Warning: spoilers ahead! Note: I will also presume you’ve read the previous entry in this series, so if you haven’t, go do that first.

For this installment of my dissection of No Time to Die, we will discuss killing off side characters as a motivational tool for our heroes. Typically this is done in one of three places:

1. Before the hero has crossed the threshold. The death(s) provide the necessary motivation for the hero to begin the journey. Classic example here is in Star Wars Episode IV. Luke has refused Obi-Wan’s call to adventure (join the Rebellion). He returns to his farm to find Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru murdered by the Empire. Motivation is gained, he agrees to join the Rebellion, and crosses the threshold.
2. During Trials, Allies, and Enemies or in the Ordeal. Typically a side character’s death here helps the hero (and audience) realize how deadly the antagonist is. In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf sacrifices himself to stop the Balrog, and allow Frodo and friends to escape the Ordeal of the Mines of Moria. This gives them the chance to regroup (Road Back) and prepare for the final fight (against the Uruk-hai). Frodo is emotionally wounded by the loss of his friend and mentor and is taught a valuable lesson in his fight against the evils of Mordor.
3. During the Resurrection. Here, side character deaths close subplots, expose the true villainy of the antagonist to give the hero the last bit of oomph to triumph over evil, and (intentionally) traumatize the reader/audience to deepen the emotional impact of the climax. Remember the final battle in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? JK Rowling kills off scores of beloved side characters to deepen the emotional resolution of her story. I’m still mad.

In all three, a side character’s death serves to motivate the hero. Get off their butt. Get better prepared to face the villain. Finish the fight, or else the world will end. All common, all useful. Apply directly to the forehead.

So let’s examine what the heck the writers of No Time to Die were thinking when they killed off Jeffrey Wright’s Felix Leiter.

Recall that Bond was pulled out of retirement by Leiter (in a Mentor role) to case a big party that Spectre was having, conveniently not far from Bond’s home. Things go south. Spectre thinks they’re killing Bond in a grand spectacle. They all die instead. Let’s continue.

As Bond is attempting to ascertain how the Spectre party went from his funeral to Spectre’s, he makes off with Spectre’s bumbling scientist Obruchev and steals the new 007’s plane to meet back up with Leiter.

Bond has just come through an intense firefight, exchanged unpleasantries with his MI6 double-0 replacement, and was totally shown up by Ana de Armas’ wickedly fun spy Paloma (she needed way more screen time!). He’s got scores of dead Spectre big wigs at his feet, the snivelling Obruchev by the collar, and some mysterious and way deadly viral agent in a briefcase. Does he need any more motivation to join the journey?

Nope. He’s in. As the plane is in the air approaching Leiter’s fishing boat hideout, Bond’s chest is heaving, his adrenaline is coursing, and he is fully committed to the adventure. He has crossed the threshold.

But moments after Bond meets up with Leiter and presents Obruchev, Leiter’s CIA tagalong, Logan Ash, reveals the turn of his coat and begins shooting. Not a big surprise. Leiter is mortally wounded. Ash absconds with Obruchev and the plane, locks Bond and Leiter inside the boat, and leaves a bomb. Bomb blows, boat sinks, and Bond narrowly escapes with his life (via conveniently available life raft) and the trauma of seeing his friend die.

Well, okay. So that’s a checkmark for Trials, Allies, and Enemies, right?

As my daughter likes to say, “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Bond doesn’t need to learn how deadly his foe is. Whoever it is just murdered the entirety of Spectre. Yes, this moment teaches Bond and the audience whose side Logan Ash is on, but come on. We knew he was bad the moment we saw that stupid grin on his face. Any time there are two CIA agents involved in the plot, one will end up being a bad guy. It’s a Hollywood staple.

More critically, we need to look at the Hero’s Journey when lined up with the classic Three-Act Structure. The point where the hero crosses the threshold happens when the story moves from Act I to Act II. And that doesn’t happen until after the boat sinks. Why not? Because story beat wise, we’re still wrapping up the Spectre party and firefight afterwards. Yes, the boat is a new scene, but it is the last step in the Spectre party’s sequence of events, and is thusly the final scene of Act I.

