The latest No Time to Die TV spot teases that Rami Malek’s Bond villain Safin is Blofeld’s enemy too. Much intrigue indeed surrounds the character of Safin, the latest in a long line of powerful and mysterious figures to take on the world’s greatest secret agent James Bond.
Of course, when No Time to Die begins, Bond is actually retired and attempting to enjoy post-secret-agent life in the Caribbean. But the one-time 007 is called back to action and soon finds himself again coming face-to-face with his enemy from Spectre, Christoph Waltz’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld. As revealed in Spectre, Blofeld had very personal reasons for wanting to kill Bond, and in fact claimed to be responsible for all the bad things that befell Daniel Craig’s 007 in the previous three movies, including the deaths of Bond’s lover Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and mentor M (Judi Dench).
But in No Time to Die, it seems Blofeld and Bond are going to be forced to overcome their very powerful enmity as they now have a common enemy. As teased in the latest spot for the 25th (official) James Bond film, newest Bond bad guy Safin is also the enemy of Blofeld, meaning he and Bond may be teaming up to battle their shared foe. See the clip in the space below (from MGM via Anton Volkov):
Very little has thus far been teased about Malek’s Safin, which makes sense as producers no doubt want to keep a shroud of intrigue around the character. However, previous trailers have dropped hints that suggest Safin has some kind of relationship with Bond’s love interest Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) and fans have even theorized that Swann and Safin were once both SPECTRE agents working under Blofeld. At the very least, Swann has a secret she’s hiding from Bond, and that secret is certain to come out at some point in No Time to Die and make things very interesting for the erstwhile 007.
Of course, considering Blofeld’s well-established capacity for hatching incredibly elaborate schemes (after some retconning, the criminal mastermind evidently was responsible for everything that happened in Casino Royale through Spectre), it’s always possible that he’s just trying to trick Bond again, and that he and Safin are actually on the same side. Then again, if No Time to Die seeks to create a redemption story for Blofeld (and what villain these days is complete without a forced redemption arc?) then perhaps he really is ready to team up with his former adoptive brother and revenge target Bond to take down the new and dangerous threat represented by Safin.
Old school Bond fans may find themselves a little bewildered by all this story business after decades of enjoying Bond movies where plots were just excuses for action scenes and relationships between characters were little more than throwaway amusements, but it’s clear No Time to Die is meant to send Craig’s Bond out with a special bang, which explains all the tortuous set-up – and the movie’s reported very long runtime.
More: James Bond: 10 Facts About 007 From The Books The Movies Leave Out
Source: MGM (via Anton Volkov/Twitter)
- Bond 25 Release Date: 2021-10-08
