Bradley Ruzicka

The sixth post in my “James Bond at 60” series focuses on the Daniel Craig Years.

In my opinion, the reboot of the James Bond series by producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli gave the franchise new life. It was time to take Bond back to his roots and retell the story with a new century and a new generation in mind. I also have to agree with a majority of critics and fans that Craig’s portrayal of the character revitalized Bond by making him more three dimensional and, in the process, more relatable to the audience. But all good things must end. Craig’s fifth entry and the 25th Eon-produced Bond film, No Time to Die, was his last.

On October 14, 2005, Eon Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced at a press conference in London that Craig would be the sixth actor to portray 007. He succeeded Pierce Brosnan, whose last Bond film in 2002, Die Another Day, hadn’t been well received by critics or fans. Much had changed in the ten years since Brosnan’s hiring in 1994. Founding producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli passed away in 1996. The homeland had been attacked in 2001 and America was at war with a largely unseen enemy. By 2004, the current incarnation of Bond had reached a dead end.

As Barbara Broccoli stated in the documentary Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, “Cubby used to say, ‘Whenever you have a problem, go back to [Ian] Fleming.'” Co-Producer Wilson agreed, stating “We felt the last film was too fantastical, so we decided to go back to the basics”. That meant returning to Bond’s origins. Casino Royale was an adaptation of Fleming’s novel of the same name, the first in the Bond series. It focused on introducing the Bond character, including how he earned his 00 status. In 1999, following legal action between Sony and MGM/UA, Eon gained the rights to Casino Royale when Sony traded for MGM’s rights to Spider-Man.

Casino Royal constituted a fresh start, allowing the producers the freedom to reinterpret almost 50 years of Bond history for a new century. In March 2004, veteran Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade began writing a screenplay, initially for Brosnan, aiming to bring back the flavor of Fleming’s original novel. Just a year earlier, Craig had rejected an offer to play Bond as he felt the series had descended into formula. Only when he read the script for Casino Royale did he become interested. “There was a period of trying to woo him” Broccoli later commented in 2012.

Craig subsequently read all of Fleming’s novels and cited Mossad and British Secret Service agents as inspiring him. “Bond has just come out of the service and he’s a killer…. You can see it in their eyes, you know immediately: oh, hello, he’s a killer. These guys walk into a room and very subtly they check the perimeters for an exit. That’s the sort of thing I wanted.” During this time, Craig also sought advice from colleagues and friends. He stated he “was aware of the challenges” of the Bond franchise, which he considered “a big machine that makes a lot of money”.

After briefly considering actor Henry Cavill, the producers offered, and Craig accepted, $3.2M for the initial film. Born in 1968, Craig became the first actor to portray 007 to have been born after the Bond series started and after the death of Fleming. However, significant controversy followed his hiring. There was doubt as to whether or not Broccoli and Wilson had made the right choice. Throughout the entire production period for Casino Royale, internet campaigns expressed dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest. The 5′ 10″ blond Craig was not considered by some protesters to fit the Bond profile.

Viewers had become accustomed to the tall, dark Bond portrayed by previous actors. The Daily Mirror ran a front-page news story critical of Craig with the headline, “The Name’s Bland – James Bland”. Although the choice was controversial, numerous actors publicly voiced their support. Most notably, all five of the actors who had previously portrayed Bond called his casting a good decision. Sean Connery shared his thoughts on Craig’s casting in 2008, describing him as “fantastic, marvelous in the part”. When Casino Royal was released in November 2006, fans and critics also embraced Craig’s portrayal.

The film grossed almost $600M worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Bond film to date. Craig’s performance was highly acclaimed, with many believing him to have been the first actor to truly nail Fleming’s character as described in his books. Todd McCarthy, reviewing the film for Variety, considered that “Craig comes closer to the author’s original conception of this exceptionally long-lived male fantasy figure than anyone since early Sean Connery”. He went on to say that “Craig once and for all claims the character as his own”. Producer Steven Spielberg called Craig “the perfect 21st-century Bond.”

Paul Arendt, writing for the BBC, agreed, observing that “Daniel Craig is not a good Bond. He’s a great Bond. Specifically, he is 007 as conceived by Ian Fleming—a professional killing machine, a charming, cold-hearted patriot with a taste for luxury. Craig is the first actor to really nail 007’s defining characteristic: he’s an absolute swine.” James Chapman commented on the realism and violence in the film, noting that Bond is seen to seriously bleed for the first time in the series. Chapman also identified a number of violent scenes which makes Casino Royale notable. Raymond Benson, the author of nine Bond novels, called it “a perfect Bond film.”

