Immensely stylish

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2015)

What a wonderful, stylish, James Bond.
It's not flawless, but it oozes style and I loved it. Daniel Craig has made the role his own now, with gorgeous, sexy, panache oozing from every pore. What gave this another lovely twist was having bad-ass Ralph Fiennes alongside and two terrific performances from Ben Whishaw and the lovely, hot, Naomie Harris.
The action sequences were possibly thinner than sometimes the case, but very good nonetheless: I loved the opening helicopter scene. It had a lot to live up to though with Casino Royale and Skyfall for opening. There were a few too many moments when I thought 'oh no we're heading back to Quantum,' especially in the Tunisian desert, but it was reprieved.
As an overall plot it's also interesting. In this day and age you've got two basic choices. You either go with 1. All-knowing agents fighting other all-knowing baddies (Skyfall) or 2. Rogue agent against the all-knowing baddies (Bourne and Spectre). I think it worked quite well. There is, though, a third option which is to have an agent go after a smaller, but nonetheless powerful, evil person or organisation (Casino Royale and most previous Bonds). Since groups like IS operate on that basis, they don't control the world, there's no reason why that can't be a plot-line. Still, this is to speculate. What we have worked and it was full of delicious humour, which is the one, single, hallmark of the James Bond brand. He must have charm. Daniel Craig has, and in abundance.
As for Christoph Waltz: terrific. Not quite Mads Mikklesen who for me will never be bettered, but still a fabulous villain.
Where do I put this in the Craig canon? Easy. Below Casino Royale but above Skyfall (and obviously above the execrable Quantum). Skyfall had a shocking second half. This doesn't. It builds beautifully and stylishly throughout. Great film.