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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2021)
OCTOBER 22, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A15 No Time to Die offers a satisfying end to 007 saga of the Week presented by LORE CHRISTOPHER Where and how do you volunteer? Daniel Craig stars No Time to Die, his fifth movie as British superspy 007. Review BY T.J REID For the Keizertimes If you are an actor who happens to be British, then odds are you will probably play one of two characters sometime in your career: The Doctor (of Doctor Who fame; call him “Doctor Who” around a Whovian and you will probably be drawn and quartered) or James Bond. Okay, this is an exaggeration (duh), but both characters do have a surpris- ing amount of longevity for a nation that regularly cancels successful tele- vision shows after six episodes. This being said, I was, naturally, a bit skepti- cal when I saw that No Time to Die was being advertised as the grand fi nale of everyone’s favorite chauvinistic super- spy. One thing was for certain, how- ever: After fi ve movies and 15 years in the role, it would at very least be Daniel Craig’s last outing as the character, and No Time to Die turned out to be the perfect swan song to his modern-Bond era. If I had to describe Craig’s tenure as 007 in two words they would be “gritty” (sometimes to a fault) and “deeper.” No, the movies are not epic charac- ter dramas full of Shakespearean act- ing and thoughtful dissections of the human psyche, but they at least gave Bond some character other than “suave spy who spouts one-liners between shags and martinis,” and nowhere is this more apparent than in No Time to Die, which, like Skyfall before it, actually allows Craig to give a fairly moving performance. And while it is still “gritty” and fairly “realistic,” No Time to Die fi nally allows the series to be fun again as well. The gadgets are back (including the beloved souped-up Aston Martin), his allies are all in on the game (including Ralph Fiennes as M, Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Jeff rey Wright as Felix Leiter, Naomi Harris as Monepenny, and Ben Whishaw as Q) and the script may sur- prise you with a post-kill pun here and there as well as Bond battles against Rami Malek’s sinister Lyutsifer Safi n and Christoph Waltz’s iconic Blofeld. It seems as if fi nally, at the end, Craig’s series has struck a perfect balance between serious and silly. But all is not perfect in No Time to Die. For one thing, it lacks the giant action set pieces that have been a trade- mark of the series for decades, opting FILE PHOTO, Keizertimes instead for isolated spurts of violence that are separated by a whole lot of exposition. Good exposition, mind you, but those going into the movie expect- ing non-stop action for the entire two hour and forty-three minute runtime will be a bit disappointed. The plot is also pretty straightforward, which I appreciated and liked, but others might see it as undaring or even underwhelm- ing. All I know is that I enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to tie my brain in knots just to understand why some guy was punching another guy. Daniel Craig may have taken his bow, but No Time to Die proves that James Bond himself still has plenty of places to go. If you have a British accent (or can at least fake one well enough), then who knows. Maybe you can be the one to take him there someday. Time is certainly on your side. No Time to Die is now playing exclu- sively in theaters. "I have had the privilege of serving our community in a variety of ways from being a volunteer member of the Keizer Parks and Rec Citizen Committee to eventually becoming Mayor for 14 years. I pivoted my eff orts to Arts and Culture once my mayoral term ended. I have been a board member of the Keizer Public Arts Citizen Committee; Keizer Art Association; Keizer Community Foundation and Keizer Heritage Foundation since my mayoral term ended in 2015." What does volunteering do for you? "I fi nd that serving others fi lls up your heart and soul. It doesn’t take a lot of time to make a signifi cant diff erence in our community or the lives of fellow community members. It is so fun to serve with people who are as interested and caring as I am about the committees we serve on." How would you get others to volunteer in their community? "I would encourage others to identify an area of interest and then reach out to Debbie Lockhart at the City of Keizer to determine the best place for you to volunteer your eff orts in an area you are interested in and feel passion about. It isn’t work if you love doing it! I always tell any potential Board members 'If you do not love your volunteer job, you will not do well at the job. Let me help you fi nd your perfect job to love!' There are many available… just take that fi rst step and talk with someone, me for instance."