A slickly polished spy thriller...

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2019)

...with, as you'd expect, plenty of action - but with a surprising emphasis on tension and on tentative expectation as well (mostly to do with the high-stakes poker game which gives the film its namesake). The assured direction of the film also complements a well-written story with quality cinematography, a sympathetic but nonetheless imposing villain (played by the always wonderful Mads Mikkelsen) and a great deal of chemistry between Bond (played by Daniel Craig, who gives the character depth as simultaneously a suave gentlemen, cold killer, reckless rookie and troubled soul) and Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green), an enigmatic and intelligent counterpart to Bond. However, the film's biggest flaws are with some elements of its presentation and the dragging and slow final third or quarter. The film, despite being just over two hours long, maintains a good pace up until that last quarter of the film that is mostly made up of wedging in as much romance filler between Bond and Vesper as possible (as a means to drive home the impact of her betrayal and eventual death/suicide). That, to me, doesn't make sense, considering the film got across their romance just fine without it with a believable arc in their relationship with witty dialogue and mind games. My other criticisms are with the location title cards, which are a huge pet peeve of mine (Filmmakers, respect your audience's intelligence and use the establishing shot for what its named for - please!) and the spy tech and computer screens, which feels like low budget NCIS (yeah, that's a pretty negligible nitpick, but hey-ho, worth bringing up).
Overall: 8/10, very very high 7 or low low 9