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."