Bond Is Back Again in First “No Time to Die” Trailer

It’s a little understandable that most people – myself included – approach each new Bond movie with a mix of excitement and trepidation. This is one of the most successful but inconsistent franchises in the history of cinema. Daniel Craig’s version of 007 has yielded two exciting classics and two self-serious duds.

Based on the first trailer for his final spin in the Aston Martin, this looks like it’s right down the middle. The two-and-a-half-minute trailer feels more like a “Previously On” recap than a proper preview, going through all the major plot points, including a betrayal by Madeline (Lea Seydoux), the introduction of the new 007 (Lashana Lynch) and the reveal of the big bad (Rami Malek). The pacing is a bit weird, and it feels like it gives away a lot of the movie.

But then there’s the action. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga (the lone great season of True Detective), a lot of it looks absolutely jaw-dropping, including Bond repelling down an aqueduct, jumping a brick wall on a motorcycle, and one of the most badass things I’ve seen in a while: an Aston Martin complete with machine guns.

We also get brief looks at returning characters M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Felix (Jeffrey Wright), plus new Bond girl Paloma (Ana de Armas, fresh off her terrific turn in Knives Out).

Check out the new trailer below.

No Time to Die opens April 2 in the UK and April 10 in the U.S.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.