For what is the most popular movie franchise in the UK, the pressure is always on for another welcomed addition to the film series.
We are now in it's 24th installment, and for me it was a mixed bag.
The opening scene is a terrific beginning and really gets you set-up for another Bond bonanza. The rest of the first half continues to romp along well. After that, we start to end up with disappointing finale.
For a Bond film that has the longest duration (2hrs 28mins), it certainly shows. The second half slows down and I felt it managed to down-grade my overall enjoyment.
Even saying that, I would still recommend seeing it on the big screen. Daniel Craig still shows that he definitely one of the best Bond's we have had. He still gives us that perfect of comedy and action that all the other great 007's had.
As for the other performances, it was nice to see Ralph Fiennes get a lot more screen time and is becoming a solid M. Lea Seydoux as the main love interest felt a bit weak for me. Showed a lot of promise, but ended to be a bit too generic for me.
Christoph Waltz as the main villain felt nicely developed and yet massively under-used. The character played by Dave Bautista gives us a nice homage to several classic villains which was nice to see. Definitely a big plus to the film's positives.
The show-stealer for me was Ben Whishaw gives the best moments as Q. He definitely part of most of the best moments of the film and is a nice comedic relief throughout.
It is shot well and the action set-pieces are very pleasing. One very important part of the Bond film is the song. I purposefully avoided hearing the song beforehand and found to it beautifully to the tone of the film. It definitely is the films best chance of getting any appearance in the awards season.
But like I said before, the duration does kill part of the enjoyment and makes it unbalanced. It would definitely have been a better watch if everything was tightened up to less than 2 hours.
It is less satisfying and emotional as Skyfall and is quite hollow compared to Casino Royale. However, it is still a solid watch. It features all the typical Bond cliches and has an old school feel to it. The first half is great. But I think patience is needed for the rest of the feature as we get towards the somewhat predictable ending.
It does feel like Mendes is running out of steam and this will probably be his last one. If he does, then he has at least given the next director some interesting parts of the story left open to be developed.
If I would rank it among other Bond films, then I would put it in the top half. But not with the greats sadly.
Rating: 7/10
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