Bond - No Time To Die Trailer Review: 7 Ups & 4 Downs

3. Another 00 Agent

Look, it would be foolish not to acknowledge that the reveal of a new 00 agent (played by Lashana Lynch) - somewhat erroneously announced as Bond's replacement by a lot of the rumour-mongers who put it out there - didn't cause some serious waves. It would also be foolish to suggest that wasn't entirely the intention of it. We're supposed to think of this film as different, of this world as different, because Craig is leaving and the sands will shift very soon.

Regardless of all of that side of it, having another 00 agent and watching Bond's position complicated by not being Her Majesty's Favourite (And Only) Toy adds a new element to things that we've not really seen explored in Craig's iteration on the character before. This Bond is always at his best when he's challenged and his bristling is not only how he seems to show love but also what he values in other people. He wants a fight. He IS that bulldog with the Union Jack waistcoat on that M left him in her will.

So seeing him with a new sparring partner (added to his tumultuous relationships with M and Q and even Moneypenny) is a nice touch, particularly when we also get the reappearance of Jeffrey Wright's Felix Leiter to balance that prickliness (and ease the endless shtick, hopefully). Having a sense of community around Bond is not a bad thing, particularly if they're trying to set up him moving on. Or dying. Because he has to do it for people and not just broadly for His Country. Because that's less easy to care about.