No Time to Die is “a huge, thundering epic”, says Kevin Maher in The Times. Daniel Craig bows out as James Bond “in terrific, soulful, style”, a moving portrait of an antiquated hero facing his own obsolescence. Our beloved bruiser is hauled out of retirement for one final mission to hunt down a world-threatening bioweapon – a “magnificent” break from his recent outings of “water-treading inanity”. “What joy!” It’s “easily the best-looking Bond film ever made”, expertly directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and stuffed with bravura performances from Léa Seydoux, the “bug-eyed” Rami Malek and Lashana Lynch, to name a few.
I agree it’s a smashing piece of action, says Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent – thrillingly tense, veering close to horror. “It’s just a shame it had to be a Bond film.” Like a loose cog, it fits awkwardly in the 007 universe, dropping an Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) in there and a Q (Ben Whishaw) in here. The core premise is “generic spy nonsense”, with all roads leading to enigmatic villain Lyutsifer Safin (Malek). And despite Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s involvement, it’s hardly a fresh feminist reboot – though the gags are good. It’s also too long, at two hours and 46 minutes. On the plus side, the “granite-carved” Craig outshines everyone around him, and Lynch – a rival 00 agent – is “surely the future of the franchise”.
No Time to Die is in cinemas now. Watch a trailer here.
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Worth
Worth asks “whether it’s possible to reduce a life to a dollar value”, says Ben Kenigsberg in The New York Times. Strictly speaking, it’s a Netflix biopic about Kenneth Feinberg (played by Michael Keaton), the lawyer appointed by the Bush administration to calculate compensation for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. But it’s really about 7,000 families and their loss. Director Sara Colangelo’s restraint behind the camera is “uncommonly moving”. The burning towers aren’t seen, except as a reflection in Feinberg’s train window. The faces of victims are kept just out of shot as they say goodbye to their loved ones before work for the last time.
Few “could, or would” take Feinberg’s job, says Amy Nicholson in Variety. Even George W Bush said he wouldn’t wish it “on my worst enemy”. The lawyer has “brought his calculator” to the Sandy Hook shootings, the Boston bombing, the BP oil spill, Agent Orange and more. He’s a household hero for many Americans. His aim here is justice, without tanking the US economy. But the 9/11 fund is initially a disaster, tied to the deceased’s salary and lost income – a dead pot-washer is worth a fraction of a dead CFO. It takes campaigner Charles Wolf (a superb Stanley Tucci) to show Feinberg the error of his ways. Worth is about “discovering empathy is truly priceless”.
Worth is on Netflix now. Watch a trailer here.