Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (9 November 2012)

I ran out to see this film because the reviews have been so enthusiastic here in the US. I loved Casino Royale, the only Bond film that I truly liked, but QOS was so bad that I wasn't sure what to expect here. Sadly, this film did not live up to expectations, and I can point to the exact moment this film went downhill: the introduction of Javier Bardem's clownish, cartoonish, over-the-top villain, Silva. Casino Royale gave us a baddie, Le Chifre, who was smooth and deadly but also grounded in reality. The Silva character is unwatchable. He whines about M having betrayed him, makes a pass at Bond, puts in motion a silly cat-and-mouse game that makes no sense, and comes across as someone so out of touch with reality that it's hard to see him as a criminal mastermind with a cadre of capable men working for him. You would think some of them would start to notice that the boss had a few too many screws loose and would cut and run.
The plot takes a nosedive with Silva's introduction and even the action sequences loose luster. No cool parqour (sp?)sequences or tension- filled poker game of wits. I was surprised how bored I became as the film dragged on. Even the climatic sequence, which is set in Bond's abandoned family estate in remote Scotland, is tedious, unoriginal, and flat-out boring. Rarely has a Bond film ending been so anti-climatic and ho-hum. Although there are some nice elements in this film that give one hope for future installments, such as the introduction of a younger, tech savvy Quartermaster or "Q" and Ralph Fiennes as a bureaucrat initially at odds with M., overall this is a mediocre film, which saddens me as Craig's version of Bond is still my favorite.