Potentially great Bond movie ruined by a truly awful plot.

Rating: 6/10 (12 November 2015)

My oh my what a disappointment. I left the cinema feeling totally dejected and if I'm honest with myself, a tad relieved the 2 hrs and 25 mins was up so I could carry on with my life. And as a huge Bond fan that is difficult to admit. So where did it go wrong? Unquestionably the plot. To that I have no doubts at all.
Great cast? Unquestionably. Perhaps the strongest yet. Craig, Waltz, Fiennes, Seydoux, Whishaw & Harris are faultless in their performances.
Great Locations? Bond Films need good locations and this film doesn't disappoint in that regard. The globe trotting nature of 007 is well and truly evident here. The scenes at the start of the film in Mexico City for "Day of the Dead" are truly stunning.
Action sequences? A bond film wouldn't be a Bond film without explosions, near misses galore, gun fights and brawls with henchmen and again this film delivers here.
So why only a 6 out of 10 you may ask yourself? The plot.
The whole premise that the previous 3 Bond Installments have all been leading to this and Spectre are the organization behind it all is perfectly fine and plausible but executed so badly. It's just not believable whatsoever throughout the film. It all seems forced and a bit of an after thought.
Then there's the leader of this evil organization, Blofeld, played by the fabulous Christoph Waltz. And what do they do with one of the most sought after and talented actors in the world right now? Give him a truly awful character to play with dour lines and who is almost a parody on Dr Evil (Austin Powers) I kid you not. The scene at the end of the film where he attempts to wipe the memory of Bond as his "ultimate revenge" made me almost laugh out loud in the theatre. Is that it I thought? After all Bond has done to try and defuse your plans of world domination, you're simply going to put a few needles into his skull and wipe out his memory. If he'd have put a little finger up to his smirking grin, ala Dr Evil, it couldn't have made it any worse. What a let down.
As for Spectre itself, we get a bit of an insight into them but nowhere near enough in my opinion. We're told they are responsible for some recent atrocities around the world but again it's just in passing. There's no build up of suspense with it at all and the not so secret secret meeting that Bond "infultrates" is all too familiar and clichéd, it's laughable.
Next there's Dave Bautista as the Number one henchman Mr Hinx. Where do you start with this one? Let's put a 20 stone man in a £1m sports car and give him some fancy guns. What could possibly go wrong? Well everything really. Every scene he was in was awkward and a bit too "Fast and the Furious" for me.
So in summary.....the most expensive Bond film to date with a truly great cast, stunning locations and action sequences was badly let down by a plot with more holes in it than the Titantic. It's watchable and passes the time but it could and should have been so so so much better.
6/10