#Daniel Craig’s Final Outing As James Bond Strives For Closure

It seems like the new out for actors like Craig and Robert Downey, Jr. — who are ready to be done with long-held franchise commitments — is to have their characters killed off at the end so there’s no chance they can return. This is something “The Dark Knight Rises” toyed with: crystallizing the mortality of an iconic hero. As was his wont, Nolan’s film went for the open, “Inception”-style ending. Maybe Batman lived, or maybe his faithful butler, Alfred, just imagined him there in that European café.

Nomi gives us a hint that the title of Bond 25 is false advertising when she quips, “Do you know what time it is? Time to die!” As it becomes clear that the film is working up to Bond’s death, it lands like a soft surprise. It didn’t leave me shaken in the martini way … maybe a little stirred? I thought it was staged well enough and I appreciated that they went for it and gave us something different, something that had never been done in a Bond film before.

Bond tells Madeleine and his blue-eyed daughter, Mathilde, “I’ll be just a minute,” but we know that’s not true as he watches their boat fade into the light. His final confrontation with Safin leaves him infected with the nanobot virus, a danger to them should he ever leave the island. After Safin shoots him and he shoots and kills Safin, Bond limps up the stairs, dripping blood. He’s human, after all, and that’s always been the best thing about this iteration of the character.

Wouldn’t you know it, Bond’s at his best when he’s vulnerable, when he makes himself emotionally available to women, not just lovers but daughters and mother figures: Vesper, Madeleine, Mathilde, and Judi Dench’s M.