An Entertaining Film, with A Weak Narrative.

Rating: 7/10 (5 November 2015)

Spectre, possibly Daniel Craig's final Bond film maintains the approach of departing from the older tone of Bond, while also lovingly referencing them. The film came at an inopportune time, as it has a similar plot to recent films such as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation." Spectre is entertaining, action packed, but a little too formulaic. In the end though the film is a good time at the theaters.
Spectre maintains the tone and feel of Skyfall, also directed by Sam Mendes, but lacks the finesse of Skyfall. Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Christoph Waltz are all good in their respective roles, and help make the film more entertaining. The film also does a good job remaining serious, yet funny much like Skyfall, but despite good acting, humor, and tone the biggest strength of the film is that it is action packed.
The film is a little too long, but the action sequences are entertaining to watch, and fairly well shot. The best action sequences are those between Daniel Craig and Dave Bautista, mostly because Bautista embodies the silent powerful henchmen. The film does suffer from many weaknesses though, and is nowhere near as good as Skyfall. The biggest problem with the film is the plot.
The plot is a little too formulaic, as many plot points are straight out of other bond films, or other recent films, and thus become a little too predictable. The character development is bad, as they are given little development, and some characters are only in the film for minutes. The story is thinned out a little too much, and the villain is a little weak, despite Waltz's performance. It would have been refreshing to see Spectre be as carefully crafted as Skyfall.
In the end Spectre's tone, acting, and action are good, but the plot of the film is very weak. The film will likely satisfy Bond fans, and some casual fans, but is a little formulaic, and a little predictable. At the same time the film is not the best Bond film ever, and is probably the weakest of the Daniel Craig filmography.