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…)
The official 007 Twitter account has just posted six awesome character posters in anticipation of tomorrow’s trailer to No Time To Die and they are AWESOME! They feature Daniel Craig as James Bond, Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek as Safin, Lashana Lynch as Nomi, Ben Whishaw as Q and Ana de Armas as Paloma.
Some quick, random thoughts about them:
- Bond is a badass in gloves and tactical holster on his thigh – almost looks like an assassin. Is Bond required to kill Safin?
- Swann looks great but overall muted…does she meet her maker in the beginning part of the movie?
- Safin is devious and kind of hiding his hands (akthough you *can* definitely see skin if you look close enough) Are they or will they be metallic? Safin aka Dr. No?
- Nomi is a badass…looking left to Safin’s character in the Tweet…does she first try to take him down and Bond helps her finish the job?
- Whishaw’s Q is a treasure…we are spoiled to have someone take up the Q helm worthy of Desmond Llewelyn.
- Paloma is a lowkey (not anymore) badass apparently…between the dual klobb in the teaser to the teaser trailer and this pic, she will likely be a force to be reckoned with.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time To Die (2020)
