It’s time for more James Bond. Now you all may remember 007 as the agent who is constantly on the back foot and getting crushed by all of his adversaries right? Well, that doesn’t change much here as he still gets crushed a lot but I will say he fares slightly better than in other films. It doesn’t take longer than the first 10 minutes or so for him to have to rely on plot armor though. This is a classic Bond film all the way through so if you have liked the prior films then you should enjoy this one as well.

The movie starts off with Blofeld returning to bump Bond off once and for all. He actually comes close but Bond is able to turn over the situation and literally make the guy beg for his life. The real mission starts when some kind of targeting system goes missing so Bond must now grab it before the soviets. He isn’t the only one after the villains though as a lady named Melina wants in on the action as well. Her parents were murdered by the culprits and so she seeks to take them all down. She may not have an all powerful spy network at her disposal but she has a car as well as a gun.

This makes her journey even more impressive with how she gets to one of the villain compounds and murders the leader. Bond isn’t ultra grateful but he was about to be murdered so he should actually be quite happy with her. His license to kill was about to be expired. Melina looks less impressive as she is manipulated into her next destination by the villains but I can’t blame her much because again she is doing all of this on her own. That is considerably different from what Bond has to go through so a trap or two makes sense.

Unfortunately she peeked with the opening fight scene. After that she’s basically just one of the Bond girls. Meanwhile Bond is his same old self. He can’t help but be a flirt in every situation and doesn’t let the gravity of the situation stick. The entire world is at stake and yet he’s still messing around with everybody. I really need Bond to lock in and focus here. The film reminds us about his wife who died and yet he is still having affairs? Not a very good look for him I gotta say.

Now the film doesn’t care much about the plot just like Bond. For the most part Bond just has to follow the dots and eventually get to the right answer so it’s not really a traditional mystery. Bond’s usually just walking when the villains show up to shoot him and then he gets some intel. I feel like they may have gotten away with this if they had just stayed quiet and not made a move. Sure, Bond was getting closer but I don’t think he would have made it in time.

The fight scenes are pretty good though. The series has always done well in this arena and I would say that this movie is no exception to that. The movie generally has a fun tone and even has a sense of humor. The film doesn’t get quite as silly as the last one but still has its moments. So if you’re looking for a fun action thriller then the film succeeds in that arena. You do have to still get around the usual issues though.

Aside from the endless fanservice and meaningless affairs, we also have an ice skating student who really wants Bond. While Bond for once had some class and said no, he is still unable to avoid her entirely. This whole subplot should have been cut because it was just annoying and didn’t need to be here. Additionally, it would have made the villain look a little better by default because one of his goals is basically to get the student which isn’t a great look.

We do get some fakeouts on who the actual villain is though so I appreciate that. Bond even ends up teaming up with one of these guys who is apparently able to keep up. It’s either a good look for that guy or a bad look for Bond. I’ll let you decide which one is more likely here. The Bond films always have the potential to be good here since the action works well. It’s a shame that such potential cannot be realized.

One more silver lining I will throw the film is that the pacing is pretty good. The Bond films all tend to be fairly long but this one doesn’t drag out or anything like that. It actually runs by pretty smoothly and I think in some ways that is because of all the action. It’s hard to drag out when the next combat scene is right around the corner. Bond even takes on an entire hockey team. While the first action scene of the film is played for laughs by the end, it was also still pretty exciting in that way.

As for the soundtrack, well the classic Bond theme is fun as always. That is something that the series really got right. Then we have the new intro song for the film which is supposed to be top tier although I wasn’t a big fan. Generally speaking I suppose I haven’t been a big fan of most of the Bond songs though. They just tend to be a bit too slow and out of energy for me. We need a full rock theme already.

Overall, The film fittingly ends on a note where a parrot is able to successfully outsmart M16 and troll for a bit. They eventually catch up and cut the feed but it’s too late by then. As bad as Bond can be at focusing, I dare say that the agency is worse with how they constantly panic at every opportunity. Every little thing seems to shake them up which is not good for such a large spy organization. I would expect better from them. The last film is definitely more exciting with the space climax though, we’ll see how the next film fares.

Overall 4/10