The 007 Project: No Time to Die

Synopsis in 3 sentences or less:

Bond leaves Madeleine after thinking that she betrays him, and he lives a quiet life in Jamaica. He is called back into action when a scientist is kidnapped who was working on a secret poison that targets people with a certain DNA. He reconnects with Madeleine and discovers that they have a daughter, and he destroys the facility on the poison island at the cost of his life. 

Memorable Quote:
You know, they come with fur these days.  ~Bond

Highlight:

Kind of a minor part, but I really like his house in Jamaica and the scene where he pulls up to the dock in his fishing boat and walks in.  Beautiful home. 

Lowlight:

What else could it be other than Bond dying at the end of the movie, and in an overly emotional and dramatic way. I just don't agree with the choice -- why would I or anyone want to see Bond dying, it's a Bond movie for Christ sake and it's supposed to be fun, not depressing. While I do prefer serious over campy, the Craig era took itself a bit too seriously sometimes, never more so than the ending here. And if they were going to rewrite the franchise by doing something that had never been done before, why not remove his tragic figure persona and allow him to ride off into the sunset with his wife and daughter.

Also, why couldn't he have just gotten off the island? The whole problem as I understood it was that he got poisoned in a way that would prevent him from ever seeing Madeleine or Mathilde. But he didn't have to die, he could have still gone back to Jamaica and they could talk on Zoom or something.  Or maybe a cure would have been developed over time. 

Most interesting piece of IMDB trivia:

Jamaican actress Grace Jones, who starred as May Day in A View to a Kill (1985), was going to make a cameo appearance in this film during the Jamaica scenes, however she quit shortly after shooting began upon learning how small her part was. 

Other thoughts, observations, and questions I didn’t ask when I was in fourth grade:

• I wish Bond would give Madeleine a chance to explain herself instead of dumping her without a word. 
• Excellent performances by Ralph Fiennes and Rami Malek. I liked Ana de Armas's character, though it seemed underutilized. 
• How was Blofeld able to run the Cuban party from an English maximum security prison with a special eyeball?
• On Daniel Craig, I like him overall and rate him second best Bond behind Brosnan. Craig is an excellent actor, and while sometimes a bit too serious, I prefer that over too campy, as I said earlier. And I love his swagger and arrogant mannerisms, like for example when he casually tosses the rich guy's car keys aside in the parking lot in Casino Royale. 

Final Analysis:

This movie was better than I remembered, but the ending is hard to overcome. Ranking it 14 out of 25. Also see the ranking page for my full rankings of villains, Bond girls, Bonds, and title songs.  

That wraps up the 007 project -- stay tuned for something new coming soon!