007 things to know about the latest James Bond film

There are a number of Easter eggs for true Bond fans only, nods to previous films and even to previous actors. Most are as subtle as an early shot of a happy Bond and his significant other — in this case, Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann — driving up a mountainside with faint strains of “We Have All the Time in the World” embedded in the score’s DNA. It’ll make “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” fans fearful for Madeleine’s life. (After all, she is the daughter of a Bond villain, right?)

There’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it re-creation of the signature “gun barrel” shot, the return of M’s ceramic bulldog and a poignant echo of the “Brother from Langley” line from “Casino Royale.” There’s even a cameo of sorts by the late, great Bernard Lee that sharp-eyed Bond lovers will appreciate.

That this is Daniel Craig’s final Bond entry is well known by now, as is the casting of “Captain Marvel’s” Lynch as Nomi, the new 007. The decision runs a circle around endless online arguments over whether EON Productions should cast a Black James Bond, a female James Bond or anyone else that isn’t a white, male James Bond: As one character says, the 00 designation is “just a number.”

The doors are open for the series to feature a cast, and an onscreen universe, that is far more inclusive than it has been in the past. Whether it will or not remains to be seen. But Nomi isn’t the only new butt-kicking character of whom audiences will want to see more.

Aside from a masked appearance in the pre-credits opening sequence, it’s well over an hour before Oscar winner Malek properly enters the story as its primary villain, Safin. With a backstory connection to Madeleine Swann — Swann’s father was involved in killing his family — his character is initially motivated by a desire for revenge. Of course that desire — as so often happens with Bond villains — has mutated into a hunger for power, control and world domination.

His weapon of choice is a nanobot bioweapon — which plays a bit scarier post-COVID than it might have initially — as he works from an island somewhere in the North Atlantic full of exotic poison plants first cultivated by his father. His character’s face disfigured by a nerve agent, Malek approaches the role with a quiet steeliness, making him initially more just unnerving than frightening.

“No Time to Die” brings the story that began with “Casino Royale” to an actual conclusion, and brings back elements from each of Craig’s previous outings. In that way, the film puts the button on a fully fleshed-out cinematic world and a five-film saga with a beginning, middle and end — something never attempted with any seriousness in the series’ long history.

And Fukunaga manages to put his own stamp on the material. There’s a stalking sequence in the beginning that’s probably the scariest in any Bond movie (Fukunaga originally was tapped to direct the “It” movies). He and his fellow screenwriters have crafted “No Time to Die” to feel less like an action movie than a character drama with bursts of impressive violence; the film is shot and moves with the pace and rhythm of a drama that takes relationships seriously. The people really are the center of the film.

Even before Billie Ellish’s title song kicks in for the opening credits animation set amidst the moving gears of a clock and the sands of an hourglass, the notion of time and aging has already been set in place as a major theme of the movie.

The film opens with a flashback to Madeleine’s childhood, establishing that she too has been haunted by death and setting the stage for another key character with a seemingly innocent worldview to enter the action later on.

Although it doesn’t reinvent so much as reconsider Bond’s old dynamics with women, “No Time to Die” grants more dimension and humanity to those in his orbit. A forceful presence throughout the film as Nomi — the new 007 agent out to prove Bond obsolete — Lynch mounts a convincing case for making the future of the franchise female.

And as Paloma, the effervescent junior CIA operative who teams up with Bond in Cuba, de Armas makes an impressive meal out of a morsel of screen time, matching her “Knives Out” co-star Craig’s action chops and style (while doing it all in a slit-thigh evening gown and killer heels).

As promised onscreen after the credits: “James Bond will return.” But played by who?

That’s the next question Bond fans will be waiting to have answered ... when the time is right.