After a year of uncertainty surrounding the release of Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, No Time to Die, the film has finally made it to theaters internationally. A week and a half after its world premiere in London at Royal Albert Hall on September 28th, No Time to Die hit theaters around internationally on October 8th, 2021.
The film’s opening weekend raked in $119.1 million from the box office in 54 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Spain. It was the first film since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic that surpassed $100 million in an international debut without the China market, which has taken the most extreme hit within the in-person cinema industry around the globe.
Despite the tumultuous release process of the film an entire calendar year after the initial release date, the film has received praise and five-star reviews from many critics. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it “an epic barnstormer delivered with terrific panache and pathos, action, drama, camp comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action.”
Linda Marric of The Jewish Chronicle noted the end of the series and gave some insight as to what the future might hold for Daniel Craig, “This is truly everything we expected from Craig’s last ever Bond, leaving the actor a chance to pursue other projects away from the burden of having to keep on reprising the same role again and again.”
As Craig’s final portrayal of the promiscuous British spy dubbed “007”, No Time to Die presents one last opportunity for viewers to experience the epic pairing of Craig and Eon Productions. Daniel Craig, who has been nominated for 77 total major film awards, is not making any more James Bond films. There has been no explicit reason given by Craig or his team, but the widely agreed upon reason for this is Craig’s age.
Craig’s role as Bond has been responsible for some of the most iconic moments in motion picture history, like his return to his childhood home in Skyfall, the foot chase scene in Casino Royale with freerunner Sebastian Foucan, the Texas Hold ‘Em Poker duel with “Le Chiffre” also in Casino Royale, or his adventure during the Day of the Dead celebrations in Spectre. Along with famous moments, Bond movies are often synonymous with soundtracks featuring powerful songs from prominent stars. In Skyfall, Adele’s song named after the movie is one of the most recognizable movie songs in recent history. The associated song for the newest film is fittingly named “No Time to Die” by Billie Eilish. The song was released a significant amount of time prior to the film release and has actually already won the award for Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 63rd Grammy Awards.
With this being Craig’s final movie as 007, combined with the fact that No Time to Die is almost a half hour longer than previous Daniel Craig Bond movies, there is sure to be an array of memorable moments in the film.