Roger Moore, the longest tenured actor prior to Craig and star of seven Bond films, wrote, “Daniel Craig impressed me so greatly in his debut outing … by introducing a more gritty, unrefined edge to the character that I thought Sean might just have to move over. Craig’s interpretation was like nothing we’d seen on screen before; Jimmy Bond was earning his stripes and making mistakes. It was intriguing to see him being castigated by M, just like a naughty schoolboy would be by his headmaster. The script showed him as a vulnerable, troubled, and flawed character. Quite the opposite to my Bond!”

Moore continued, “Craig was, and is, very much the Bond Ian Fleming had described in the books – a ruthless killing machine. It was a Bond that the public wanted.” So impressed was Moore that he chose to buy the DVD. Craig described his portrayal of Bond as an anti-hero: “The question I keep asking myself while playing the role is, ‘Am I the good guy or just a bad guy who works for the good side?’ Bond’s role, after all, is that of an assassin when you come down to it. I have never played a role in which someone’s dark side shouldn’t be explored. I don’t think it should be confusing by the end of the film, but during the film you should be questioning who he is.”

Although Craig has stated he has great respect for Moore and the other Bond actors, he believes Connery was the best. His favorite Bond film is Connery’s second entry, From Russia With Love. When told Craig had taken particular note of his portrayal, Connery said he was “flattered”, and that Craig really gets the “danger element” to Bond’s character. But Craig insisted he had no intention of becoming the next Connery. “I’d never copy somebody else. I would never do an impression of anybody else or try and improve on what they did. That would be a pointless exercise for me.”

As production of Casino Royale reached its conclusion in the spring of 2006, Wilson and Broccoli announced that pre-production work had already begun on Craig’s second movie. Quantum of Solace would be the 22nd film in the Bond series. After several months of speculation regarding the premier date, the producers officially announced in July that the movie would be released November 2008. Craig’s salary more than doubled to $7.2M, with an option for a third film. In October 2007, MGM CEO Harry Sloan revealed at the Forbes Meet II Conference that Craig had signed on to make three more Bond movies, through Bond 25.

Quantum of Solace was released a year later, in October 2008. Director Marc Forster, who was surprised he was approached for the job as he was not a big Bond fan, noted a running theme in his previous films were emotionally repressed protagonists. As a result, the theme of the picture would be Bond learning to trust after feeling betrayed by Vesper Lynd, his love interest in Casino Royale. According to a December 2011 interview with Craig, “We had the bare bones of a script [written by Purvis and Wade] and then there was a writers’ strike and there was nothing we could do.”

“We couldn’t employ a writer to finish it. I say to myself, ‘Never again’, but who knows? There was me trying to rewrite scenes—and a writer I am not”. Craig said that he and Forster “were the [only] ones allowed to do it. The rules were that you couldn’t employ anyone as a writer, but the actor and director could work on scenes together. … We got away with it, but only just. It was never meant to be as much of a sequel as it was, but it ended up being a sequel, starting where the last one finished.” After the film’s release, Wilson and Broccoli moved forward in 2009 with pre-production activities on Bond 23, later titled Skyfall, to be released in April 2010.

Sam Mendes replaced Forster as director shortly after the premier of Quantum of Solace. However, production activities were suspended during much of 2010 due to financial difficulties within MGM Holdings, Eon’s parent company, culminating in Chapter 11 bankruptcy that November. Production resumed following MGM’s exit from bankruptcy in December, but the damage had been done. The release of Craig’s third film was delayed for two years. Skyfall finally made it to theaters in November 2012, part of the 50th anniversary celebration of Dr. No, the first ever film in the Bond series.

Critic Philip French, writing in The Observer, felt that, with Skyfall, Craig managed to “get out of the shadow of Connery”. The New Statesman thought that he had “relaxed into Bond without losing any steeliness”. Manohla Dargis, reviewing for The New York Times, considered the film to be “a superior follow-up to Casino Royale“. Two months prior to Skyfall’s release, the producers confirmed that Craig was signed for a total of five films, making him the third longest-serving Bond. Craig would be well compensated for his efforts, earning a salary of $20M for Skyfall, $30M for Bond 24, and $25M for Bond 25, a total of $85.4M during his tenure.

