So what did everyone think?
I didn't enjoy it as much as expected to. It was certainly a step up from QoS IMO, but the central thread of the relationship between Bond and M didn't really capture me. I've split my thoughts into five arbitrary sections.
Action:
Generally good, though there were no stand-out set pieces. Most of the major action sequences were chases, save the finale which I think got a little tiring. The finale was nice, quite unlike anything in the series before.
Story:
It was alright, though the magical hacking was annoying. I think it would have been a bit more interesting to have Bardem have moles within MI6 to set up the need to go off the grid, I just couldn't buy that travelling to Glencoe was the only option open to Bond. It also made Q look remarkably incompetent; maybe that was intentional?
Villain:
Reminded me a lot of Max Zorin, in terms of appearance and personality. Was a bit OTT for the story in my opinion, too muh like Nolan's joker which jarred with the rest of the film. I was expecting him to be revealed as Blofeld or something when they revealed he was working under an alias, not sure what the point of that was.
Music:
Very good... even the theme which I hated when I first heard it.
Bondiness:
The main reason I liked the film. The Aston Martin, the return of Moneypenny and Universal exports, Q and the nods to the source material all made the film for me.
I didn't enjoy it as much as expected to. It was certainly a step up from QoS IMO, but the central thread of the relationship between Bond and M didn't really capture me. I've split my thoughts into five arbitrary sections.
Action:
Generally good, though there were no stand-out set pieces. Most of the major action sequences were chases, save the finale which I think got a little tiring. The finale was nice, quite unlike anything in the series before.
Story:
It was alright, though the magical hacking was annoying. I think it would have been a bit more interesting to have Bardem have moles within MI6 to set up the need to go off the grid, I just couldn't buy that travelling to Glencoe was the only option open to Bond. It also made Q look remarkably incompetent; maybe that was intentional?
Villain:
Reminded me a lot of Max Zorin, in terms of appearance and personality. Was a bit OTT for the story in my opinion, too muh like Nolan's joker which jarred with the rest of the film. I was expecting him to be revealed as Blofeld or something when they revealed he was working under an alias, not sure what the point of that was.
Music:
Very good... even the theme which I hated when I first heard it.
Bondiness:
The main reason I liked the film. The Aston Martin, the return of Moneypenny and Universal exports, Q and the nods to the source material all made the film for me.