Laura Holt

A bloated, mawkish mess of a film. I’ve loved the Craig era; what a shame that this is how it all ends. Many of the 5-star reviews here were actually written months ago based on the trailer alone! First off, the screenplay is appalling. Bond films are usually known for their subtle wit and natural dialogue -- not here. There were moments where the script made me physically cringe; the change in comedic style was pronounced. Goofy and painfully unfunny. I’m assuming this was, in part, down to Phoebe W-B’s input. The film felt overlong, and the directing was somewhat slapdash, with the pacing all wrong. Still unconvinced by Craig and Seydoux’s relationship, seeing as their chemistry is so flat. Lynch’s new 007 character was arrogant, wooden, unappealing and dull. Malek’s villain, even worse. His character barely developed or explored -- got the impression that the actor wouldn’t have been able to give any more, anyhow. Does anyone know why he was trying to destroy humanity? Do we care? No. The only part I enjoyed was De Armas’ CIA agent, who was in the film for minutes, but even that segment felt silly and poorly directed. Onto the ending, it was unnecessary. Bond decides to commit suicide as he can never touch Madeleine and his daughter, whom he’s known for 5 minutes, again. Because of nanobots. He could have gone off travelling the world again and kept the relationship going via Zoom until a cure came along, but no, we get this horrible cloying ending. Vesper’s death in Casino Royale was perfectly directed and highly emotive; here, I felt nothing. I was just glad that the film was finally over.