Rewatching Daniel Craig's latest James Bond film, this plot point really bothered me

I love Daniel Craig's latest James Bond film, There's no time to diebut the entire plot is built on an implausible device, and it really caught my attention when I watched it again. For the most part, I think There's no time to die It was a very strong final chapter for Craig's 007. It has some beautifully shot and creatively staged action sequences. It was a welcome return to the Bond film formula of 007 tracking a megalomaniacal villain to a secret island lair and putting an end to his plans for world domination.

I think Craig gives an Oscar-worthy performance in his final appearance as Bond. Lashana Lynch is a great foil to him as Nomi, Ana de Armas steals the show with a relatively small role as Paloma, and Rami Malek's Safin is a suitably sinister villain. Bond's death at the end of There's no time to die gave Craig's tenure as 007 a bittersweet sense of finality that none of his predecessors achieved. The film is also well-paced, so it holds up especially on a rewatch. But there's one thing about the opening that still bothers me.

Daniel Craig's James Bond is too quick to believe Madeleine betrayed him

All it takes is a little push from an untrustworthy source

There's no time to die begins shortly after the events of Spectrum. After arresting Blofeld, Bond takes a much-needed vacation to Matera with the return of love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann. When the film catches up with them, Bond and Madeleine are madly in love, enjoying each other's company without a care in the world. While they are there, Madeleine encourages Bond to visit his ex-girlfriend Vesper Lynd's grave to help him come to terms with her passing. So he reluctantly goes to Vesper's grave to pay his respects and there he is ambushed by a merry band of SPECTER assassins.

Bond rushes back to the hotel and flees the scene with Madeleine. Upon leaving the city, 007 uses all the devices loaded on his Aston Martin to fend off Primo and his henchmen. But as they escape, Madeleine's phone receives a celebratory call from Blofeld. Bond puts two and two together and assumes that Madeleine is in cahoots with Blofeld. He thinks she encouraged him to go to Vesper's grave so he would walk right into SPECTER's ambush. But he doesn't even for a second entertain the idea that his archenemy could be deceiving him.

Despite Madeleine's protests, Bond takes her to a train station, puts her on the train and tells her he will never see him again. Five long years pass before Bond and Madeleine are brought back together by an affair, and Madeleine is naturally reluctant to embrace the guy who abandoned her on flimsy evidence. 007 had a lot of time to reflect during his retirement, and It never occurred to him that he might have been too quick to blame Madeleine for the attack and completely exclude her from his life..

A spy of Bond's caliber should have considered the possibility of a SPECTER trick

007 usually thinks of everything

Bond gained 00 status by becoming one of MI6's top spies. He is the elite of the elite; the most intelligent and capable agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service (now Her Majesty's Secret Service). He became so capable by maintaining a healthy skepticism. Bond doesn't trust anyone; he questions everything and can see cheating coming from a mile away. He can deal with any danger that comes his way. Every time an assassin tries to sneak up on Bond, he's one step ahead of them. So why did he so quickly believe Blofeld and abandon Madeleine?

Craig's 007 doesn't have the perfect batting average of his predecessors. This Bond is not infallible, like Sean Connery or Roger Moore; he makes mistakes. The reason Vesper died is that Bond was unable to save her from a sinking building at the end of Royal Casino. Craig is responsible for Bond's first on-screen failure, as he failed to stop Raoul Silva's plot in Fall from the sky. But even taking into account its fallibility, It seems like a huge oversight on Bond's part to trust Blofeld over Madeleine and send her away based on a little push.

One conversation could have easily resolved Bond and Swann's split

All he had to do was ask

If Bond had just talked to Madeleine instead of giving her the silent treatment and abandoning her at the train station, the whole thing might have been cleared up. If they had talked about this, Bond would have realized that it seems more plausible that Blofeld was deceiving him. than the woman who loves him. Madeleine tries to explain that she didn't betray Bond and that Blofeld is deceiving him, but he doesn't listen. He just shuts her out until it's time to abandon her on a train and leave that chapter of his life behind.

It's similar to the comedic misunderstandings that form the basis of sitcom episodes like Modern Family and Everybody loves Raymond. After something is misheard or misinterpreted, the characters can simply ask each other about it and resolve the issue in two minutes rather than dragging it out for 21 minutes of shenanigans. It seems strange that Bond trusts Blofeld and ignores Madeleine's pleas for reason. It feels more like something the writers needed to happen than something the character would actually do.

The fragile nature of Bond and Swann's separation undermines Daniel Craig's final chapter

The entire film is built on this device

Overall, I think There's no time to die it's a great film and a fitting swan song for Craig's Bond. But I don't think it's a Bond movie masterpiece equivalent to Royal Casino and In Her Majesty's Secret Servicebecause it is far from being a perfect film. This contrived opening act is one of the film's biggest flaws. A plot invention is one thing – almost all big blockbusters have them, because they undergo rewrites during filming – but this one is particularly egregious, because the entire film is built on it.

If Bond had trusted Madeleine and found out that Blofeld was messing with him, he wouldn't have abandoned her and retired, and could have been around to raise his daughter. I can see how the writers justified Bond believing Blofeld's lie - points out how difficult it is for Bond to trust people — but the fact that this five-year conflict could have been resolved with a two-minute conversation makes it feel like a plot hole. There's no time to die It's not a bad film, but the entire plot is built on flawed logic.