Worth a watch, but not the best Bond! 6/10

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2016)

Review: I'm really in two minds about this film, because it's great from a drama and intensity point view and there are a couple of decent action scenes but I was left feeling quite empty. There wasn't anything that really stood out from the rest of the Bonds and I missed the gadgets and wit. I'm glad that they are picking another actor to play Bond, because Daniel Craig seems to be serious all of the time and his stern face and "lone ranger" mentality, can only last a short period of time. That's not to say that his movies haven't been good, especially the beginning of his films, which have always been full of intense action but he's slowly running out of enemies. In this movie, his archenemy turned out to be a man called Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), whose had a hand in every bad thing that has happened 007. He held a grudge against him, because his father adopted Bond at a young age, and there close relationship didn't go down to well with Blofeld. There are other elements to the storyline which were well put together by director, Sam Mendes but it could have easily been an individual movie which didn't have anything to do with the Bond franchise. I also thought that it was extremely long and they could have easily taken out a lot of unnecessary scenes, which didn't really go anywhere. With all that aside, I still enjoyed the film because it wasn't predictable and I liked Dave Bautista (Hinx), as the villain. The huge scale of the film, in terms of the various locations and the epic car chases, were "on the edge of your seat" entertainment and the love story between Bond and Madeleine (Lea Seydoux), didn't take over the main concept. I did have a problem with how easy Bond was getting all of the information and how he was moving around the world without being undercover, even though an intelligent criminal was after him and he was supposed to be protecting a wanted girl. Anyway, although I found the movie entertaining, it's definitely not in the same class as a lot of the earlier Bonds and I hope the next movie shows Bond in a different light! Watchable!
Round-Up: This movie was directed by Sam Mendes, 50, who has only directed 7 movies in his impressive career, which started in 1999 with the American Beauty, which earned him an Academy award for best picture. Not bad for his first major release! Kevin Spacey also won the Oscar for Best actor in a leading role and Mendes got the award for best director. He then went on to direct, the great Road To Peredition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go and Skyfall. With such an impressive filmography, I'm not surprised that he got a big budget for this movie and he has definitely made a huge profit for this franchise but all of the Bonds that he has made with Daniel Craig, could easily be joined together to make one huge movie. Skyfall is still the biggest Bond ever, making over a billion dollars at the box office, and this movie is a close second, so it might not be as entertaining as the earlier movies but because of the cost of living, and the fact that people still find Bond an enjoyable character to watch, it's still a bankable franchise. Dr. No is the lowest earner out of all of the Bonds, at $59million, which is understandable because it was made in 1963, and it only had a budget of $1million. Anyway, it's not the best in the franchise but it's definitely worth a watch.
Budget: $245million Worldwide Gross: $880million
I recommend this movie to people who are into their adventure/action/thrillers starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista and Andrew Scott. 6/10