LONDON, Sept 28, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Celebrities and royals walk the red

carpet in central London on Tuesday for the much-delayed world premiere of
the latest James Bond film, "No Time To Die".

   British actor Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing in the blockbuster
franchise hits big screens after its release was repeatedly postponed during
the coronavirus pandemic.

   The film will be shown at London's historic Royal Albert Hall, with royal
couples Prince Charles and Camilla and Prince William and Kate set to attend.

   It will go on general release in Britain on Thursday and in the United
States on October 8 -- a year and a half behind schedule.

   The film is part of a backlog of major productions held back by
distributors during the pandemic, hitting cinemas hard.

   The release will be cinema-only, not streaming, which Craig called a
"joyous thing" in an interview with Sky News.

   Vue Entertainment, the UK branch of the cinema operator Vue International,
hailed the movie's release as "the cinematic event of the year".

   - Craig bows out -

   In the latest film, reportedly costing $250 million (o182 million, 214
million euros), Bond returns to active service after retirement, vowing: "I
have to finish this."

   He deploys his trademark hi-tech gadgets in spectacular scenery in Italy
and Norway while battling the villainous Safin, played by Oscar-winner Rami
Malek ("Bohemian Rhapsody").

   "I get shot and then I get blown up. It feels like James Bond to me,"
Craig said in an official podcast.

   With Craig bowing out, speculation has mounted over who will inherit his
licence to kill.

   UK bookmakers are tipping the likes of Tom Hardy ("The Revenant",
"Dunkirk") or Rege-Jean Page, the mixed-race star of the Netflix hit
"Bridgerton".

   Craig has held onto the role longer than any of his predecessors since his
2006 debut in "Casino Royale".

   The 53-year-old has won praise for adding depth and emotional complexity
to the all-action role, but only reluctantly agreed to one final appearance
as Bond.

   After "Spectre" in 2015, Craig told Time Out magazine he would rather
"slash his wrists" than reprise the role.

   Emmy-winning US filmmaker Cary Joji Fukunaga directed the new film,
becoming the first American to helm the franchise.

   His previous films include a 2011 adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane
Eyre".

   The filmmaker stepped in after the original director Danny Boyle, known
for "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Trainspotting", left over "creative
differences" in 2018.

   - 'World has changed' -

   Fukunaga said in a promotional video that his Bond is "like a wounded
animal", struggling because "the world has changed, the rules of engagement
aren't what they used to be: the rules of espionage (are) darker in this era
of asymmetric warfare".

   The Bond films are based on a character created by upper-class British
writer Ian Fleming in novels published in the 1950s and 1960s.

   As the MeToo movement has heightened awareness of misogyny in popular
culture, some have argued that time has run out for the franchise.

   The new film's director has also criticised Bond's sexual exploits.

   In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fukunaga said that in one
1960s-era film, "basically Sean Connery's character rapes a woman".

   "That wouldn't fly today," he stressed.

   Among those working on the script was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the British
creator and star of the TV series "Fleabag" and writer of the first series of
"Killing Eve".

   In the film, Bond spars with a black female MI6 agent, played by Briton
Lashana Lynch, and has to take a back seat to her as she flies a plane.

  "They're doing exactly the right thing, and I think they'll continue to do
that in the future," Lynch told Sky News of the creative team.