Bond 24, Craig’s fourth film, began pre-production in March 2013. Mendes had originally announced he would not be the director but later decided to return. Released in November 2015, Spectre sees Bond pitted against a global criminal enterprise of the same name. It was Spectre’s first appearance in an Eon film since 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever and tied Craig’s first three films together with an overarching storyline. Several recurring characters from Skyfall, including M, Q, and Moneypenny, returned. Christoph Waltz was added to the cast as Spectre’s leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, marking his re-introduction into the series.

The film’s usage of the Spectre organization and its characters marked the end of long-standing litigation between Eon and producer Kevin McClory. McClory sued Fleming in 1961, claiming ownership over elements of the novel Thunderball. Two years later, an out-of-court settlement awarded the novel’s film rights, including Spectre and its characters, to McClory. In 2006, McClory died and, in November 2013, MGM and the McClory estate formally settled the issue with Eon. The result was MGM’s acquisition of the full copyrighted film rights to the concept of Spectre and all of the characters associated with it.

However, a month before Spectre was released, the always candid Craig told Time Out London that he couldn’t imagine doing another Bond movie. “I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists,” the 47-year-old actor said of playing the British spy, adding, “I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.” Asked if he wanted to move on from the role once and for all, the Critics’ Choice Award winner said, “I haven’t given it any thought. For at least a year or two, I just don’t want to think about it. I don’t know what the next step is. I’ve no idea.”

“Not because I’m trying to be cagey. Who the f–k knows? At the moment, we’ve done it.” Craig explained he’s ready to do something new but that, “I’m not in discussion with anybody about anything.” He says of reprising the iconic role, “If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money.” Does he care who replaces him? “Look, I don’t give a f–k. Good luck to them! All I care about is that if I stop doing these things, we’ve left it in a good place and people pick it up and make it better. Make it better, that’s all.” Production of Spectre had been grueling for Craig and, at that point in time, he felt he’d become too old for the part and its various demands.

With Craig’s future uncertain, the 25th film in the Eon Bond series entered development in early 2016. Broccoli and Wilson didn’t pressure Craig, giving him time to reenergize. In October, Craig stated that he might return after all, saying, “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got the best job in the world. I’ll keep doing it as long as I still get a kick out of it. If I were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly.” In March 2017, Purvis and Wade were again hired as co-screenwriters. Finally, on the August 15 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Craig publicly confirmed he would indeed return to the role of Bond for a fifth, and final, time.

In early 2018, Danny Boyle signed on to direct an original story co-written with John Hodge. However, in late August, Boyle stepped down as director and co-writer because of creative differences. Hodge left the project shortly after for similar reasons. In September, Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced as the film’s new director, the first American director of the series. Script rewrites and revisions were subsequently completed between November 2018 and April 2019, at which time the cast was finalized. No Time to Die was announced as the name of the film via the official Bond website and social media accounts in August.

The movie had originally been scheduled for release on November 8, 2019, but was pushed back to February 14, 2020, due to the departure of Boyle and Hodge. That date was further pushed back to April 8. After almost five years, Bond would once again return to the screen, wrapping up the Craig era. Then, the unthinkable occurred. In March, a global pandemic forced the shutdown of countries all over the world. Not even Bond was immune. The release of No Time to Die was postponed five times, finally making it to theaters in September 2021, almost 60 years after Dr. No first introduced Bond to the world.

Following is a brief description of each of Craig’s Bond films.

— Casino Royale (Released November 14, 2006): A reboot of the series with Bond winning his 00 status in the pre-credits sequence. He’s then assigned to investigate the funding of terrorism. Bond tracks down and kills a bombmaker, taking his mobile phone. Searching through it, he discovers a text message which Bond traces to Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and subsequently to financer Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). Le Chiffre’s investments involve short selling stock in successful companies and then engineering terrorist attacks to sink their share prices.

Bond discovers and subsequently foils Le Chiffre’s plan to destroy a prototype Skyfleet airliner after short selling the company’s stock. This forces him to set up a high-stakes poker tournament at the Casino Royale to recoup his fortune. Bond is instructed to win the tournament and is aided by a member of the British Treasury, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). Bond beats Le Chiffre at the poker table, but he kidnaps Lynd after the game. Bond is also captured whilst pursuing them. Lynd is ransomed for the money and Bond is tortured. Le Chiffre is ultimately killed by Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), a liaison between the financer and his clients, for his failures.