Which means structurally, Leiter’s death is supposed to be the final motivating piece to get Bond off his old duff and off to adventureland. And as that, it is 2000% unnecessary. Bond is already there. All the death serves to do is traumatize Bond and the audience. And that’s no fun. Character deaths (at least the ones we care about) should matter both emotionally (easy), and structurally (harder). In the Song of Fire and Ice series (Game of Thrones), it’s okay for George R. R. Martin to off randos with familiar names at regular intervals, because he has a ton to pick from, but more importantly we don’t really care about Ser What’s-his-name-from-three-scenes-ago. The deaths of important characters we care about happen, but less frequently, and with absolute impact to character development. Ned Stark? Mattered to the Starks and served as series-long motivation for Sansa, feeding into Littlefinger’s ultimate comeuppance. Red Wedding? Mattered to Arya who trained to exact sweet, sweet revenge against Walder Frey. Perfect.

Felix Leiter in No Time to Die? Didn’t matter to the hero (motivationally), because he was already on his way to adventure. That sauce is weak, my friends.

So let’s take a look at another 007 film and see where they used Leiter correctly as a motivational tool for Bond.

There’s a special place in my heart for the two Timothy Dalton 007 outings, The Living Daylights and License to Kill. These were the first Bonds I got to see in the theater, and as such, my young mind was expanded to the possibilities of choosing spy as a career. (Spoiler, I didn’t go that route). They had my impressionable teenage mind all aflutter.

I love, love, love The Living Daylights for a handful of reasons which I’ll save for future posts. But it is in Dalton’s second turn, License to Kill, where they use his old friend Felix Leiter to spur Bond into action.

The movie opens with Leiter and Bond on the way to Leiter’s wedding, suddenly called in to assist the DEA in an attempt to capture drug kingpin Sanchez before he leaves US airspace. One thrilling helicopter/airplane chase later, the baddie is snagged, and the two friends parachute (in their tuxedos) right into Leiter’s wedding. Fantastic opening. Full of classic Bondness.

Bond is in America in the Florida Keys for the wedding, so is comedically referred to during this sequence as strictly an observer, but he’s the one to jump out of the helicopter to tie a cable to the tail of Sanchez’s plane. At this point, he’s just helping his friend (Bond is Leiter’s best man at the wedding). He is only superficially aware of the threat that Sanchez poses, through what he gleans from Leiter and the DEA on the lead-in to the chase.

Sanchez quickly escapes (of course) with the help of a local DEA stooge (of course). His lackeys kidnap Leiter and kill his bride Stella. Leiter is strung up and fed to a shark, then left for dead for Bond to find. Here, Bond is taught the true villainy of the antagonist. Leiter survives with grievous wounds and is out of commission. The DEA is unwilling to operate outside of US jurisdiction, so it is left to Bond to pick up the fight. And cross the threshold he does. Begin Act II.

Simple, brutal, and very, very effective. And oh, what that shark scene did to me as a young teen! I hadn’t seen Jaws yet. Yes, Bond and the audience are traumatized appropriately, but it is done in the correct order with respect to the Hero’s Journey and Three-Act Structure and provides motivation for Bond exactly at the right time. They didn’t kill Leiter here, but they certainly could have and the character’s impact on Bond (and the film) would have been even stronger for it.

Bonus points! They also tied that motivation throughout the rest of the movie, as not only does Bond get revenge against the locals that helped Sanchez escape the DEA, he ultimately stops the bad guy in the end by setting him on fire with the gift he received from Felix and Stella at the wedding. That’s hot sauce!

Suffice it to say, I was not a fan of Leiter’s death in No Time to Die. Primarily because of how they did it (see above), but two, I like the character (throughout the Bonds), and three, I love Wright as an actor (hello, Westworld). Now I think they actually elected to kill off Leiter since Bond dies at the end of the film (also intentional). By clearing out all the ties to the old Bondiverse, it gives Amazon (who now owns the lion’s share of MGM (hah)) a clear path to carve out a new Bondiverse that fits in their plans for world domination. All Jeff Bezos needs is a damaged eye and a fluffy white cat and he’d fit right in as the next Blofeld. He’s already been to space, what else is there to accomplish?

What did you think? Leave a comment!