Movies and the pandemic have seemingly been in an ongoing battle since the latter started. With the whole industry being disrupted, major movies going to streaming services to recoup some profits, and some of the biggest blockbusters being continuously delayed. None are a bigger example of this that James Bond’s No time to Die, a movie that’s finally screening almost two years after its initial release date. Considering it’s the final outing of Daniel Craig’s run as the titular Bond as well as an ending to the last four Bond films, the movie is definitely highly anticipated as well. Well, if you feel you can’t wait anymore, Ster-Kinekor will be screening the movie a week early and we’re here for it!

No Time to Die has arguably become one of the most affected movies by Covid-19. Originally stated to release in late 2019, it got pushed to late March of last year and well, as we know the pandemic hit. Since then, the movie got delayed almost every three months till it recently settled on an October 8th release. This string of delays wasn’t just terrible for fans either, Sony Pictures, the studio in charge of the film, faced the expected losses and more due to all the money they expected from the film while the film itself got sued by Nokia for missing schedules for an endorsement deal that the company had signed for the X20 smartphone it released last year. And while most of us probably don’t care about big companies fighting amongst each other and losing money, it should be noted that it’s given the movie a kind of bad rep, associating it with corporate squabbles and bureaucracy  while still being consistently out of reach for the people who actually want to watch it.

And that bad rep is seemingly unearned because if early reviews are anything to come by, this is by far one of the best Bond flicks ever made, if not one of the best films released this year as a whole. It certainly seems to be the one that leans into the most experimental territory for bond films, with Craig’s Bond having actually properly left the spy game, gotten married to his Spectre love interest Madelaine Swan and even meeting his seemingly superior (and female), replacement. It’s experimental concepts like this that have made the Craig Era of bond films revered. Films Like Skyfall and Casino Royale specifically benefitted the most from this approach, becoming genre defining juggernauts while the more by-the-book entries like Spectre and Quantam of Solace fell into more forgettable territory.

The stellar cast on display here is also a key draw. The Bond films have never been lacking in big names, with Ralph Fiennes’ M and Naomi Harris’ Moneypenny returning alongside Craig. However add that to Lashana Lynch’s Nomi aka the new 007, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s yet unknown character and Rami Malik’s villain Safin, and you have a cast thats arguably one of the greatest ones assembled outside of a large-scale Marvel movie.

We’d go into more detail about other facts of the film but we’ll, that ruins the flow of an espionage thriller doesn’t it? Not to mention, what are reviews for(and yes we’ll have one by the weekend). In the end, all we can say is that this is definitely one of the biggest movies coming out this year, previous controversies be dammed. If you’re looking for something amazing to watch(that isn’t based on a comic or has Vin Diesel in it), this is definitely the movie to pay attention to, so maybe watch it a week early before the rest of the world.

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