Bond survives his capture and decides to leave MI6 after falling in love with Lynd. But, while in Italy, Bond learns that his poker winnings were never repaid to the Treasury, which Lynd was supposed to have done. He establishes that she’s a double agent, blackmailed after Le Chiffre’s associates threatened to kill her boyfriend. Bond pursues her and is attacked by members of White’s organization. He survives, but White takes the money while Lynd commits suicide to atone for her betrayal. However, before she dies, Lynd leaves Bond a text with Mr. White’s phone number. Bond subsequently finds and captures White.

Directed by Martin Campbell, Casino Royale premiered in the U.S. on November 18, 2006. Campbell was directing his second Bond film but the first since 1995’s GoldenEye. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received an approval rating of 94% based on 263 reviews. The site’s consensus reads, “Casino Royale disposes of the silliness and gadgetry that plagued recent James Bond outings, and Daniel Craig delivers what fans and critics have been waiting for: a caustic, haunted, intense reinvention of 007.” It’s the fourth-highest rated Bond film on the site, behind Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger.

Craig’s performance and credibility were particularly praised. The Times compared his portrayal of the character to that of Dalton and praised the action as “edgy”. Critics Paul Arendt of BBC Films, Kim Newman of Empire, and Todd McCarthy of Variety all described him as the first actor to truly embody Fleming’s Bond from the original novel: ironic, brutal and cold. Some critics were impressed enough by Craig’s performance to consider him a viable candidate for an Academy Award nomination. The film earned $594.4M worldwide on a budget of $102M. It established a new timeline and narrative not meant to precede or succeed any previous Bond film.

— Quantum of Solace (Released October 29, 2008): M (Judi Dench) and Bond interrogate Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) regarding his organization, Quantum. But M’s bodyguard, a double agent, attacks her and enables White to escape. Bond traces Quantum to Haiti and a connection to environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) through his lover, Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko). While observing Montes meeting with Greene, Bond learns he’s helping exiled Bolivian General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) to engineer a coup, installing Mendrano in power. In exchange, Greene’s company is given a monopoly to manage Bolivia’s water supply.

Bond and Montes discover Quantum is damming the supply of fresh water to force up the price. The pair infiltrate the hotel where Greene and Medrano are finalizing their plans. Montes kills Medrano, avenging the murders of her parents and sister when she was just a child. Bond captures Greene, interrogates him about Lynd’s links to Quantum, and leaves him stranded in the desert. Bond then finds Lynd’s former lover and Quantum agent, Yusef Kabira (Simon Kassianides). But he decides not to exact revenge for her death, allowing Kabira instead to be arrested by MI6.

Quantum of Solace premiered in the U.S. on November 14, 2008, grossing $591.7M worldwide. Revenue was consistent with Casino Royal while the budget more than doubled to $230M, the first to exceed $200M. Foster became the youngest director in the series at age 39. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds an approval rating of 64% based on 299 reviews. The site’s consensus reads: “Brutal and breathless, Quantum Of Solace delivers tender emotions along with frenetic action, but coming on the heels of Casino Royale, it’s still a bit of a disappointment.” Moore said Craig was a “damn good Bond but the film as a whole… didn’t seem to have any geography and you were wondering what the hell was going on.”

The movie’s title was chosen from a 1959 Fleming short story, For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original writing. Foster wanted the action sequences to be based around the four classical elements of earth, water, air and fire. The movie is related to the title in one of its thematic elements, “when the ‘Quantum of Solace’ drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone.” Both the Bond and Montes characters are searching for their “quantum of solace”, closure, in the death of their loved ones.

— Skyfall (Released October 23, 2012): Bond and Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) chase a mercenary, Patrice (Ola Rapace), through Istanbul. Patrice has stolen a computer drive containing details of undercover agents placed in terrorist organizations by NATO states. He wounds Bond in the shoulder and, as the two men fight atop a train, M (Judi Dench) orders Moneypenny to fire a distant rife shot at Patrice. Eve misses and inadvertently shoots Bond, allowing Patrice to escape. Bond falls into a river and goes missing, presumed to be dead. In the aftermath, questions are raised over M’s ability to run the Secret Service.

M becomes the subject of a government review over her handling of the situation. Both MI6 and M are attacked, prompting Bond, having survived and retired to a tropical island, to return to London. His presence assists M in uncovering a lead. Bond is sent to Shanghai and Macau in pursuit of Patrice. There, he establishes a link to Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Silva, a former MI6 agent turned cyberterrorist, had once been captured and tortured by Chinese agents. Blaming M for his imprisonment, he sets in motion a plan to ruin her reputation before murdering her. Silva allows himself to be captured by Bond and returned to London.

