If this were a normal Friday, moviegoers would be flocking to theaters to see James Bond return again in No Time To Die, the final film in the long-running series that would feature Daniel Craig as 007. But as everyone knows, there is nothing normal about this Friday, or anything else during the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses around the country, including movie theaters, have shuttered and many major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, have issued variations on shelter-in-place orders for residents. Social distancing has forced people inside for the foreseeable future and left potential audiences scrambling for something to watch other than their apocalyptic Twitter feeds.
Fortunately, fans who had hoped to watch No Time to Die this week have some options that may serve as worthy substitutes until November 25, the date on which the 25th official Bond film will now debut. So in lieu of seeing No Time to Die, here are alternatives to consider watching right now.
Casino Royale and Skyfall
A good omen for James Bond devotees hoping No Time to Die ends Craig’s run with a bang: during his tenure, the odd-numbered releases have been the most creatively successful. So despite scuffling with 2015’s almost incomprehensible Spectre, the odds are good that No Time to Die, the fifth and last time Craig will play 007, will succeed.
To prepare for its planned November bow, rewatch Craig’s debut as the legendary character in 2006’s Casino Royale, a rough and tumble introduction that portrays Bond at the start of his career and offers what some fans consider the franchise’s best-ever action sequence: a parkour fight that’s as good today as it was 14 years ago. Afterward, go ahead and skip Quantum of Solance and jump right into 2012’s Skyfall, arguably the greatest 007 movie since Goldfinger. Everything in Sam Mendes’ blockbuster still absolutely kills, including Roger Deakins’ cinematography, the delicious heel turn from Javier Bardem, and Adele’s Oscar-winning title banger.
Where to Stream Casino Royale
Where to Stream Skyfall
The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill
Between now and November, plenty of viewers will attempt to watch all the Bond films in preparation for Craig’s last ride. But rather than revisit the Sean Connery or Roger Moore movies that played ad infinitum on basic cable for decades, hit up the underappreciated set of films starring Timothy Dalton. Both The Living Daylights and its superior follow-up, Licence to Kill, serve as a reminder that before Craig turned Bond into a brooding, violent sociopath straddling the line between law and lawless, Dalton got on that corner first. His version of Bond is as brutal as Craig’s and took the franchise in a 180-degree direction following the silliness Moore brought to the part in the ’70s and ’80s. Licence to Kill is a particularly ferocious feature: at one point, Bond watches as one of his adversaries is literally fed to the sharks.
Where to Stream The Living Daylights
Where to Stream Licence to Kill
Knives Out
During his tenure as Bond, Craig has often tried to play against type in his other work—but he was never as successful as in Rian Johnson’s 2019 hit whodunit. Playing a world-renowned detective with a Southern accent Foghorn Leghorn would love, Craig is able to show shades of his personality usually verboten in the world of MI6. As an added bonus, he’s paired with Ana de Armas in this one, his No Time to Die costar. (The former Vanity Fair cover star plays a CIA agent in the forthcoming film.) “I should always be so lucky to work with a woman like that,” Craig said of de Armas’ No Time to Die role. “This is a movie where there’s a lot of shit going on, a lot of big acting, myself very much included, but she shines through because she’s the real deal. She’s got very good comic timing and we’re not offering her a huge part. But she came in and just nailed it. She had very little to go on, the scripts are being rewritten, you’re changing things all the time or throwing them at her, and she’s not fazed by it.”