65/100
This marks the third Bond film I've seen, the other two being Casino Royale (2006), and Spectre, and if there's one thing to say about this franchise, it's that it really does just follow the same formula time and time again.
My main gripe with this film was the story. For what is practically the James Bond finale, it felt disappointingly mediocre and unmemorable. Story points didn't only blend together, but also felt relatively uninspired and unchallenging, with there being only two or three memorable scenes throughout the close to three hour runtime. It was just a regular layout of action, then a mild progression of the story, then more action, and so on. The action, stunts, and visuals seemed relatively unstylized, lacking any kind of flair, leaving me unimpressed. It wasn't bad, it was just.... "eh".
Again, for what is practically the James Bond finale, the villain felt mediocre and unmemorable. There was no deeper backstory nor conflict, the nefarious plot was just Kingsman all over again, and the motivation for his evilness was... what exactly? I still don't really know. I didn't feel intimidated nor impressed by him.
The surrounding cast was equally unengaging. Lashana Lynch's character had no depth nor charisma, feeling very much like a hollow replacement option for Daniel Craig. I had no clue who Jeffrey Wright's character, Felix Leighter, was. I had no real interest in anyone outside of Craig himself, and even then, that was solely because he was the "good guy".
I could go on, but it's the same for every aspect of the film. Relatively flat and mediocre for what it is. It's a fine film, there are some enjoyable moments, and it didn't really do anything bad. I'm just kinda disappointed.
This marks the third Bond film I've seen, the other two being Casino Royale (2006), and Spectre, and if there's one thing to say about this franchise, it's that it really does just follow the same formula time and time again.
My main gripe with this film was the story. For what is practically the James Bond finale, it felt disappointingly mediocre and unmemorable. Story points didn't only blend together, but also felt relatively uninspired and unchallenging, with there being only two or three memorable scenes throughout the close to three hour runtime. It was just a regular layout of action, then a mild progression of the story, then more action, and so on. The action, stunts, and visuals seemed relatively unstylized, lacking any kind of flair, leaving me unimpressed. It wasn't bad, it was just.... "eh".
Again, for what is practically the James Bond finale, the villain felt mediocre and unmemorable. There was no deeper backstory nor conflict, the nefarious plot was just Kingsman all over again, and the motivation for his evilness was... what exactly? I still don't really know. I didn't feel intimidated nor impressed by him.
The surrounding cast was equally unengaging. Lashana Lynch's character had no depth nor charisma, feeling very much like a hollow replacement option for Daniel Craig. I had no clue who Jeffrey Wright's character, Felix Leighter, was. I had no real interest in anyone outside of Craig himself, and even then, that was solely because he was the "good guy".
I could go on, but it's the same for every aspect of the film. Relatively flat and mediocre for what it is. It's a fine film, there are some enjoyable moments, and it didn't really do anything bad. I'm just kinda disappointed.