When Q (Ben Whishaw) attempts to decrypt Silva’s laptop, he inadvertently gives it access to the MI6 servers, allowing Silva to escape. Bond chases Silva through the London Underground and ultimately thwarts his attack on M at a Parliament inquiry. Bond and M, with the help of Q, lure Silva into a trap at Skyfall, Bond’s family estate and childhood home in Scotland. Bond, M, and Kincaid (Albert Finney), Skyfall’s caretaker, successfully repel Silva’s assault. Bond ultimately kills Silva but M is also mortally wounded, dying in Bond’s arms. Under the command of the new M, Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), Bond returns to active duty.

Skyfall was released on November 9, 2010, in the U.S. It was Mendes first Bond film. Both the Moneypenny and Q characters made their return in the rebooted series. The movie was praised for its acting, particularly that of Craig, Bardem and Dench, as well as its writing and script, cinematography, Mendes’ direction, Thomas Newman’s score, and the action scenes. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 92% based on 384 reviews, the fifth highest-ranking Bond film in the series. The site’s consensus reads, “Sam Mendes brings Bond surging back with a smart, sexy, riveting action thriller that qualifies as one of the best 007 films to date.”

American film critic Roger Ebert believed that “Daniel Craig [takes] full possession of a role he earlier played well in ‘Casino Royale,’ not so well in ‘Quantum'”. Skyfall became only the 14th film to gross over $1B worldwide ($1.1B on a budget of $200M) and the first Bond movie to do so. It was the seventh highest grossing film at the time, the highest grossing in the Bond series, and the second highest grossing film of 2012. The movie won several accolades, including two Academy Awards, Best Original Song and Best Sound Editing. It also won two Grammys, one for the film’s theme song, Skyfall, by Adele.

Unfortunately, Skyfall would be the last film for Judi Dench, who played the character M since 1995’s GoldenEye. Dench was one of the few actors who were carried forward when the series was rebooted. In the reincarnation, M has worked for MI6 for some time, at one point muttering, “Christ, I miss the Cold War”. According to Skyfall, M was previously in charge of MI6’s operations in Hong Kong during the 1990s and is revealed to be a widow. After her death, she’s succeeded by Mallory, Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee prior to his assignment as the new M. Dench was the only M to die in the Eon Bond films.

— Spectre (Released October 26, 2015): Following her death, M (Judi Dench) sends Bond a posthumous message that leads him to thwart a terrorist attack in Mexico City. Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new M, takes Bond off active duty for his illegal operation, but Bond continues his investigation. The trail leads him first to Rome, where he learns of a terrorist organization known as Spectre. Later, he travels to Austria to find former adversary Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who has become terminally ill after being poisoned by Spectre. White asks Bond to protect his daughter Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) from Spectre and its leader, Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), before committing suicide.

Meanwhile, M comes under pressure to have British intelligence join a global intelligence-sharing network code-named “Nine Eyes”. With Swann’s help, Bond tracks Spectre to Morocco and learns they are behind the terror attacks, creating a need for Nine Eyes. But Spectre also controls Nine Eyes, giving them unlimited access to the intelligence gathered. Meanwhile, Bond and Swann meet with Q (Ben Whishaw), who informs them that Spectre is linked to Bond’s previous missions. Aware of their discovery, Oberhauser escorts them to his base, where he captures and tortures Bond.

Oberhauser reveals that his father was Bond’s guardian after the deaths of Bond’s parents. Jealous of the attention he gave to the young Bond, Oberhauser faked his own death while at the same time murdering his father. Now known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, he claims responsibility for everything Bond has suffered in his career. Bond and Swann escape, destroying Blofeld’s base. The pair return to London where Bond joins forces with M and Q to shut down Nine Eyes. However, Swann is captured by Blofeld, who escaped his base’s destruction. Bond rescues her from the old MI6 building before it implodes. As Blofeld attempts to escape, Bond shoots down his helicopter. Blofeld survives and is captured by MI6.

Spectre was released on November 6, 2015, in the U.S., marking 50 years since the release of Thunderball, 30 years since A View to a Kill, and 20 years since GoldenEye. The film was the second consecutive picture for Mendes, the first to do so since John Glen directed five movies during the 1980s. With a budget of $300M, the film is the most expensive of the entire Bond series and one of the most expensive pictures ever made. Spectre grossed $879.5M worldwide, falling short of Skyfall, but still ranking as the second highest grossing Bond film.

