Worst Bond in a long time!

Rating: 1/10 (8 November 2015)

After Quantum Of Solace, the 4 year gap till Skyfall tonally shifted goal posts with the franchise. All of a sudden, we had Moneypenny and Q again, shoehorned in for maximum aficionado appeal. Despite the actors capability, there was an ambiguity in their performances, as if the good ship Bond hadn't quite decided which port to dock them in. Would they owe more to the old school nudge nudge, wink wink Moore era characterizations? Or would they be more in the vein of Craig's own stealthy reinvention? As a blank canvass in Skyfall, all signs pointed to answers coming with the next installment, and with the bold re-introduction of Spectre as the movie's center piece, all bets were off. Sadly it was the worst of all possible outcomes for Bond this time round. Thanks to a bewilderingly patchy script, Craig's pumped up, stripped back Bond from Casino Royale is rarely given the opportunity to be let of the chain. Instead the film plods at a snails pace as he goes about tracking down his shadowy nemesis in the most tedious ways possible. Insanely large breaks between moderately sized action set pieces only add to the despair. The best part of an hour is spent fleshing out a back story that needed little more than 10 minutes to explain, and the boredom from the actors having to trounce through this guff is palpable. Essentially Sam Mendes just ties himself up in knots with what seems like a half assed attempt to Nolan-ize Bond. A little less conversation, a little more action please!