“No Time to Die” seems cut more from the Marvel Cinematic Universe model of pulling from previous entries to create the impression that everything that happens here was planned all along. Long gone are the days when a new Bond movie felt like it restarted the character and his universe as a standalone action film. Even as it’s closing character arcs that started years ago, it feels like a film with too little at stake, a movie produced by a machine that was fed the previous 24 flicks and programmed to spit out a greatest hits package.

All of the boxes that need to be checked seem to drag down “No Time to Die,” which comes to life in fits and starts, usually through some robust direction of quick action beats from director Cary Joji Fukunaga, but ultimately plays it too safe and too familiar from first frame to last. It would also help a bit to clean up some of the mess left by “ Spectre,” a film widely considered a disappointment. Everyone knows that this is Daniel Craig’s last film as Bond, and so “No Time to Die” needs to entertain on its own terms, provide a sense of finality for this chapter of the character, and even hint at the future of the spy with a license to kill. After months of delays, the 25 th official James Bond film is finally here in “No Time to Die,” an epic (163 minutes!) action film that presents 007 with one of his toughest missions: End the era that most people agree gave new life to one of the most iconic film characters of all time.

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