No Time to Die: How to watch the hit new James Bond movie
Daniel Craig puts on the dinner jacket one last time for a new 007 action movie already blowing up the box office.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
In US theaters starting Friday: No Time to Die. Daniel Craig plays James Bond for one final film.
Craig. Daniel Craig. He's back for the final time as superspy James Bond in No Time to Die, the 25th 007 film, which hits US theaters Friday. For a while, the British actor made it sound like he wouldn't put on Bond's dinner jacket for a fifth time, so savor this one, fans. Here's what to know about the upcoming movie.
Already a hit on Bond's home turf, the new 007 flick is an "epic, explosive and emotional swan song," says Richard Trenholm in CNET's No Time to Die review, "that throws everything it has against the wall for a genuinely unique entry in the series."
Plot teasers and trailers
Bond, retire? When the film opens, James Bond has indeed left active spy service. But you can't keep a good spy down, and when CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) comes calling and wants Bond to help him find a missing scientist, you know he can't say no. The film has familiar characters, such as Leiter, Q, M and Moneypenny, plus new ones, such as Lashana Lynch's Nomi, who's taken over Bond's familiar 007 number.
The most recent trailer reminds fans that No Time to Die will carry on plot threads from 2015's Spectre, which introduced love interest Madeleine Swann and Christoph Waltz's villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
The first trailer, from 2019, features some good old-fashioned Bond movie staples, including Craig leaping off a bridge and riding his motorcycle up a steep stone staircase. Choppers, shootings, danger under ice, formal events where Craig looks great in a tux -- it's all there.
When does No Time to Die come out?
No Time to Die opens in the US theaters on Friday, Oct. 8.
It comes to Australia on Nov. 11. So what do the reviews say? See below.
No Time to Die had its world premiere at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 28, and opened in the UK Sept. 30.
How to see No Time to Die
No Time to Die will be showing in theaters only for now. Sure, it will eventually come to streaming, but it isn't as clear-cut as other 2021 blockbusters like Warner Bros films streaming on HBO Max or Disney films on Disney Plus. The studio behind the film, Universal, is connected to NBC's streaming service Peacock, but Universal also just signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video. We'll have to wait and see what form the home release takes.
So if you're not willing to venture out to theaters at this point in the coronavirus pandemic, you'll need to be patient. Maybe check out our recommendations for which older Bond films to watch and in what order.
Early reviews
Reviews started coming after the London premiere.
"Packed with familiar faces but shepherded by some shrewdly chosen newcomers, No Time to Die packs a quintessentially Bond punch while also taking huge risks with the aging character and decades-old formula. Every Bond film markets itself as a fresh twist, but No Time to Die is genuinely bonkers at how far it goes. It's so un-Bond at times it's almost anti-Bond. These creative choices may be divisive, but you've got to hand it to the filmmakers for thinking big and bold."
--CNET
"Yes, it largely adheres to the formula that's the franchise's blessing and curse: you get spectacle galore in terms of action set pieces, incredibly shot locations and attractive characters wearing the hell out of killer costumes. While the conventions can occasionally feel confining, there are enough significant deviations to make this entry stand out."
--Games Radar+
"What holds it all together is Craig, given some longer speeches and passages of performance the like of which I can't recall a Bond previously delivering."
--The Wrap
"No Time to Die feels as if it's working too hard to provide Craig a sendoff worthy of all the hype associated with it -- an excess that might be summed up as simply, finally, by taking too much time to reach the finish."
--CNN
Cast
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Rami Malek as villain Lyutsifer Safin
Christoph Waltz as iconic Bond bad guy Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Bond's love interest
Lashana Lynch as Nomi, another 00 agent
Ben Whishaw as gadgetmaster Q
Ralph Fiennes as M, Bond's boss
Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, M's secretary
Jeffrey Wright as CIA agent, and Bond's longtime pal, Felix Leiter
