Daniel Craig’s final turn as James Bond in No Time to Die fails to give its star the send-off he deserves.

Craig has largely been responsible for reinvigorating the Bond franchise for 21st century audiences, bringing a grittier realism to the role in his 5 performances.

Unfortunately, No Time to Die does not completely shake the cobwebs of Spectre (2015) and never comes close to reaching the highs of Casino Royale (2006) or Skyfall (2012).

Indeed, despite Craig’s best efforts – and he is typically committed – the newest iteration falls almost completely flat when trying to hit its emotional high notes.

Spoiler alert

Before you read any further, spoiler alert for some of the main plot points just ahead.

No Time to Die opens on a retired Bond, lounging his way through northern Italy with love interest Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux).

He is a seemingly changed man, choosing monogamy and relaxation over the promiscuity, borderline alcoholism and heroism of his previous exploits.

On a visit to previous love Vesper Lynd’s tomb however, Bond is thrown straight back into the thick of things.

What follows is the best action sequence of the film, helmed expertly by new director Cary Joji Fukunaga (best known for season 1 of True Detective).

Bond is typically stoic in the face of gunfire and unsurprisingly manages to find his way out of the situation with Swann in tow. He feels that he has been betrayed however, and bids her adieu before disappearing to a hideaway in the Caribbean.

The in-film 5 year break is punctuated by the opening credit sequence, where slowly decaying sculptures fade under the mournful vocals of Billie Eilish. Has Bond become Ozymandias, the once great world-saver fading into obscurity?

Initially it seems so, with women denying his advances (Gasp!), him introducing himself as ‘James… you can call me James’ and the arrival of a new 007.

Nomi (Lashana Lynch), a black woman, is the new 007 who arrives to call him back to action, but the diversity of the role seems performative.

Ultimately, despite her role in saving the world, Nomi is little more than a placeholder, eventually choosing to relinquish the 007 moniker in favour of Bond.

The rest of the bloated runtime follows Bond tracking villain Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who seeks to raze populations with his nano-bot army.

Safin is the single biggest issue of the film with an underwritten backstory and motivation, carried poorly by a Malek performance that relies heavily on slow speech and a scarred face.

Safin is a potential world-ender and it feels as if the film’s writers felt compelled to write a villain on the scale of Thanos from the Avengers series.

Are audiences now only interested if the stakes are literal world domination?

Despite strong action sequences – particularly those in Cuba and Norway – No Time to Die falls short in closing Craig’s Bond chapter well.

It is too focused on setting up sequels and retroactively trying to link the past films, falling into cinematic universe obscurity.

If you would like to see a highlights compilation of Bond’s last 4 outings, then the action delivers.

But little else does and at 2 hours and 43 minutes, is that really worth it?

PG-13, scenes of action and some sex.

2.5/5.