Bait on Amazon Prime Review: It’s the Best Use of James Bond in Years

There have been comprehensible issues that the James Bond model could be diluted as soon as the franchise fell into the dastardly palms of Jeff Bezos, the multi-billionaire whose ruthlessness, baldness and obvious need to take over the world has primarily positioned him as a real-life Blofeld. And Amazon Prime’s first use of the 007 IP didn’t precisely encourage confidence both.  

Certainly, regardless of Brian Cox’s greatest efforts, world problem 007: Highway to a Million – a convoluted mix of Race Throughout the World and generic pub quiz tenuously linked to cinema’s most well-known undercover agent – put the No in Dr. No. Fortunately, the streaming large’s second 007-adjacent challenge is far worthier of shaking his beloved Martinis. Actually, Bait is likely to be the most effective use of Bond since Skyfall. 

The eight-part dramedy centres on Shah Latif (Riz Ahmed), a British-Pakistani actor who, regardless of a waning profession, by some means manages to land an audition for the movie world’s most coveted position.

Though he can actually pull off a tuxedo, his reminiscence sadly isn’t as sharp as his gown sense. And after forgetting his strains in an excruciating display screen check and by accident broadcasting his subsequent self-flagellation to the whole crew (“You simply s*** in your final likelihood of being any individual”), the aspiring Bond sinks into his personal quantum of solace.

Luckily, in a stroke of luck which sparks 4 days of unadulterated chaos, his exit from the audition room is captured by a paparazzo whose snaps subsequently place Shah as Bond frontrunner.

Fairly quickly, social media is abuzz at the potential for a Bond that doesn’t match the white man mould of Sean Connery, Roger Moore and each different thespian who’s stepped into the spy’s black moccasin sneakers. The producers, who’d beforehand dismissed him as a no-hoper, now realise they might need to suppose once more.  

It’s a brilliantly meta set-up which performs upon the ridiculous quantity of hype and hypothesis surrounding Bond’s casting, of which Ahmed – who additionally wrote the present – has first-hand expertise: following his Oscar-nominated efficiency in The Sound of Steel, he discovered himself touted as a real contender to interchange the outgoing Daniel Craig (Callum Turner, nonetheless, has since emerged because the favorite).  

Ahmed is actually magnetic as a person who all of the sudden finds himself thrust within the nationwide dialog, and, maybe much more notably, the tradition wars discourse that’s now a miserable aspect impact of each information story.

Though the TikTok technology are largely Workforce Shah, the anti-woke brigade don’t take too kindly to the prospect of him upsetting to the established order: cue a number of reducing on-line remarks (“He seems to be like a baffled meerkat,” “Is that the man from my kebab store?”) and, extra disturbingly, a pig’s head being thrown via his dad and mom’ lounge window.  

At instances, Shah’s makes an attempt to navigate these minefields possess the identical type of depth that powered Adam Sandler’s comparable white-knuckle experience in Uncut Gems. Whereas the subject material could appear trivial on the floor, Bait isn’t for the faint-hearted (be careful for a bloodbath dream sequence that’s extra Tarantino than Bond).

Neither is it afraid to deal with difficult points, from poisonous masculinity, to cultural and political identification, to racism – each express (see the haunting childhood flashbacks to being violently bullied) and informal (in a working joke, Shah is repeatedly mistaken for Dev Patel by white folks).   

Ahmed avoids the temptation, nonetheless, to color his character as a hero. Shah’s self-assuredness can typically veer into pure vainness (in certainly one of a number of intelligent narrative gadgets, he continually imagines himself guesting on a podcast). And his inherent want for validation, normally from whole strangers over his nearest and dearest, can manifest in some distinctly ugly methods too. But it surely’s these complexities that make his journey such an intriguing watch.  

If all this sounds somewhat heavy, Bait nonetheless boasts loads of laughs, principally from the warmly-written household whose part-English, part-Urdu dialogue solely provides to the sense of authenticity. Man Like Mobeen’s Guz Khan brings his justifiable share in a scene-stealing flip as Zulfi, the enterprising cousin with few qualms about driving on Shah’s coattails.  

Mother and father Tahira (Sheeba Chaddha) and Parvez (Sajid Hasan) additionally amuse of their contrasting responses to their son’s huge information. After listening to the jaw-dropping determine Craig earned for his closing Bond outing, the previous declares her son will go a million kilos higher.

The latter, in the meantime, is extra concerned about different perks (“Name me in the event you want a physique double for intercourse scenes”). Additionally be careful for a very bonkers visitor look from Sir Patrick Stewart in a task which can change the way in which you see (or hear) Captain Picard endlessly.  

Must you watch Bait?

Bait, after all, is likely to be the final Bond-themed challenge we see for some time. Though Amazon has employed a director (Denis Villeneuve), producers (David Heyman, Amy Pascal) and screenwriter (Steven Knight) for the long-awaited follow-up to No Time to Die, they’ve nonetheless but to search out its main man, with rumours suggesting will probably be a minimum of 2028 earlier than the movie hits our screens.

Fortunately, this labour of affection is greater than only a stopgap, succeeding as each a razor-sharp showbiz satire like Apple TV+’s The Studio and a thought-provoking meditation on what it means to be a person of color in 2026. Any followers of Bond, Ahmed or simply well-written dramedies typically ought to undoubtedly take the bait.

All eight episodes of Bait can be found to stream on Prime Video from 25 March 2026.