No Time to Die was originally scheduled to open in theaters in April of 2020. (Technically, it was originally originally scheduled to open in theaters in the fall of 2019 back when the movie was going to be directed by Danny Boyle instead of Cary Joji Fukunaga.) It became the first blockbuster to get postponed in the earliest days of the Covid pandemic. It was initially delayed to the fall of 2020, then to the spring of 2021, then to October of 2021. 18 months later, the movie is finally here.

So was it worth the wait? That depends on what critics you trust. Critics around the world saw the film this week, and their reactions really run the gamut. Some described it as a fitting and satisfying conclusion to Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond. Others thought the pacing was off (the film runs nearly three hours) but still contained a lot of good moments and solid actions. And then some gave it an out-and-out thumbs down, describing it as major letdown and questioning how it was even possible to make a three hour conclusion to a five-film saga with so little stakes.

With all that in mind, here is a pretty representative sample of what the critics are saying so far:

No Time to Die opens in theaters on October 8. In addition to Craig, the film stars Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ana de Armas, and Ralph Fiennes. We’ll have our review of the movie later in the week.

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