This is easily some of the worst 44 seconds of any James Bond movie ever.
As anyone who knows my opinion of No Time To Die (2021), it obviously revolves around the awful Mathilde/daughter plot line from the movie. In this cringe-worthy, throwaway, awful scene, we see an attempt at portraying a domesticated secret agent James Bond, 007 interact with a toddler (his daughter…ugh!) during a morning routine where a false sense of security is palpable.
I hate everything about it:
- Mathilde
- Her stupid bunny doll, dou-dou
- The stupid kid’s tv show shown on the TV (no one cares!)
- The way Bond peels the apple
- The fact that Bond uses a switchblade to peel the apple
- Bond’s “cutesie” look at Mathilde
- Why are none of the subtitles punctuated? (maybe it’s just this version?)
- Madeleine’s “now, dear!” look
- Did I mention Mathilde???
Just total cringe. Friends don’t let friends put kids in a James Bond movie. *puke*
James Bond’s daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), from No Time To Die (2021)…ugh.
In No Time To Die (2021), right before Bond (Daniel Craig) gets coaxed out of “retirement,” we see the simple solitary island life he leads, content with the world. After a successful snapper catch/diving session, he comes to port in his sweet sailboat (with Red Ensign flag on the stern) and his speargun, flippers and snorkel in tow. He’s not dressed to impress here, as his t-shirt has multiple holes and I’d advise not to wear those dorky croakies anywhere in public. He seems carefree.
Eagle-eyed James Bond fans would recognize the setting as the real-world Goldeneye estate where Ian Fleming first started writing the James Bond novels – an awesome hat-tip to Bond history. My only complaint is that we didn’t see more of Bond’s island life. It would have been great to go along with him on his diving session or see how he passes the time.
Safin’s masked character from No Time To Die (2021) easily gave the biggest jump scare of any James Bond movie ever:
As a whole, the opening sequence of NTTD was a highlight, but the entire movie was marred by an ending scene that was the worst scene of any James Bond movie. Yes, it was so bad that it singlehandedly made NTTD the worst James Bond movie ever. Read my skewering of the movie here.
As I mention in the review, I would have preferred Mathilde not exist rather than watch her drag that stupid Dou Dou bunny around the movie. Ugh.
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…
Paloma (Ana de Armas) and her legs in an awesome fight sequence from No Time To Die (2021)
In this short, dialogue-free sequence from No Time To Die (2021), James Bond (Daniel Craig) hops back on the double-oh saddle in style after getting lost at sea. In London, and on his way back to MI6, he visits a garage and dusts off an old Aston Martin V8 Vantage (hat-tip to Dalton’s Bond who drives it in The Living Daylights (1987) with the same license plate number, “B549 WUU”). We also see where he stores M’s infamous Jack the Bulldog figurine (“the whole office goes up in smoke and that bloody thing survives”) – obviously not in a prominent place and seemingly halfway in the trash.
In an oddly-edited shot, we see Bond turn on his invisibility superpowers and magically hop in the car, only to deftly spin his wheels on the way to the office. No offense to the Aston Martin DB5, but I was glad to see the unveiled automobile wasn’t the DB5. Overall, I think we are at capacity with the DB5’s onscreen time, and any more exposure or throwbacks to it in future movies would be overkill. I love the DB5, of course, and I get that it’s iconic and it deserved the exposure it has gotten, but now I think it’s time to move on.
In typical Craig Bond fashion, his car and any subsequent gadgets are tragically underutilized, and here we see it serve the minimal auto purpose – getting from point A to B in a commute. What a bummer! But at least we get to hear the Bond theme and we get an awesome shot of him exiting the vehicle in one of the most memorable shots from NTTD promo materials and arguably the coolest Craig has looked in his entire 007 career.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) looking suave AF in No Time To Die (2021)
Q (Ben Whishaw) errs on the side of caution this time when handling a USB drive in No Time To Die (2021). The last time he flippantly connected one to a computer, a worm infected and spread into MI6’s computer network with disastrous effects in Skyfall (2012).
So this time around, Q ensures that he first attempts to access the unknown-origin USB via his “sandbox” computer – one that is completely isolated from his network and not connected to the outside world.
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Craig’s 007 is down on his luck after the kind of weird chase scene from No Time To Die (2021). He’s picked up by…007…(Nomi) in yet another car that should be getting more screen time in the movie, similar to Paloma. Wow, great revving of that ridiculous Aston Martin engine on the tarmac, I guess. Couldn’t have had a chase where Bond is the passenger and another 00 agent flexes their skill? Missed opportunity…and I distinctly remember these words enter my head about certain characters and parts of NTTD where screen times or parts of the movie were too short or not emphasized enough. I’d definitely say it’s one of my biggest gripes about the movie aside from (of course) the atrocious ending.
Anyways, back in this scene, Nomi does her best Mayday (O_o) impression ([]-[]) with some weird-ass (probably expensive) uncomfortable-looking sunglasses. Their conversation is interesting though: aside from his stern yet poignant “Where have you been?,” it was a little odd to hear Bond mention Swann’s (and his!) daughter and not speak up that she’s actually his child. Is he not proud of Mathilde? Is he embarrassed? Or does he just want to focus on the mission? Same goes for in the plane. M doesn’t mention that “Dr. Swann and her daughter” is actually Bond’s daughter as well, aside from telling Bond he “hopes they’re there.” If he doesn’t know, why wouldn’t Bond mention it? And if Bond has told no one, how would MI6 know to “give” the Aston Martin DB5 (which is a whole other ball of blah) at the end of the movie? It’s another scene in NTTD where a mention of Mathilde throws off the movie and detracts from its overall plot and flow. Stupid kid.
Luckily in this scene, however, Bond mentions the elephant in the room that exists whenever these two are together – namely, who is actually 007 now that Bond is back?
At the end of the car dialogue, Bond seems okay with passing the torch (“Thank you, 007.”), but getting in the plane, I think Q is about to welcome Nomi on as 007 but hesitates as Bond has passes by. Maybe Nomi can sense Bond wants 007 back or just feels it’s the right thing to do? During the movie, I enjoyed the back-and-forth and debate between them and M, but overall at the end, this small plot point wasn’t really as appealing or worthwhile. Instead, I’d have preferred Bond’s code name put on-hold (or retired?) and awarded to him on his return. Nomi would have been a better 002 or 0010 (yes, why not double-oh ten? The numbers have to go past 9, right? Could’ve put that question to bed…)
