Unbelievable, unpolished, unfinished.

Rating: 6/10 (27 October 2015)

So we could go into the million comparisons being made by everyone on how this matches up with the previous three instalments of the Craig era, honestly its unnecessary, this one is completely different, almost impossible to compare.
Lets get down to it then, we FINALLY get the classic gun barrel opening return straight off the bat and then the opening sequence is absolutely unbelievable, without a doubt one of the best pre-title if not THE best pre-title sequence ever made (there's one continuous shot from the open that lasts about 5 minutes that's truly incredible, I have no idea how they managed to film it.) Sadly, only 10 minutes in, this is where it starts to steadily, gradually grind downwards. The titles are excellent visually however the Sam Smith song just doesn't do it for me, or anyone else it seems for that matter, and honestly doesn't really seem to fit with the film. We get re-introduced to our new found Moneypenny, M, Q etc. and proceed to roll through what can be best described as a collection of homages to previous bond films, its almost a "the very best of..." collection. The only scene that really stands out from this is our introduction to Christoph Waltz' and Dave Bautistas' characters which honestly felt way too drawn out and not as sinister or creepy as the trailer would suggest.
The score on the whole is horrendous, with jarring oh-so-common string jabs and quick bass-drum type hits to try and maintain a feeling of pressure and urgency that doesn't transpire on screen.
The locations are as usual beautiful, as are the women, just make sure you don't blink in the first 30 minutes or you will miss Monica Belluci completely.
The main problem I have with the film, as much as it is enjoyable, is the plot itself. Im not going to put any spoilers, but its become quite public knowledge that there were issues with the final third of the film, and that it was severely adjusted/re-written, this is sadly very very obvious, and the final 30 minutes to be completely honest doesn't actually make any sense whatsoever. It feels like they ran out of time and simply went with what they had. In addition its not really quite apparent what or where the danger is coming from, at no point did i feel there was any urgency for bond to do anything at all, it was all very personal, it was all very much suggesting there was a worldwide evil organisation whose only real threat was towards bond himself.
Enjoyable to watch none the less, any Bond fan will get a kick out of it, and Craig is indeed excellent, the start of the film is its saving grace, the rest of it just seems to steadily crash towards its unsurprising, weak and somewhat inevitable conclusion.