The eagerly awaited Spectre is finally here and it marks Daniel Craig’s fourth (and perhaps final) outing as the slick MI6 agent, James Bond. With Skyfall director, Sam Mendes, back at the helm, it seemed a certainty that Spectre would prove to be another stella addition to Craig’s repertoire of great Bond films. So is this as good as Skyfall or Casino Royale? The short answer… no.

First, the good. The film looks beautiful. As with Skyfall, Mendes crafts some truly breathtaking shots that are a joy to see on the big screen. One sequence that sticks out is the film’s opener that is filmed to appear to be one shot. It’s a real treat to look at and a strong way to raise the curtain.

No one puts in a bad performance here either. Craig is of course brilliant as Bond. He gives all he can to the character, proving himself to be worthy of the title ‘The Best Bond Ever’. He’s got the perfect balance of sophisticated suaveness and gritty fight that Bond requires. It seems to us that no one has better understood the character than Craig.

Christoph Waltz is also solid as evil villain Franz Oberhauser. Waltz’s performance really elevates the character that, whilst appearing menacing, simply isn’t given enough screen time. Oberhauser is nowhere near as developed Skyfall’s Silva was and that leads on to the films main problem. It just feels like a worse Skyfall.

The film goes for a more lighthearted approach, incorporating more humor than its predecessor. However, for us, it just didn’t work. The cheesy gags and ‘eye roll’ moments just seemed out of place in Craig’s darker portrayal of Bond. Casino Royale is often praised as the best 007 movie of all time and for good reason. It got rid of the silly, over the top moments and made Bond a damaged, real character. In this sense, rather frustratingly, Spectre seems to have taken a step

There are even recycled plot elements from Skyfall that leaves Spectre feeling stale and the film loses the freshness that previous Craig installments had (Not Quantum of Solace though).

This is in no way a bad film. It’s a well shot, well acted, exciting action film. It just could have been so much more. Spectre proves that Bond sequels don’t work and it is to Skyfall what Quantum of Solace was to Casino Royale, a lesser film in almost every aspect.

7/10

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