I wanted to write a review right after watching but I thought I would give myself a few days to think about the movie and not let my first day excitement bias my review too much.
I will admit that I am not the biggest Bond fan but I did enjoy the previous movies.
I will try to keep my review as spoiler free as possible.
The plot is pretty straight forward "Evil organisation is up to no good and only James Bond can stop them" , but it's a fun ride filled with action, a bit of comedy, plenty of one liners, nostalgia, and the occasional twist.
James Bond has always been about a calm and composed secret agent that can handle any situation. The Spectre Bond is neither calm or composed. I understand that they want to portray bond as vulnerable and more realistic but in some scenes ( especially the first fight scene) he comes off as emotional and reckless. He is willing to sacrifice the lives of thousands of people just to get to his target. He doesn't think of the consequences if he actually failed. At points it just looks like Lady Luck is on his side and he doesn't actually have the required skills to accomplish his goals.
In terms of gadgets, he doesn't have many. Sure he drives around in an Aston martin and wears a cool omega watch with the NATO Strap (a nice nod to Sean Connery's Bond wearing a nylon watch strap in Goldfinger) but that's about it.
Daniel Craig looks very sharp in the Tom Ford wardrobe but the fit was questionable. His suits looked uncomfortably tight and very impractical for his line of work. I did enjoy the nods to previous bond outfits though eg. The Tangier outfit Timothy Dalton wore in "The Living Daylights"
Most of the characters were underdeveloped especially the baddies.
Some actors barely got any screen time, especially Monica Bellucci.
We are never really shown how Spectre started or what goes on behind the curtains.
I don't know if it's the fact that I recently watched Inglorious Basterds but Christoph Waltz nailed the role. David Bautista (Batista) was also a nice nod to previous silent henchmen like oddjob.
It's a pity we did not get more character development from either characters.
What the movie lacks in character and plot development, it made up for it in action scenes.
We get to see a car chase set at night in Rome and The face off with Mr. Hinx was also particularly brutal.
Spectre is a fun movie with plenty of action. Just don't expect a spy thriller with well developed characters or a well developed plot. If you can overlook it's flaws, Spectre is well worth your 2 hours and 30 minutes.
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