No Time To Die Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

2. It's WAY Too Long

No Time to Die is, at 163 minutes, by far the longest Bond film, and considering how blockbusters just seem to be getting longer and longer with each passing year, there's a genuine concern that no Bond film needs to be pushing three hours.

And those concerns are unfortunately well-founded here.

While hardly a slog, the film doesn't even begin to justify its epic runtime, and though the expansive canvas allows scenes more time to breathe - the pre-title sequence is a solid 20 minutes long, for instance - the flabby middle could've used some judicious whittling down.

There are numerous subplots crammed into the middle of the film which could've easily been streamlined or ditched entirely for the story's benefit.

Again, Bond's journey here is such a personal one that the usual Bond breadcrumb-following narrative really wasn't necessary, and consequently feels like dead weight.