No Time to Die
2021
****
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Cast: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes
Daniel Craig's final appearance as 007 brings closure to the series, but most importantly to Casino Royale and Spectre. Craig's movies have not all been great, but they have been unlike anything else in this franchise. The flippant and detached super agent of old has been replaced with a human-like character with personal stakes, and the dramatic events in one movie have carried over to the ones that followed it. In Craig's fifth feature, James Bond reluctantly returns from retirement when a deadly bioweapon is stolen from a secret MI6 laboratory. He must reconcile with his girlfriend Madeleine Swann and confront his arch-enemy Blofeld and the villain of this piece, Lyutsifer Safin. This is a gripping and moving finale with some first class action set pieces. This is the longest release in the entire franchise, but it doesn't really feel like it.
