A Flawed But Worthy Follow-Up To Skyfall

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2016)

This film had a lot to live up to because its predecessor "Skyfall" was a masterpiece. This film definitely falls short of "Skyfall," but in its own right, it's still a worthy addition to the franchise.
The film was slow in some spots and about 20 minutes too long, and the scene where Bond seduces a widow on the day of her husband's funeral is just not right. The film does make up for that stuff in several ways, though.
I'm not the biggest fan of Daniel Craig's portrayal of James Bond, but he does pretty good in this movie. We have the same supporting cast as last time. We have the younger Q and Moneypenny and Ralph Fiennes as M. Monica Bellucci was a competent Bond girl.
We once again get edge-of-your-seat, explosive action. The plane chase, car chases, the fight on the train (perhaps a tribute to "From Russia With Love"), and many other sequences were all fantastic.
The thing that got me most interested heading into the film is that this is the first time in 44 years that we get to see Blofeld, and he's played nicely by Christolph Waltz. Donald Plesence is still the best, though.
The film is more formulaic and more action-oriented than "Skyfall," but it doesn't have the emotional punch that its predecessor had. Nevertheless, this is still a worthy addition to the over 50 year old franchise. If this really is Daniel Craig's last Bond outing, he went out on a pretty good note.
RATING: B+