Warning: SPOILERS for No Time To Die.
The title No Time To Die turned out to be something of a lie as a number of characters died; here's every character death broken down. The action-packed 25th installment of the James Bond film franchise follows Daniel Craig's Bond as he navigates conflict with enemies old and new. Five years after parting ways with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), whom he believes has betrayed him to Spectre, Bond realizes that something is amiss at MI6. Following a lead from the CIA's Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), he ends up on the trail of Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who is using a stolen nanobot bioweapon to install a new world order.
Like many Bond films before it, No Time To Die features a star-studded cast, many of whom do not make it to the end of the film. In addition to the new faces, James Bond revisits a number of characters from Craig's previous movies in this installment including Felix and the leader of Spectre, Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). The reunions are rarely peaceful, however, and between poisonings, betrayals, and self-sacrifice, plenty of characters defy the film's title by meeting their deaths.
James Bond has often left a trail of bodies in his wake, but this film, in particular, seems to up the number of named character deaths. It's a strategy that pays off in the end with audiences feeling a genuine concern that their favorite characters could perish by the conclusion. The plot armor comes off, and the string of killings help to prepare the audience for the movie's tragic finale. Here is every character death in No Time To Die.
Felix has been helping Craig's James Bond since the beginning in Casino Royale where he stepped in to front the money to buy 007 back into a high stakes poker game. The CIA agent tracks Bond down in No Time To Die alongside a State Department rookie, Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), and requests his help in recovering the bioweapon in Cuba. Once they have the weapon safely on board a ship, however, Ash betrays the two spies and shoots Felix before fleeing and blowing a hole in the boat. As the ship sinks, Bond desperately tries to save Felix's life, but the dedicated CIA agent tells Bond to leave him and to make his death worthwhile, the first time Felix Leiter has died in the James Bond franchise since his first appearance in 1962's Dr. No. Bond is forced to abandon his friend's body to escape the sinking boat and carry out his mission, and the death of Wright's character in No Time To Die provides another layer to the personal connection Bond has to this assignment and to avenging his fallen comrade.
The leader of the criminal organization, Spectre, and Bond's brother by adoption, Blofeld is captured by MI6 at the end of Spectre. At first appearing to be madly rambling to nobody in his jail cell, it's revealed that Blofeld has managed to continue running Spectre from prison through the use of a robotic eye. At Blofeld's birthday celebration in Cuba, the entirety of Spectre is wiped out by the Project Heracles weapon when Blofeld's scheme to kill Bond from afar backfires after Safin hijacks it, leaving Blofeld as the only surviving member. After revealing that he had orchestrated the explosion at Vesper Lynd's tomb to intentionally distance Bond from Madeleine, Blofeld also inadvertently falls victim to the bioweapon which was spread from Madeleine's wrist to Bond's hand when Bond grabs him by the throat. It's a complicated and accidental killing for Bond, who had attained a new level of morality that caused him to spare Blofeld's life and start a new one with Madeleine, and it seems to symbolize that Bond may never be able to truly leave his sordid past behind him.
Ash is a State Department liaison that Safin turned traitor in order to obtain Project Heracles, murdering Felix in the process. After Madeleine causes Blofeld's death and flees to her childhood home, Ash is sent to capture her and her child but James Bond arrives first. A car chase ensues leading to a big fight in the wilderness in which Ash is thrown out of his vehicle and ends up injured under the precariously perched SUV. Bond is given the opportunity to potentially save Ash, but instead, he mercilessly drops the car on top of Felix's murderer. It's a somewhat cathartic moment for the audience and Bond, both of whom are rightly angry at the character for his betrayal, but it also shows that Bond is not playing nice anymore. The mercy shown at the end of Spectre is over, and 007's license to kill is being put to good use.
Safin, the central villain of No Time to Die, is a poisons expert whose family was murdered by Madeleine's father on the orders of Blofeld. After eliminating every member of Spectre, Safin aims to install a new world order by taking out every major leader and government establishment using Project Heracles. Bond is able to foil his plans and rescue Madeleine and their daughter, Mathilde (Lisa-Dora Sonnet), but Safin remains on the island long enough to confront Bond as missiles hurtle toward the base. After shooting Bond in the poison garden, Safin gets overpowered by 007, but not before the villain smears him with a nanobot virus encoded to Madeleine and Mathilde.
In a rush to open the blast doors before the missiles arrive and thus ensure the destruction of the facility and Project Heracles, Bond executes Safin with little ceremony. His death feels almost lackluster to the audience given that he is the central villain in No Time To Die, but it showcases how Bond has changed over the Craig years. Where Casino Royale's 007 would have insisted on a punchy one-liner before making the kill, this Bond is only concerned with getting the job done so he can get back to his family.
After killing Safin and opening the blast doors, Bond desperately asks Q (Ben Whishaw) if there is any way to reverse the effects of the nanobots, but there is none. With no time to escape the facility before the missiles destroy it, and knowing that he will never be able to touch Madeleine or Mathilde again without killing them, Bond climbs to the top of the base and resigns himself to his fate. He professes his love for Madeleine and their daughter over the walkie-talkie just before the missiles land and obliterate the island, marking the end of Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond.
It's the first time 007 has actually died in any of the franchise's films, and it marks Craig's conclusion to the character as decidedly different from any who have come before. Unlike previous Bonds, Craig's character is forced to live with the consequences of his choices. His lifelong mistrust has caused him to miss out on five years with his family, and his sense of duty to his job brings about his demise. His raw emotion and accessible regret mark him as a modern take on the classic character, but his ending in No Time To Die proves what most viewers already knew, that try as he might, James Bond will never have a happy ending.
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October 09, 2021 at 02:46AM
