So almost perfect

Rating: 8/10 (30 October 2015)

'Spectre' is the latest instalment in the Bond franchise and the Craig era, but it is also the most expensive of the entire series, costing just over 300 million dollars to produce.Having also come out after this year's Mission Impossible movie, which proved to be very successful, both critically and financially, Daniel Craig's 007 will have to win out against Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt to remain the premium go-to "spy" franchise. After a 3 year wait following the well-received Skyfall and a slew of merchandising and advertising, this year's Bond has a lot of expectations to live up to. With a sky-high budget, a stellar cast, very high expectations and a 50 year-old Monica Belluci, does "Spectre" succeed as a Bond movie and as a movie on its own?
The short answer is yes...almost.
While the first two acts of the movie are excellent, the third one really lets it down and leaves the audience on a down-note.
The first act features a great and intense opening scene with a great, long tracking shot of Bond walking through a festival, up a building and along the rooftops. It also has some witty banter between Bond and various characters. The movie actually has a lot of sharp dialogue, which remains consistent throughout with some laugh-out loud lines.The cinematography is great, the scenes are well-paced and maintain a level of interest and intrigue.Monica Belluci, however, features briefly as a cameo, sort of. Probably to attract more viewers and gain some traction for having the oldest Bond woman yet, but damn she is looking fine for her age.
The second act builds on the first act with even bigger and better action set pieces and one amazing fist fight on a train between Craig and Bautista. It also introduces us to Lea Seydoux's character who is actually a superior Bond girl to previous Craig films, although Vesper Lynn remains the best.The film links back to previous Craig movies which I also found interesting.
Unfortunately, the movie keeps going from where it probably should've ended. The third act takes place in London and then the movie starts to drag and feels like it's just going through the motions because it adds nothing to the story, but only to the runtime of the movie.The cinematography is quite poor as well in this act and the special effects quality dips massively as if they ran out of budget for this act. It felt almost like an average BBC production, which is not a good thing. There are also some unexplained character choices and a cheesy conclusion to the set piece.The very last scene returns to the good dialogue and cracking banter of the first two acts, but is dampened by the underwhelming action sequence that preceded it.
In conclusion, "Spectre" is a good movie with flaws, but it is better as a Bond movie. It could've topped Skyfall as my second favourite Bond film right after Casino Royale, but whereas Skyfall remains consistent throughout, Specte fails in it final act, which in turn forces it to become my third favourite Craig Bond film before the mess that was Quantum of Solace.
Beware the movie features some quite graphic/disturbing violence for a 12A/PG-13, depending on what side of the pond you're on. Especially, a torture scene, which is not on the same level of brutality as Casino Royale, but is very effective at making you want to look away.