An overblown, sloppy, and intermittently dull James Bond film

Rating: 6/10 (6 November 2015)

There's no other way to say this, and no use putting it off, so let me just lay it all on the table to begin with: SPECTRE is a disappointment. Could anyone really argue otherwise? To the degree that it is disappointing will differ from person to person, but no one is going to name this film as one of the best that the series has to offer. The stakes were high after the phenomenal Skyfall, and the hype surrounding SPECTRE was insane. It will undoubtedly rake in a ton of money, but it is not completely deserved; SPECTRE is a truly flawed film.
SPECTRE's biggest mistake was casting the two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz and then hardly using him. There are times when you forget that he exists, and half of his screen time he's covered in shadows. This would make sense if his identity was some big reveal, but we've known of his casting in the film and his character for quite some time, and he was even in the trailer pretty extensively. I could get past this mistake if his evil plans weren't so ridiculous. He just blurts out his entire plan and background in a few seconds in maybe his fourth on-screen appearance, and when I heard it, I literally laughed out loud. It was THAT ridiculously bad. I get that it's from old James Bond films and novels, but here it's totally out of the blue and delivered completely cheesy and sloppy, with almost no warning or background.
The other glaring mistake in the film is its pretty awful dialogue. Some of it was fine and welcome old-school humor (although there is one specific joke delivered by Ralph Fiennes that is genuinely hilarious and then turns into something totally different and disappointing in its punchline), but almost every word spoken by Waltz's character was just bad. There's no other way to say it, it was just lazily written dialogue. You could tell that the writers were trying to recreate an old, classic Bond film but with modern special effects. If that was their intent, then they succeeded. But if they wanted to make a great, character-driven, worthy successor to Skyfall, then they failed.
Other problems with the film: 1) It's length. Could have easily been twenty-thirty minutes shorter. 2) Lack of character development, which was something its predecessor did so well. 3) The song. "Writing's On the Wall" worked in the opening sequence, but when heard at any other time outside of the film (including when I heard it first on Spotify a month ago), it is not very thematic or memorable. Also, Sam Smith takes to a ridiculously high falsetto three separate times in the song. Couldn't they have just hired a woman to sing in that range full-voiced? 4) The cinematography. Don't get me wrong, it's beautiful. Each scene is layered with a totally fitting color pallet and beautifully constructed. But due to a (totally uninteresting) subplot, the film changes from extremely dark, blue-tinted scenes with Bond to scorching yellow-tinted scenes with M. It's almost schizophrenic, and every time it happened the audience squinted and blocked their eyes for a second. 5) The aforementioned subplot with M. Totally uninteresting and useless, even though I'm a huge Ralph Fiennes fan.
Good things about the film: 1) A riveting score from Thomas Newman. 2) Intense and brutal action sequences. The entire opening "Day of the Dead" sequence was amazing, and lead into the credits beautifully. 3) The opening credits. Some of the best of the series. Maybe even THE best. 4) Typically great acting, though less range from Craig this time around. 5) A new, exciting Bond girl. Bond relies on her more than she to him, and although her character could have been more interesting and fleshed out, her role was a welcome addition to an otherwise pretty dull entry. 6) Wonderful direction from the great Sam Mendes. I'm a sucker for continuous shots, and SPECTRE opens with a superb one. Mendes remains one of the best to ever take the reins of the series.
Overall, SPECTRE works as an effects-driven, classy, action drama. But as far as actual filmmaking goes, it's extremely weak.