Weekend Watch: No Time To Die, Mass
James Bond has returned, and a small-scale drama has big implications.
Image Credit: Universal Pictures
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Bond is back, and a low-key drama wrenches then mends my heart. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
I briefly considered writing up No Time To Die when it launched last week in the UK, but since so much of my coverage is usually focused upon what US audiences can see at the weekend, I decided to hold off.
James Bond films have been a part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. There were the regular repeats of the Sean Connery and Roger Moore movies on holiday weekends and around Christmas when I was growing up. If he wasn’t working and had time, I’d go and see newer examples with my father at the cinema. Connery remains my favourite Bond, though Timothy Dalton’s interpretation also really worked for me, and I wish he’d gotten more than two opportunities to develop his version.
Daniel Craig launched into the role in 2006 with the excellent Casino Royale, which remains, in my opinion, his best Bond, closely followed by 2012’s Skyfall. He’s always impressed me with his grittier, more emotional performance, bringing real heart to Her Majesty’s most famous super-spy (and when I say, “most famous,” I mean he needs to stop introducing himself to everyone he meets. This is not how “spy” works). This Bond can be a bruiser, but he’s not above showing his feelings when needed. Ian Fleming might not have written him that way, but nothing says you can’t evolve the character to match the changing times.
Craig, producers Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, and the various filmmakers involved, have done just that. And now, his time is done. Bond in this film is properly retired, enjoying life in Italy with Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann (from Spectre). But because two-plus hours of JB ordering drinks and lounging around picturesque locations would turn into a less-than-thrilling travel show, his old life returns to haunt him explosively, plunging him into a suspicious mindset and looking to get off the spy grid for good. Suffice to say, that other effort doesn’t work out either. There’s a world-endangering plan afoot and only one man (plus his various allies and the deep-pocketed resources of MI6) can stop it, which means a globe-trotting mission that takes in Cuba, London, Norway, and more.
Long-delayed because of the pandemic, No Time To Die carries the hopes of the franchise and, like Shang-Chi and other films before it, the desperate need to do well at the box office so that it can help bring the cinema business back to life. Bond is certainly pulling off that two-pronged trick so far – as I write this, the film currently has more than $120 million in the worldwide coffers after a week on release. Now it hits America, with China (traditionally a healthy market for the films) set for the end of the month.
This latest outing also arrives with a brand-new director, Cary Fukunaga, who brings plenty of visual panache and, thanks to being involved in the scripting stage, some extra soul too. Though there is still some wonder in the back of my head what Danny Boyle might have rendered on screen, Fukunaga is more than up to the challenge of making a Bond movie that hits many of the usual points but also offers something fresh. Under the likes of Martin Campbell and Sam Mendes (and their respective cinematographer/camera teams), 007’s adventures have become more stylish visually speaking, and Fukunaga, working alongside DP Linus Sandgren, delivers some magic here. The film is beautiful when needed and brutal at other times. Musically, there were moments I missed David Arnold’s pulsating score work, but Hans Zimmer knows what he’s doing; especially when he’s weaving in themes from Bond movies past to make the music work that much harder. And it sounds like a 007 film, except for one moment that could have been repurposed from one of Zimmer’s Batman scores.
Script-wise, there is the occasional meander (the film could easily trim around 25 minutes and still operate narratively), but when it’s moving, No Time To Die charges forward. Craig is fully invested as Bond, letting the weight of previous adventures hang on him in a way unavailable to most other men who have played the role. He’s also snarkily funny when called upon, delivering lines (some written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, among those called in to polish the screenplay) and even getting to make a truly traditional Bond pun (it’s not a classic, sadly).
Unlike some of his previous entries, this edges closest to hallmarks of the original Bond movies, with slightly flashier gadgets and a cheekier sense about it in the lighter moments. And, as with some of those other Craig films, the female characters are better served (except, perhaps, poor old Naomie Harris, who gets in a few good lines as Moneypenny but takes a back seat yet again). Lashana Lynch is excellent as Nomi, the ambitious younger agent who has taken over Bond’s 007 designation. And while she’s sadly, unfairly, underused, Ana de Armas makes for a superlative, smart spy in Cuban agent Paloma. Around Bond is the usual gang, who all do fine work, particularly Ben Whishaw as Q.
As for the baddies, Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld, for all his actorly charms, is another holdover from Spectre and one that I never thought quite worked. He’s strangely more effective here as a smaller part of the story, but between Madeleine and this, I didn’t need to be reminded of Spectre all that much. Moving things forward is Rami Malek’s Safin, who has his plan, and it will feel that much scarier given the current world situation, even if it is a giant McGuffin that only serves to bring Bond back into action.
No Time To Die is a fitting swan song for Craig’s Bond, even if it does occasionally feel too long. Its biggest accomplishment? Truly laying down the gauntlet for the next film.
No Time To Die is in UK and US cinemas now.
Image Credit: Bleecker Street Media
Though I had originally intended to review only No Time To Die this week, a film that could not be more different from Bond completely changed my mind in the best way possible. It features nothing that is recognisably a special effect, has no stunts and no giant, sweeping score. Yet what it does have is four of the most powerful performances you are likely to see in a cinema this year.
Mass is directed by Fran Kranz, who I knew mostly as an actor in films including The Cabin In The Woods, Much Ado About Nothing, and TV’s Dollhouse. Here, he has delivered one of the very best films I’ve seen in a long time, a piece of work that is dazzling even as it’s intimate, poetic as it is painful. The basic setup is two sets of parents meeting to discuss a violent tragedy that fractured their lives sometime previously. One pair – Ann Dowd’s Linda and Reed Birney’s Richard are still coming to terms with their son’s shocking shooting rampage through his school, which ended with him taking his own life. The others, Jason Isaacs’ Jay, and Martha Plimpton’s Gail, are the parents of one of the children slaughtered during the spree. Tensions, as you might expect, are running high and as the couples talk about what happened, parenting, politics (briefly, this isn’t looking to push an agenda so severely it obscures the drama) grief, and loss. Bitterness and hatred boil over, but there is also understanding and empathy.
Kranz’s smartest move is to keep things simple – a couple of locations, one or two other characters – but staging it almost like a filmed play gives the actors room to do their thing. And the work they all put in is stellar. As the discussion devolves into arguing and then shifts back towards something more positive, I was picking each performer in turn as the standout, when Kranz smartly allows everyone to have a couple of great moments. This is a truly talented cast who shed any concerns about vulnerability and dig deep to find tears, sarcasm, accusations, and frustration.
A key supporting plank for the visuals and acting is Darren Morze's minimalist score, which drops out when needed and ramps up at other times. The sound design is also excellent, always aiding what is happening on screen.
I was moved to tears more than once during the running time. This is far from a happy film given the subject matter under discussion, but it finds a way to have your heart shatter for all involved and then starts to patch it back up again. Though its small scale means Mass can be seen at home (when available) if needed, it works wonders on a cinema screen. And I’ll be shocked if all four main performances aren’t in serious consideration during awards time.
Mass is on limited release in US cinemas now. I’ll update this when the UK release plan is announced.