A James Bond Movie With A Shocking Ending Is Finding New Fans On Prime Video
Given that history will remember his tenure as one of the best, the initial reaction to Daniel Craig's casting as James Bond is shocking in retrospect. Some of the backlash was pedantic — people were ridiculously upset that James Bond was going to have blond hair, for instance — while much of it revolved around a lack of faith that Craig had the charm or the charisma to pull off the legendarily suave secret agent. But all fears were silenced after Craig's debut outing, "Casino Royale." The actor went on to deliver a stellar run of 007 performances across the 16 years and five films that encompassed his era.
In 2021, Craig closed out his period as Bond with "No Time to Die," the first 007 movie to ever narratively deliver a definitive ending (even if it needs a little explanation) to a given actor's era of the franchise. All previous Bond eras trailed off until a different actor took over without explanation — save for a fourth wall-breaking joke at the beginning of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." But Craig has the distinction of seeing his run of movies start at the very beginning of Bond's secret agent career, then following it through to the end of that career.
Considering that giving actual closure to a Bond era was something that hadn't been done before, reactions to the ending were strong. Now, a lot of people are discovering that ending for themselves. "No Time to Die" is living it up on Prime Video right now.
Daniel Craig ended his tenure as 007 with a bang
Every Bond actor evolved the character over time, with Craig bringing not only a grounded but a grittier and more brutal take on 007. With that in mind, it is perhaps not a huge surprise that Craig didn't close his run out with a warm, fuzzy ending that saw him and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) live happily ever after. Still, while there was plenty of buzz about how "No Time to Die" was going to end, it was impossible to be fully prepared for what actually happened during the climax of the movie.
In case you haven't seen it — or somehow haven't had it spoiled for you — we won't come right out and describe said climax or how the movie actually concludes. But even if you have found out, "No Time to Die" is still worth watching, especially if you've been along for the entire Craig-as-Bond ride up to this point. There isn't a single truly bad movie in Craig's entire 007 era, with even the initially disliked "Quantum of Solace" receiving warmer reappraisals over the years.
Right now, you can watch all five of Craig's Bond films on Prime Video. In a perfect world, all 007 films would stay on Prime Video indefinitely, since Amazon now owns the franchise — but as we've seen time and time again, things are rarely simple in the complicated world of movie licensing.