Pranav Kulkarni

Spoilers ahead **** Went in with high expectations especially this being the final chapter of Daniel Craig's Bond journey. Sort of guessed the fate of Bond from the title of the movie and the rumor mill and was curious as to how it unfolded. I had really liked the treatment given to M (Judi Dench) in Skyfall and was expecting something similar. Positives: 1. Didn't get bored even though the run-time is nearly 3 hours 2. All female characters are empowered and none gets killed. Did away with cheesy names / scenes, perhaps to paint Bond as more of a Gentleman in the era of MeToo! 3. Somewhat believable action scenes compared to some of the earlier Bond films (especially in the Brosnan era) where Bond had almost become a Superhero! Negatives: 1. The ending - I still cannot digest the fact that Bond committed suicide to save his lover and daughter. I guess the filmmakers were making a coming of age film where the Bond created by Ian Fleming has grown into a loving and caring family man! This is just utter ridiculous. Just because MCU killed off Iron Man doesn't mean everyone goes and kills off the main lead! The main issue is not with killing off Bond since as I mentioned earlier, I had guessed it and so wasn't a shock. But to see the MI6 agent who will do anything for the Queen and Country sacrificing his life without a fight for his love makes this the worst climax in the history of this franchise! They will never do this to Ethan Hunt or Jason Bourne. Also with this ending, the next Bond film will almost certainly be a reboot unless Bond miraculously survives the missiles and turns into Superman! 2. Characters - It seemed like since this was the last outing of Craig as Bond, they tried to add as many characters as possible and wasting the potential of many of them. Ana de Armas as Paloma was breathtakingly refreshing but was cut off abruptly. Same with Lashana Lynch as the new 007 whose impact wore off as the movie neared its end. But the most disappointing act was Rami Malek as Safin. Bond villains are always a highlight but Malek's Safin didn't reach the heights of some of the predecessors, especially Javier Bardem as Silva. An underplaying villain is a rarity in the Bond universe which also didn't help the cause. Safin looked more menacing with the mask than without it! 3. Bond the family man - I have mentioned this earlier too but this deserves a separate mention because of the daughter! I think the creators decided to add this character more to justify Bond's actions at the end than anything else. Although the girl playing his daughter did a fabulous job as most child actors do, this made the whole franchise a joke. Also there was no real emotional scene between the two (Bond and the daughter) which could have at least connected the viewers on an emotional level. In the end, this character didn't really serve any purpose apart from justifying Bond's suicide. I think the only remedy after watching this is to watch both Skyfall and Casino Royale to remind us of the real legacy of Craig as Bond!

Waste of time! I watched it because it is a remake of Dial M for Murder with David Suchet ("Poirot") as the Detective. Neither was it a good remake (poor rewriting of the original plot) nor Suchet gets any screen time. Even the use of the key which is the only evidence in the original is not really needed to find out the truth! Thank god Hitch wasn't around to see such a dumb adaptation.