Opens promisingly with great tracking shot through Mexico City Day of the Dead; then in homage to Diamonds are Forever, Bond steps out of a bedroom window and agilely proceeds towards his target (whether or not a green screen sequence, it's brilliantly done). Then there's a spectacular and funny building demolition and some incredible stunt work involving a helicopter, followed by some political shenanigans with Q (Ben Whishaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and M (Ralph Fiennes). So far so good. As the film progresses, however, it appears to be just a rehash of tons of old Bond ideas - train fight (From Russia with Love, though the unstoppable opponent here is more Richard Kiel's Jaws than Robert Shaw's Red Grant), car chase with flame throwers and 'airborne device' (Thunderball), board room execution (Thunderball), clinic atop mountain (OHMSS), villain's HQ in volcano (You Only Live Twice), torture scene (Casino Royale, Goldfinger - though comes even more directly from Kingsley Amis' 'Colonel Sun') complete with Blofeld's white cat (Diamonds are Forever), trick watch (Live and Let Die).. there's even a lift from Skyfall (fight and fall from high plate glass window), so lazily has this been written by its four writers. Even Daniel Craig seems to be coasting.
Efficiently put together by Lee Smith from Hoyte van Hoytema's ochre pallette, good music by Thomas Newman. Even the song and main titles are crap (though two days later song won Oscar) I thought.
Christoph Waltz is an efficient villain (yet he could do something like this in his sleep), Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci are Bond ladies, Andrew Scott the Intelligence villain.
I'm quite amazed this has come from Sam Mendes. It's nowhere near as good as Skyfall.
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