Salud
Paloma (Ana de Armas) is critically underutilized in No Time To Die (2021) and this 1 minute scene proves it!
Aside from the great chemistry between Paloma (Ana de Armas) and James Bond (Daniel Craig), this ass-kicking fight sequence was awesome! That amazing dress paired with those amazing legs made for an effective visual in the fight in Cuba after the Spectre party. Why on earth didn’t we see more of Paloma?! However, I do concede that the salud/booze shot sequence was a bit contrived and forced – not really sure why that made the final cut…
But despite her short on-screen time, I’d argue that Paloma and Bond’s chemistry rivaled or bested that between Bond and Madeleine Swann. Maybe it’s the dress, her naivete, cuteness, humor or a combination of it all that made Paloma stand out. Dare I say it’d be cool to see her return in a future Bond movie to further develop the Bond/Paloma work/personal relationship? It’d be more interesting than the tired and dreary Swann/child plotline we got from NTTD – Bond (and the audience) wasn’t enthused at the prospect!
Maybe in an alternate timeline as well – Swann is murdered, Mathilde doesn’t exist, Bond seeks his revenge with a Paloma assist and they get together. Kind of like the Vesper plot from Casino Royale (2006) without the backstabbing and the suicide, and a little more meaningful than the Anya Amasova/Tiple X relationship from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). One can dream…