The movie received mixed reviews from critics, getting both highly positive and highly negative feedback. Many critics praised the film’s opening scene, action sequences, stunt work, cinematography, and performances from the cast. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received an approval rating of 63% based on 365 reviews, the lowest rated Craig film on the site. The consensus reads, “Spectre nudges Daniel Craig’s rebooted Bond closer to the glorious, action-driven spectacle of earlier entries, although it’s admittedly reliant on established 007 formula.” In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers described Spectre as “party time for Bond fans, a fierce, funny, gorgeously produced valentine to the longest-running franchise in movies”.

More typical of the reviews is one from Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times. “This is the 24th Bond film and it ranks solidly in the middle of the all-time rankings, which means it’s still a slick, beautifully photographed, action-packed, international thriller with a number of wonderfully, ludicrously entertaining set pieces, a sprinkling of dry wit, myriad gorgeous women and a classic psycho-villain who is clearly out of his mind but seems to like it that way.” Alyssa Rosenberg, writing for The Washington Post, stated that the film turned into “a disappointingly conventional Bond film”.

— No Time to Die (Released September 28, 2021): Five years after Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) was imprisoned, Bond is retired and living in Jamaica. CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and his colleague Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen) attempt to enlist his help in searching for a missing MI6 scientist, Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). Bond eventually accepts Leiter’s request and follows his leads to Cuba, where he infiltrates a Spectre gathering. Obruchev realizes it’s a trap set by Blofeld to kill Bond with a man-made virus, but he’s working for someone else and has re-engineered the virus to only attack the members of Spectre.

When Bond brings Obruchev to Leiter, Ash betrays them and helps Obruchev escape, killing Leiter. Bond returns to MI6 and confronts M (Ralph Fiennes) regarding the “Heracles” virus, originally developed by the British. It’s a nanoscale weapon that can be programmed to attack specific people based on their genetic marker. Bond then visits Blofeld in prison and is reacquainted with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), who leaves before Blofeld arrives. Bond subsequently has an altercation with Blofeld and he dies soon after. It’s revealed Bond was infected with the virus, programmed to attack Blofeld after he touched Swann.

Bond traces Swann back to her childhood home where she is living with her five-year-old daughter, Mathilde. She tells Bond about Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek), the man who infected her and now controls Heracles. Safin abducts Swann and Mathilde and brings them to his island, which is also a Heracles factory. Bond works with MI6 to rescue them and then destroy Safin’s factory with a missile strike launched from a nearby Royal Navy destroyer. But, before his death, Safin infects Bond with nanobots that have been programmed to attack Swann and Mathilde. As a result, Bond decides not to leave the island and is killed when missiles obliterate the factory.

No Time to Die was released on October 8, 2021, in the U.S., the first Bond picture directed by Fukunaga. It was also the second most expensive Bond film ever made, with a budget of $250M. To date, the movie has grossed $770.9M worldwide, ranking third in the Bond series despite the pandemic’s negative impact on movie theater attendance. Craig’s final entry received praise and five-star reviews from many film critics. Rotten Tomatoes sampled 378 reviews and judged 84% of them to be positive. The site states “It isn’t the sleekest or most daring 007 adventure, but No Time to Die concludes Daniel Craig’s franchise tenure in satisfying style.”

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it “an epic barnstormer” delivered “with terrific panache” and with “pathos, action, drama, camp comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action.”  Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the film “takes its place among the best of the entire series” and concluded “Craig leaves the series in a mammoth, 163-minute extravaganza that audiences will be enjoying for decades.” Rotten Tomatoes ranks No Time to Die seventh highest of all the Bond movies. In fact, three of Craig’s films ranked in the Top 10 on the site, surpassed only by four of Connery’s pictures.

So, after almost 60 years, James Bond is dead. Prior to No Time to Die, the next movie may star the same actor or a different one as Bond, but the character always survived. Now, the centerpiece of every movie in the series is gone. Broccoli and Wilson have said that there will be a Bond 26. Can they simply insert a new actor as Bond and move forward with the same characters and the same actors, as if the storyline that evolved over the Craig era occurred in a parallel universe? Or is another reboot in order, as was done in 2006? Also, how does the 007 saga update itself to reflect a time of misinformation, nationalism, and a looming climate crisis?

Stay tuned.

To end this post, I’ve included a compilation video showing Craig’s “40 Great James Bond Quotes” including Bond’s famous introduction; “Bond, James Bond”.

Enjoy!

As always, your feedback is appreciated!