No Time To Die Trailer
No Time To Die Trailer Explained. The end of an era has arrived. No Time to Die will be
Daniel Craig's final foray as British super-spy James Bond, (YES!) his fifth Bond film in 14 years, making him
the longest-serving man to play the role.
Let's break down the trailer for this Bond's final bow. Bond
and Dr. Madeleine Swann's drive off into the sunset at the end of Spectre
was apparently the only retirement announcement MI6 was ever going to get.
Bond took off to Jamaica to live an idyllic existence on the
water. He's been there with Swann for five years, with his colleagues believing
he's dead. From the end of 2015's Spectre to the beginning of 2020's No
Time to Die - the real-life and fictional timelines basically align here - life
has gone on without Bond, exactly as he wanted. It's given Lashana Lynch's Nomi
the opportunity to replace him as a 00 agent and acquire a significant amount
of experience.
No Time To Die Trailer Explained
Nomi also appears to take on a more militaristic, tactical
style for clandestine operations compared to Bond's suave tuxedo look. Dr.
Swann is hiding something.
"Why would I betray you?"
"We all have our secrets."
The No Time to Die trailer suggests that Bond and Madeleine
will break up following that betrayal. Considering her father was Mr. White,
the assassinated Spectre ally, and that she was very aware of Spectre's
existence, she no doubt has an insidious history she's worked to bury. If she
knew about her father's criminal ties, was she possibly more of a party to it
than she originally led on?
It's also possible Dr. Swann has some connection to Safin,
the villain played by Rami Malek, because she's been sent the same mask he
wears. Could Bond be trying to avoid re-experiencing the heartbreak Vesper Lynd
put him through at the end of Casino Royale?
At the end of Spectre, Bond relinquishes Spectre leader
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Christoph Waltz, to MI6 head M for arrest. Now
in custody and under what appears to be solitary confinement, Blofeld is a
highly important prisoner.
"He's the most valuable asset this country
has."
But every good supervillain knows how to turn the screws
while in captivity until the moment they can once more act independently, and
that cunning is what draws us back to character archetypes like his again and
again. Hannibal Lecter became a movie icon from a prison cell, after all.
M asks Bond to not lose control in Blofeld's presence, given
all the horrors Blofeld has orchestrated and inflicted upon Bond's life. Bond
says he would never do that, but then turns the corner to find Dr. Swann with a
folder clearly suggesting a psychological profile.
They haven't seen each other in what seems like a while and
now meet here, preparing to speak with Blofeld. Blofeld knows Dr.
Swann's secret, too, and weaponizing it against Bond is surely a master stroke
in a grand plan. It's been a while since we've seen CIA agent Felix Leiter in
the James Bond franchise.
The character has been a staple of Bond franchise films
since the first film, Dr. No, but the version played by Jeffrey Wright hasn't
appeared since 2008's Quantum of Solace, only rating a mention in Spectre.
In No Time to Die, Leiter seeks out his now-retired friend to take an
off-the-books assignment.
"I need a favor, brother.
You're the only one I trust for this."
But how does he know Bond isn't dead? We need answers,
Felix. Longtime James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli describes Rami
Malek's Safin as:
"[...] the one that really gets under Bond's skin
[...] a nasty piece of work."
He appears in the No Time to Die trailer as limping
and scarred. He even holds his gun a bit oddly. His villainous connections
aren't clarified in the trailer, but it's difficult to believe he doesn't
somehow tie back to Spectre and Blofeld in some as-yet-unknown way. And
some fans have theorized he's really an updated Dr. No, who was a member of Spectre.
The word "no" is in the title of the
movie, after all… Either way, Safin clearly sees parallels between himself and
Bond, even saying he could be "speaking to [his] own reflection"
when monologuing to the famous agent. But he sees one big, obvious difference:
"Only your skills die with your body. Mine will
survive long after I am gone."
It seems like the stakes in No Time to Die will
involve Bond's own mortality against the world-threatening plots that have
become standard for the franchise. With No Time to Die, Craig is officially
finished playing Bond, and nobody has been officially announced to replace him.
Audiences will be saying goodbye to a specific iteration of
Bond that has transformed a franchise we've known for 50 years. Craig's Bond
has gone from being a fresh-faced rookie in Casino Royale and to basically a hermit
who actively hates his job because it has killed his humanity.
He's an orphan who has never known familial connections,
except for with one person: Judy Dench's M - who died a terrible death right in
front of him. Vengeance and loss have been key themes through all the Craig
Bond films. Unlike most of his predecessors' versions of the character, Craig's
James Bond has often been completely wrong, and has time and again been
portrayed as desperate.
He's no immortal superhero. He's human, and he asks for help
because he knows exactly where his strengths begin and end, as much as it
annoys him to admit it. And he is always, always tired. That doesn't cheapen
his Bond; it makes him more real. The No Time to Die trailer sets
the stakes around Bond himself - his life, his friends, his love.
The threatened destruction isn't strictly political or
social, it's personal, which is really the perfect bookend for Craig's Bond.
Maybe James Bond does need to die, and in doing so, represent the humanity that
has been so central to the character since Casino Royale. Fans can find out
everything when No Time to Die opens in theaters April 2, 2020 in
the U.K. and April 8, 2020 in the U.S.
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