No Time To Die premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday.
Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond has been praised by critics, with No Time To Die receiving rave reviews from a number of critics after it premiered on Tuesday.
Almost two years after it was initially meant to be released, the 25th Bond instalment finally made its world premiere in London last night, and it sounds like it has been worth the wait.
Writing in the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave No Time To Die five stars, describing the film as an “epic barnstormer” that delivers “pathos, action, drama, camp comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action in a movie which calls to mind the world of Dr No on his island.”
The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin also gave the film full marks, writing that Daniel Craig’s fifth and final appearance as the spy is an “extravagantly satisfying, bulgingly proportioned last chapter to the Craig era, which throws almost everything there is left to throw at 007.”
In another five-star review Kevin Maher of The Times, said: “It’s better than good. It’s magnificent.
Meanwhile the NME gave the film four stars, with Sky News and Digital Spy praising the film as well.
There are some points of contention, the main one being the film’s running time. At two hours and 43 minutes, Stephanie Zacharek of Time described it as “too long and too overstuffed with plot,” although was overall positive about the film, whilst Empire‘s John Nugent said that the middle third of the film is “bogged down by plotting and exposition doesn’t justify that heaving runtime.”
He did add though that No Time To Die “does things that no Bond film has ever done,” and “it is the unfamiliar things it does that make this such an exciting entry.”
There has also been praise across the board for Lashana Lynch’s performance, with Next Best Picture‘s Josh Parham describing her as the “real standout.”
And there is a broad consensus that Daniel Craig puts in a brilliant final performance, as many reflected on his era in the role.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety writes that Craig has “mastered the art of making Bond a seemingly invincible force who is also a human being with hidden vulnerabilities,” with The Hollywood Reporter‘s David Rooney saying that Craig has “left arguably the most indelible mark on the character since Connery.”
No Time To Die is released in UK cinemas on Thursday 30 September.
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