A good deal of the action is overblown and cartoonish rather than exciting (only the Rome chase and train sequence are memorable), with some the violence gratuitous. While there are moments like some fun to spot references, neither component come off consistently or even that successfully. It particularly suffers from a confused tone, with a mix of violent action, humour with in the in-jokes and spy clichés, thriller and romance. However, for me, and other viewers too, 'Spectre' does suffer from some major problems. Ralph Fiennes is enjoyably starchy, David Bautista conveys some menace as assassin Hinx and Ben Whishaw brings genuine spark to Q. Christoph Waltz is very good- if also rather underused- as the main villain, a role that suits him to the ground, playing him with smarmy, sinister relish. Daniel Craig is as charismatic and debonair as ever, handling the dramatic and action moments well, though there was a slight sense of him starting to get bored of the role (nowhere near as bad as Connery in 'Diamonds are Forever' though). Sam Mendes' direction has its moments, with evidence of style, elegance and thrills. The Mexico City pre-credits sequence is also pretty epic. Some of the action sequences are exciting, particularly the train sequence and the supercar chase through Rome. Starting with what is good about 'Spectre' it is mostly very stylishly made with great use of atmospheric and beautiful locations. Pierce Brosnan's are not very popular with some Bond fans, for this viewer they're not bad loved 'Goldeneye' and 'The World is Not Enough', liked 'Tomorrow Never Dies' and while 'Die Another Day' has enormous problems (especially Madonna's theme song being in the top 5 worst Bond themes, some cringe-worthy puns, over-silliness in the second half and an overload of CGI that was also pretty awful), I don't consider it that irredeemably bad, because it started off strongly and most of the performances were good, especially from Brosnan, Dench, Youn, Cleese and Pike, the only real sore spot being Madonna's cameo. Wasn't crazy about Timothy Dalton's two entries, 'The Living Daylights' is the better of the two but is only decent. Roger Moore's films are mostly entertaining enough, though for me the only great one was 'The Spy Who Loved Me', with 'A View to a Kill' and 'Octopussy' (an unpopular opinion though) being two of the series' weakest. 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is also very good'. At least three or four of Sean Connery's Bond films are among the best of the series (my personal favourite of the lot being 'Goldfinger'), with the only big misfire being 'Diamonds are Forever', despite one of the series' greatest theme songs. While the James Bond series has had its highs and lows, most of the films have been very enjoyable. 'Quantum of Solace' however was a major disappointment, and for me deserves its distinction as one of the worst of the series. That said, 'Casino Royale', after liking it well enough, fared much better on re-watch. Although 'Casino Royale' is often considered the best Daniel Craig Bond film, my personal favourite is actually 'Skyfall'.
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