Fighting for relevancy

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 2015)

The Bond series has always tried to cater to its audience, and each iteration of the character probably mirrors the movie going audience of its time. During Brosnan's run, the producers seemed to go all in for the more unique sides of the Bond franchise, with gadgets and over the top action. Craig's Bond is different. The "modern" audience wants human characters with many sides to them. Because of this each Craig-movie seems to become more and more personal, and happening in a world rooted in reality. But what place does the classic Bond-character have in today's world? This is the problem faced by both the producers, AND the characters in the movie itself - they're both fighting for relevancy.
While the Bond movies are more rooted in a "real" world than ever, they are still trying to maintain the feeling of watching a Bond movie. The highest praise I can give for this movie is that is succeeds in doing that pretty well. Craig manages to deliver the catchphrases without any wink to the camera. They play around with the Bond car in a way that will most probably delight the old Bond-fans and also have the "modern" fans not groaning. When it comes to the Bond girls, instead of trying to find a balance in one relationship, they have two quite different Bond girls. I could go on, but my point is that to me, this all worked well.
Sadly, the story was not that exciting. The twists and turns were not that interesting. They try to seal up all the loose (and not loose) threads from the last 3 films in a bow, even though I never found myself asking for that. After having seen the movie I figured it was because this was Craig's last Bond film, and they wanted to complete his arch - but it turns out he's (currently) signed up for the next one as well. I love Craig, but this would be a good moment for him to pass the torch.
I wouldn't recommend anyone to avoid this movie if they like Bond movies. It's worth seeing. They do a good job on balancing the new and the old. But I'm fairly sure I will have forgotten the rest of the plot by next week.