A fall from blinding heights, accompanied by a horrifying theme.

Rating: 4/10 (7 November 2015)

The opening sequence was good, a slow walk across the rooftops (as opposed to a chase, which is what the audience expected, then assassination, gunfire and explosions, collapsing buildings, but it gets out of control during a fight aboard a helicopter in midair above a crowd of thousands of revelers. Fade to a thoroughly boring title sequence with octopodes wrapping their tentacles around various objects, and Sam Smith's horrifying theme song, which gets my vote as being possibly the worst song ever used in a Bond film. Film picks up again for its well done car chase through city streets of Rome, which ended on a wonderful note, humorous without being silly.
Craig still looks good as Bond, and puts in another good performance; I like that M., Q, and Moneypenny have larger roles in the film, even going "in the field" so to speak. Ralph Fiennes is fitting into the role of M. quite well, as is Ben Whishaw as Q, and the underused Naomie Harris.
The problem, however, is that after the first 40 minutes or so, the screenplay alternates between being ludicrous, and being completely forgettable, perfectly happy and content to spend much of the overlong run time referencing previous Bond films. I saw references left and right to Live And Let Die ( the pre-title sequence, and the fight in the train) From Russia With Love (again, the train fight) Goldfinger (formidable Dave Bautista as an Oddjob clone) You Only Live Twice (the villain's lair) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (isolated clinic on a snow- covered mountain) Skyfall (computer hacking) and on and on and on. Bringing back Blofeld was, I think, a mistake, although I did enjoy Christoph Waltz' performance.
It feels like the screenplay (with its bewilderingly long writing credits) was fashioned around these numerous references, rather than composing a cohesive story around Bond and moving forward with it. I wasn't expecting this to top Skyfall (which is my favourite film of all time) but I also wasn't expecting to be bored by so much of the film, as I was. The first time I saw this, it had so many familiar elements that I felt as though I had already watched it. The first time I watched Skyfall, I couldn't wait to see it again, but I'm in no hurry to watch Spectre again. Eventually I will though, and it will be interesting to see if my opinion changes. Right now, I'll give it a 4/ 10, but that may be a bit generous.