Underwhelming Bond

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2015)

I went into this film, in the hope that this might be something on a grand level. However, I left the film feeling underwhelmed.
To be fair, the opening sequence is very well done, from the parade, to a typical Bondonian encounter with a woman whom he has in tow to a brilliant helicopter battle, leading to an impressive opening credits sequence.
Bond is on a mission that was left for him by 'M' and eventually, this leads to Bond infiltrating a very high-level, eerie meeting in which James Bond meets the film's main villain, played well by Christopher Waltz.
From then on, Bond has to put all the pieces together to stop this evil organisation from having a stronghold amongst society.
M, Q and Ms. Moneypenny are all back and they add some great elements to the film and M's personal battle to restore the pride of the 00 operations with the help of Q and Ms. Moneypenny, whilst they do their best to help Bond, add to the film.
The stunts are brilliant, the car chase and aeroplane sequences are well done.
As for the villains, I must admit, that I was disappointed in how ineffectively Mr. Hinx was used - from his menacing entrance to his, we assume, final moments, well, I never found him to be particularly memorable, with the exception of one scene which will always stand out and the censors, well, it stretches belief they got away with 12A for one bit. Whilst the other infamous scene I read about and saw tonight was unpleasant, it didn't leave me with the same stomach turning feeling as that first scene.
The main villain I won't write much about, but there is a good turn which isn't expected and that added some menace to the film.
I liked the way the film brought the elements together and it had its moments, but overall, I thought following Skyfall, this was a rather lukewarm follow up, almost going as far as to say rather low- key. Whilst the stunts and other things are excellently done, it didn't grab me in a way that Skyfall did, so here's hoping the next entry spices things us and this was just the starter.
Not a bad effort, but lets turn up the heat in the next entry.