Good

Rating: 7/10 (28 August 2016)

Pros: -Daniel Craig and Mads Mikkelson are fantastic in this movie. Mads is one of my favorite actors (he was even better in The Hunt) and Craig, I think, doesn't get enough credit for how great he was. - This is the most character development I've seen a Bond film. Bond is the most vulnerable he has been and also the most intelligent. Eva Green actually challenges Bond and isn't just some sex icon. -All action sequences are well shot and exciting. The poker scene is the best scene of the movie. -The movie takes all the Bond tropes and flips them around. Shooting through the barrel is not at the beginning of the movie, it is incorporated in the movie. He doesn't say shaken not stirred when asked. Instead of a romantic scene in the shower, Craig and Green embrace after a traumatic event.
Cons: -First of all, my least favorite thing in a movie is for there to be studio interference, and while it doesn't drag the movie down (i.e. Amazing Spider Man 2 and Martin Campbell's Green Lantern), there is some enough that the directing and writing had to be changed to include a product placement and it is distracting and groan-worthy. -I was disappointed by the torture scene. It started out so well and hard to watch like it is supposed to be, Bond starts making some jokes and Le Chiffre gets shot quickly. And while the jokes are funny, the scene wouldn't be as impactful if there was no humour and if it was longer. -The last scene where Vesper dies was not emotional for me even though it tried to be. This was because Bond found out that she was giving the money to that evil organization. Later, Bond found out that she traded the money for his life earlier in the movie. If I thought she was backstabbing Bond during her emotional death scene, then why should I want her to live. -There is also a heavy amount of exposition given mostly by Judi Dench, who I think doesn't act very well in the movie
I think this movie had better characters and action than Skyfall (8/10), but Skyfall just has a better script, better direction, and much better cinematography. 7/10