Plenty of better Spy Thrillers out there, go watch those...

Rating: 5/10 (11 December 2015)

'Spectre' is the 24th Bond film and the 4th film starring Daniel Craig as the infamous agent 007. Now for me when it comes to the James Bond films, i was never a big fan, but i lost almost all interest when i couldn't get through 'Quantum of Solace' and i didn't even bother with 'Skyfall'. And going into this film i expected nothing new, just the same generic Bond formula we have seen over and over again. This film overall was just boring, it had some entertaining moments but for most of the film it came across as very dry compared to some of the other Spy Thrillers from this year and last. There were moments where i had to really try to stay awake because most of this film wasn't even interesting let alone exciting. And it didn't have anything to do with me missing the last 2 films as the majority of the connections are only minor side- things and the few major ones are shoved down your throat enough to make sure you get it. The film wasn't all bad though, there were a couple of cool action sequences that were well done and kept me up, a great performance by Christoph Waltz, and what i thought was a very good last 30 minutes.
First i have to say, this film was just too damn long. 2 hours and 28 minutes is good for some films but not for this one, should have kept it down to 2 hours or less. I found that many many times this film was just dragging on and on and i was dying for something exciting to happen. And this wasn't just during non-action scenes. The first 30 minutes or more, including the opening sequence was just a bore, apart from like one or two quick cool moments the rest felt like generic bond stuff that wasn't exciting to me. Some people might have loved the opening fight sequence but for me it wasn't intense, new or interesting and so the film started out on a low note. From then on, any scene featuring Christoph Waltz worked really well and a few action scenes were cool. There is one fight on a train which i really enjoyed, all 3 minutes of it, but other than that, the rest of the action throughout was pretty meh. The biggest issue had to be its pacing, it would constantly fluctuate from being dreadfully slow to really fast paced sequences and back in ways that felt a little jarring. And the slow pace definitely out-did the fast moving sections in terms of their duration making the movie feel like 3 hours.
The performances in this film were mostly just alright, the Bond girl in the film played by Lea Seydoux was serviceable to the plot when she needed to be and wasn't anything great. Daniel Craig was fine as Bond again, no surprises with him really. Ralph Fiennes returns as M in this film and i thought he was one of the better performances and one of the more interesting characters. He is such a great actor and so was really engaging and made me just as interested in his journey as i was in Bond's. But the best performance was undoubtedly Christoph Waltz as our Bond villain. He was by far the most intriguing character in the film and for the entire film i was just wanting more of his character. Mainly because he could have very easily been an evil 'I want to rule the world' type of villain but wasn't really. He was a very smart villain, and had some interesting motivations and an interesting past i would have liked to learn more about. Christoph Waltz is just such a fantastic actor in any role and he shows that here where he steals the film from James Bond.
This film would have been a disaster if it wasn't for the ending sequence that i thought was really great. It was very engaging, intense, and dramatic, everything the rest of the film should have been. I won't go into any spoilers but it had to be noted that it did save the film from being way worse. So in the end, as a Bond film, it really wasn't anything new or interesting that you hadn't seen before. It doesn't come close to Casino Royale which i thought was really good. But if you are a Bond fan, you will probably be more interested in the film than i was. If you are looking for a better spy thriller, watch 'Mission Impossible Rogue Nation', or 'Kingsman: The Secret Service', even 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E' is more worth your time. - 5.1/10