Year Released: 2021
Directed by: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas
(PG-13, 163 min.)
Genre: Thriller, Mystery and Suspense, Action and Adventure

“The world’s moved on, commander Bond.” Nomi (new 007)

Daniel Craig takes his final bow as the inimitable James Bond, pulled back into the spy game just as Michael Corleone was pulled back into the mafia in The Godfather Trilogy. Despite some great scenes, outstanding set pieces, and a textured performance; metaphorically speaking, Bond goes out not with a bang but a whimper, a fantasy deconstructed just when we need it most.

A fantastic scene in Cuba is not enough to redeem the film, just a taste of what the almost 60-year-old franchise used to be and what is could still be, if it so chose. CIA agent Paloma (Ana deArmas), whom Daniel Craig himself recommended for the role after being impressed with her in 2019’s Knives Out is perfect.

She has a Bond girl’s beauty, her svelte form in a flowing ebony gown a graceful black swan matched with an immaculate Bond in his black tux. Despite claiming to be just barely out of training, she is as deft at putting down the bad boys as Bond himself. She is his equal and should be his paramour, not the almost matronly Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), who dons earth mother brown slacks and comfortable shoes most of the time. Paloma does it all in stilettos.

What we have here is a clash between the fantasy Albert Broccoli and company allowed us to feast upon for going on 60 years and the reality they are force-feeding us now.

No more male chauvinism – the new 007 is a Black female (Latasha Lynch as Nomi) with close dropped hair and an arrogant attitude from head to toe. She sees the retired Bond as her rival when he is called back into service, at least at first until they mellow her out later on in the film.

“The world’s moved on, commander Bond,” she tells him.

And why do they insist on giving her his 007 number? Couldn’t they retire it out of respect as they do for great athletes, such as Jackie Robinson and Michael Jordan?

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Aside from our Cuban taste of the old Bond bubbly, we also have a tremendous set piece in the Italian town of Matera, where Bond’s visit to lost love Vesper’s tomb is explosive, to say the least – the franchise again going into the therapeutic mode with Madeleine suggesting the visit for Bond’s needed closure.

But perhaps the one most needing therapy is Madeleine herself, as suggested by the opening scene, casting out the tradition of launching the film by featuring 007 ‘s derring-do in favor of focusing on his lover’s antecedents.

All this psycho-babble is getting old, at least to Different Drummer. If we wanted Sigmund Freud on the screen we could stream Vienna Blood. We don’t want to know what makes 007 tick; we just want to watch him ticking, or disarming another end of the world device ticking away, anyway. (Yes, we have that in spades in the final scene, but that is a tale for another time.)

That said, the car chase that follows Bond’s visit to Versper’s tomb is worthy of the franchise, and here Daniel Craig’s stoicism behind the wheel works well with a visibly shaken Madeleine seated next to him. While the shaken and stirred blubbering mess that she is may be realistic – most of us would be, too – isn’t this the old chauvinism sneaking back into our so “evolved” current franchise? Do we rally think that this is the kind of woman who would win and hold onto Bond’s heart?

And what about the opening graphics with the usually memorable song? Okay, I guess the soft porn images of naked female silhouettes swimming or doing arabesques off of over-sized hand guns won’t hack it anymore in our enlightened times, but the bouncing dots montage at the outset of No Time to Die doesn’t do anything for this critic.

Who could forget Louis Armstrong’s “All the Time in the World,” Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger” or her “Diamonds Are Forever, “Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better,” Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice” or Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only?”

Billie Eilish’s “No time to Die” doesn’t come close. In fact, the words to the melancholy tune are hard to decipher, and the song barely registers, emblematic of the general deconstruction of the once vibrant Bond series. Judge for yourself:

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Moneypenny continues to be just one of the guys – although her regal beauty might have suggested her being the new 007. Q, on the other hand, is more worried about arranging a romantic supper with a friend than meeting with Bond, only reluctantly giving him a few new techie toys.

Then there is the plot, mayhem surrounding something dubbed Heracles, almost as intricate as the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) it mutates. You want to watch a movie, not struggle through the tedium of genome mapping, right?

And finally our villain– or villains. Blofeld is merely a shadow of himself even as he plots his finest coup from behind bars. Our main villain, Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) is only evil because of what has been done to him. The modern Bond franchise continues with its cajoling villains, trying to explain away evil rather than acknowledging it.

All in all, if you liked Daniel Craig as Bond, from Judi Dench’s “blunt instrument” introduced in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as well as the his awakening humanity developed through Skyfall and Spectre and now flowering in No Time to Die, you will probably love his final bow as Bond. Those of us who remember Bond as an escape, a cocktail consisting of 1 part fantasy, 2 parts fury, with equal measure of fun and wit, might find A time to Die’s cocktail misses the mark.

–Kathy Borich
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Film-Loving Foodie

Our cocktail today is in tribute to perhaps the best scene and locale (Cuba) in our latest James Bond feature, where the lovely CIA agent Paloma (a fabulous Ana de Armas, who was born in Cuba herself) recalls the classic best of the beautiful Bond girls. The scene has the most spark of all the other great set pieces, even eclipsing an earlier fabulous car chase in Italy.

Here is a little history of that epic drink, as popular here as in Cuba.

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The Cuba Libre is a highball cocktail with roots buried deep in the island’s heritage. The national drink of Cuba is often generalized with the popular Rum and Coke, but there are a few differences. It’s golden rum, sweet cola, and lime immersed in a plentiful bed of ice. The Cuba Libre is the perfect casual cocktail for any occasion!

The term “Free Cuba” originated in the late-19th century as the Cuban people increasingly clamored for their independence from Spain. The Ten Years War (1868-1878) ensued; during which independence fighters coined a drink called the “Cuba Libre,” a mixture of honey or molasses and water. A generic version of the native spirit rum was purportedly first used in combination.

The Cuban people eventually won their independence in 1898.

Towards the beginning of the 20th century the cocktail became increasingly popular in the United States. When Coca-Cola began sending its syrup to Cuba in the beginning of the 20th century the cocktail took on a life of its own. Shortly thereafter cola’s sweetness became a mainstay. In combination with the molasses-derived spirit rum and a splash of lime, the modern Cuba Libre was born.

–Jonathon of Drink Lively.com