Good film, Doesn't live up to Skyfall

Rating: 7/10 (28 October 2015)

I am a big fan of Bond films (particularly Daniel Craigs Bond) and loved Casino Royale and Skyfall and i didn't think Quantum was as bad as everyone made it out to be, but i did feel that Spectre fell short to what i was expecting. I don't believe this is the Bond film critics made it out to be and does not live up to it predecessors. I was a big fan of the Sam Smith song 'Writings on the wall' and the title sequence though.
As in every Bond film, the locations in the film were amazing. The intro in Mexico during the Day of the Dead festival is brilliant to the ski resort is Austria where some of the best action sequences take place.
Daniel Craig still aced it as James Bond and is supported by his allies M, Q and Money-penny (who i felt deserved more screen time since her performance in Skyfall)
The Bond girls this time around were alright, I felt Monica Bellucci was really under used and its a shame because I felt she was really interesting and great on screen. I cant say the same for Lea seydoux as i felt he performance felt bland and i didn't really feel any passion between her and Bond.
There's some nice nodes and references to the 3 previous Bond films but I don't feel that they were all needed. In fairness I felt Mr White was needed to set up the story for Spectre and Le chiffre and Dominic Green were members of the organisation but i didn't really feel Silva needed to be part of Spectre since his motives in Skyfall were very personal towards the previous M (Judi Dench)
One of my biggest problems with Spectre was Christoph Waltz, I am a huge fan of the actor and I think he was good but as the villain I did not believe he lived up to Mads Mikkelson or Javier Bardem. The big reveal of Blofeld felt flat and didn't really surprise anyone, I think I would have preferred Waltz to had been called Blofeld from the beginning and not bothered with the 'big' reveal of James Bonds biggest villain. I think my biggest problem with Waltz was he didn't bring that menacing uncomfortable presence to the screen with Spectre like he did with Django or Inglourious.
After Guardians of the Galaxy was such a hit I thought Dave Batista would have had more screen time as Mr Hinx and would have been more that a silent brute henchman. The fight scene on the train is pretty cool but felt slightly generic to any other fight scene between the main character and the big bad guy in any action film.
I feel Andrew Scott really felt forced as Denbigh, from the beginning you know hes not a good guy, I am a fan of the actor but after being in the popular Sherlock series i felt his performance wasn't convincing enough to the audience so when its revealed he works for Blofeld i don't think anyone didn't see it coming.
Overall it not a bad film I just expected more from this Bond film, Its worth watching and I'm sure the sequel will be better but I do feel (if he returns) Daniel Craig can do a better job if a different director and a good script comes along.