Lackadaisical Post-Modern Camp

Rating: 4/10 (4 March 2016)

This film reminded me a lot of the "Man From Uncle" movie - the best description would have to be camp, but much higher in style than the cheesy '60s tongue-in-cheek stuff that almost everyone (except I guess the people creating it) hated. The elements of the story are perfectly OK, though nothing original - Bond is on an investigation, he gets a lead, he infiltrates a conspiracy, he pursues a clue, he rescues a damsel in distress, he gets caught, he escapes, he saves the damsel, he defeats the boss baddie. Everything is there, just tossed off in a careless way to make sure we understand that its creators aren't taking it seriously.
Bond's superspy abilities are a given; he never seems to be in any real danger, so there's no suspense, just a series of beautiful set pieces that lead to a high-style ending that's clean of any kind of feeling. It's the crowd we worry about in the Mexican helicopter scene, though the writer obviously doesn't as there's no concern with falling bodies (contrast with the Sienna chase scene from Quantum.) There's a little of that Craig insouciance in moments like the stroll-along-the-parapet scene, but the problem is that it doesn't make any sense in context of a man trying not to be observed, and there's plenty of that kind of thing in this picture - plane crash? No problem for Mr Bond, who simply steers the surviving section along to where it coincides with the bad guys route. An homage to the Moore-era silliness, presumably, though without a laugh moment.
Other reviewers have pointed out that the henchmen are all simple throw-aways, including the muscle heavy who scarcely rates mentioning as a kind of poor man's Oddjob. However it also has to be mentioned that there's no chemistry between Bond and the leading lady, whose name escapes me - nothing about this film was really engaging enough to be memorable. In fact we were more than half way through when we paused the DVD to watch a rerun of "Modern Family" and almost didn't bother getting back to finish it!
The theme of the film is heavy-handed, and its resolution completely unbelievable. There is, of course, the irony of Bond's own surveillance at the beginning, and too little is made of the magical tracking devices that Bond alone seems to be afflicted with. A better-written story would have made something of the pros and cons, but as even the writers aren't taking this seriously that is obviously asking too much.
It's too harsh to give this film less than four stars (in the IMDb rating system, natch'.) The cinematography is first-class, and the CGI is almost perfect (minor quibble with a moment or two in the helicopter scenes.) The acting is fine, though I didn't find Ralph Fiennes' performance believable; I wish they'd had the guts to have Moneypenny do that stuff, but never mind! The story is at best mediocre. It's poor direction that ruins this, though I'm betting there was a lot of unfortunate producer input.
I say ruins, which maybe is a little strong. The Craig "Casino Royale" set a very high bar that imho nothing since has approached (I didn't think "Quantum" was all THAT bad except in comparison, and "Skyfall" not all that good except in how badly Quantum compared to Casino!) This is definitely a better film than a lot of stuff on Netflix - just don't rent it expecting much.