No Time to Die. The trailer itself is a clever (and very obvious) piece of movie marketing, emphasising the patriotic and heroic nature of the infamous British spy (the 007 theme plays throughout the trailer), along with the whole "one last mission" thing as the curtain call for the Daniel Craig era. I've followed, and extensively written about, the production of No Time to Die since the film was first "announced" back in April 2019, and the fact that it's release date is drawing ever closer does feel quite surreal.

Anyway, the trailer's biggest reveal was confirmation that the movie is A) sticking to a theatrical release and B) still going to be released this year in November. Obviously, with countries like the UK and America dealing with second spikes of COVID-19 and the underperformance of Tenet causing big movies (Wonder Woman 1984, Candyman) to be postponed to 2021, this was big news. But, the trailer's most overlooked reveal was that No Time to Die is the first traditional James Bond movie for over 20 years. And, if that turns out to be true, I can fully understand why Universal, MGM and EON decided to stick to November 2020. 

Daniel Craig's run as Ian Fleming's iconic spy has been perhaps the most pioneering, unconventional and disjointed of all the actors to play 007 in EON's 25 film franchise. It's also, partly due to overseas marketplace expansion, the most financially successful too. In 2006, Craig came in as a "Blonde Bond", looking, sounding and (arguably) behaving nothing like any actor to have ever played 007 in the franchise's 40 year history. Martin Campbell's Casino Royale was the ultimate modern Bond film, keeping some of the aesthetic traditions and iconography (casinos, tropical locales, the DB5) but throwing out the formula and breaking all the rules. It thus become very politically-relevant, emphasising Bourne-inspired grit, violence and in-camera stunt work over franchise traditions. Gone was the pre-title gun barrel sequence, the orchestral and vocally-driven theme song and "villain's going to blow up the world" plot. Instead, we had a banker trying to make a cosy living from third-world arms dealing and no end of contemporary, innovative action scenes. In 2008, Marc Forster's Quantum of Solace took the "breaking the rules" one step further, crafting a lean-and-mean, action heavy thriller that barely felt like a Bond film. Look, I love Quantum of Solace almost as much as Casino Royale, although I will admit it works better as a film about a character named James Bond than the 22nd 007 film. 

Anyway, Craig had announced himself as a very new type of Bond, and to be honest it's exactly what the very outdated and tired franchise needed. However, by 2011, Britain was on the verge of hosting the Olympic Games (and thus feeling very patriotic), and the popularity for the action genre was shifting away from the gritty, on-the-run aesthetic of Bourne to the four-quadrant, stylish, big-budget blockbusters being made popular by Christopher Nolan. Thus, Craig shifted gears to become more of a traditional 007. Sam Mendes' Skyfall brought back the over-the-top villain, the gadgets, the gags, the famous characters (Q, Moneypenny) and the feeling of fantasy escapism, becoming a very patriotic movie about a British spy just when the world was focusing on Britain. That's why the film rocketed to $1.1 billion worldwide (a franchise high), almost doubling the grosses of Craig's first two thrillers ($600 million and $589 million respectively). Mendes returned for 2015's truly abysmal Spectre which, like Quantum of Solace, took the success of it's predecessor the wrong way and went too extreme. Daniel Craig's fourth outing become a bland, dull and very clichèd homage to the "nod and wink" Roger Moore 007 era, taking what Skyfall had merely hinted at and slapped us with it hard around the face. Apart from being a terrible movie, Spectre also felt worlds apart from the Bond we'd seen comforting Vesper in a shower a decade before. Now, he was a one-dimensional hero, who had no layers or complexity, which essentially left Craig with nothing to do but just walk around for 140 minutes. 

And, that brings us to No Time to Die. From the looks of the marketing over the last year, and loads of cast and crew interviews, it seems that not only is the Cary Fukunaga-directed movie a hybrid of both Craig eras but perhaps his (and the franchises') most traditional movie at least since The World Is Not Enough. We're told that the gunbarrel sequence is back at the beginning of the movie (something Craig didn't do until Spectre), along with an orchestral theme song from Billie Eilish which shares the same name with the film (Skyfall is the only other Craig Bond film to do that). The new trailer emphasises the fantasy escapism and "the world will end" villain's plan made popular by the The Spy Who Loved Me, whilst retaining the iconography (gadgets, cars, locales) that made the franchise so iconic in the first place. It's a welcome home feeling for diehard fans like myself and general audiences too, which is what the new trailer sells so well. The fact that No Time to Die is the most traditional Bond flick for 20 years will certainly give it a good chance of breaking big in November. When you add in the lack of big movies this year and it being the final Craig outing, it's bound to avoid the same box office fate as Tenet.

What's ironic is that Craig arguably started as one type of Bond, become the exact opposite type over the years and has finally become the "middle ground", traditional hybrid of the two just as he's bowing out. His 007 era has been defined by a traditional Bond movie done in a contemporary way (Casino Royale, Skyfall) followed by a poorly-recieved follow-up (Quantum of Solace, Spectre) that took the pioneering approach of it's predecessor and went too extreme with it (real-world grit and over the top humour respectively). No Time to Die looks set to be a successful hybrid of both eras, acting as a fitting finale to all four movies, but also the destination to a 20 year journey for Craig to get to a traditional James Bond adventure. As numerous villains have commented over the years, "we meet again, Mr Bond". Let's just hope it's good.