Warning: Contains SPOILERS for No Time To Die.
No Time To Die wastes the perfect reveal for Lashana Lynch's new 007, Nomi. The 25th James Bond movie follows the titular MI6 agent into retirement once again before he returns to the spy game to take on Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who is bent on reshaping the world order. Bond (Daniel Craig) has left the business before, but this time, he is gone long enough that M (Ralph Fiennes) hires someone new, the first time audiences have seen the iconic James Bond replaced as 007.
At one point in the film, M asks the classic question, "Where's 007?" and the next scene cuts to Bond even though he hasn't held the role in over five years. M is actually referring to the new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), but her identity remains a secret until later in the movie. Only after she baits Bond at a nightclub to get him alone at his house does Nomi confront him and tell him who she really is. The reveal that she not only works for MI6 but has taken over his callsign of 007 comes at the end of the scene, almost as an afterthought.
It feels like No Time To Die wastes Nomi's 007 reveal since they basically throw the line away. It could have been done much smoother in a way that really established a tone for Nomi, but instead the scene actually detracts from her character by making the otherwise paradigm of MI6 professionalism come off as somewhat petty. For a film franchise that is obviously trying to rectify its past reputation of marginalized and reductionist women roles, the reveal misses out on a perfect opportunity to create a female character to equal James Bond.
Whether it's based around action or glamor, audiences have come to expect a certain tone in the first 007 scene of James Bond movies. From playing poker in an upper-echelon London casino to chasing motorbikes across the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar, 007 intro scenes should be, in a word, cool. This scene briefly highlight's Nomi's abilities by manipulating Bond, but he is hardly the most difficult target to seduce, and it ends up feeling lackluster. Despite him being something of a has-been washout and her, his confident replacement, the scene is still very much Bond's rather than Nomi's. It's difficult in retrospect not to imagine M's question cutting to a more fitting shot of Nomi taking out a bad guy, acquiring valuable information, or even just driving perhaps the coolest car appearing in No Time To Die, her Aston Martin DBS Superleggera.
Not only does the scene fail to give the new 007 the intro she deserves, it also detracts from her character. Nomi throws in that she has taken over Bond's iconic callsign at the end of the conversation. It's not relevant, it's not necessary, he doesn't even ask, and Nomi comes off as somewhat petty for bringing it up. It leads to a number of other brief but childish bouts regarding the moniker until she finally requests that it be reassigned to Bond. In every other aspect, Nomi is the antithesis to Bond, professional, obedient, and mature. To have her character take part in such a trivial dispute over the number is a disservice both to Lynch's performance and to the strong woman she portrays.
Although No Time To Die's 007 reveal isn't what it should have been, the film thankfully uses the rest of Nomi's screen time to establish that her talented character is as lethal as she is intelligent. In addition to the other highly capable women roles in the film like Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) and Paloma (Ana de Armas), the movie makes a good start at finally including a cast of well-written, fleshed-out female characters in a James Bond film. Audiences can hope that the franchise will continue to learn from the mistakes of No Time To Die and further develop empowering roles for women going forward.
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