The rumours suggested that, in the vein of Spectre and especially Skyfall, the next James Bond flick would feel different. Not really, seems to say the first official trailer of No Time to Die.
In just a few seconds, chosen with care by Eon Productions, all the ingredients that make the success of James Bond’s cinematographic missions come together; plenty of explosions, chase scenes, and signature catchphrases — “Bond, James Bond” and “license to kill” included, naturally.
The first post #MeToo James Bond adventure, No Time To Die, introduces Daniel Craig’s character to a female fellow agent.
Several familiar faces pop up in the trailer, including Bond’s MI6 comrades M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) as well as C.I.A. agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). Some things look set to remain as they always were.
But something feels quite different, though. Is it the synopsis, co-written by Cary Joji Fukunaga, the guy behind season one of True Detective and Maniac? Or the complex alliance between James Bond and his female fellow agent, played by Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel)?
“The world has moved on, Commander Bond,” she says in the trailer. “Stay in your lane. You get in my way, I will put a bullet in your knee.”
It’s been over 30 years since Judi Dench’s M described Bond as “a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War, whose boorish charm [is] wasted on me”. Now, the infamous Bond girls are being referred to as Bond women and there are no nude ladies dancing on speedboats as the theme song plays.
So yeah, No Time To Die promises to be quite the iconoclast for a franchise that has taken its sweet time to follow the post #MeToo Hollywood guidelines. We hope the promise will be kept, though. Answer on April 8.
