James Bond has been better. To be fair, he has also been much worse. While Spectre, the twenty-fourth entry in the long-running spy film franchise inspired by and based upon the bestselling novels and short stories of the late Ian Fleming, is far from the proverbial cream of the crop of Bond fare, it is not going to be the butt of everyone’s jokes, either.

In this latest adventure, Daniel Craig’s Bond, Agent 007 of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, sets out on a journey to fulfill an unofficial mission given to him by the previous head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, M (played in a video cameo role by Dame Judi Dench). In the film’s fantastic opening, an impressive tracking shot follows a disguised Bond throughout Mexico City during a colorful Day of the Dead parade complete with skeleton costumes, face paintings, and vintage suits and dresses (Bond himself sports a distinctive skeletal face mask and a spiffy black top hat).

After following a beautiful and inviting woman up to her hotel, Bond ditches the costume, promises not to keep his lady waiting long, and begins jumping rooftops dressed in a gray suit and armed with a pistol. Typical of Bond, however, this is no ordinary gun; it is outfitted with slick attachments that convert it into a carbine equipped with a laser sight and a laser microphone (yes, I looked it up, and those actually exist). Using his tools of the trade, Bond overhears his targets discussing an upcoming terrorist attack. One thing leads to another, and Bond must catch his main target, a white-suited assassin, in a spectacular combination foot chase/helicopter fight that meets the standard of action-packed opening Bond scenes.

The title credits and song, however, fall quite short of the bar established in the previous Craig films Casino Royale and Skyfall. If Sam Smith’s nasally-performed “The Writing’s On the Wall” had either the same intensity that Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” gave to Casino Royale or the emotional poignancy that Adele’s “Skyfall” lent to the film of the same name, I might have given it a pass. Instead, it is cringe-worthy in performance and overall forgettable, especially when sung over the fascinatingly bizarre title designs featuring, amongst other things, an octopus that seems obviously out of place in a Bond movie.

Once the main bulk of the film begins, Bond is suspended from active duty by the new M (Ralph Fiennes in an admittedly tired performance; hopefully, he will bring some of his usual intensity into the role as time goes on), forcing him to receive some unofficial help from gadget-master Q (Ben Whishaw in an expanded step up from his whiz-kid role in Skyfall) and M’s assistant/former field agent Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris).

Bond travels to exotic locations like Rome, Austria, and Morocco in his hunt for the terrorist organization Spectre, relying upon the help of those whose loved ones were involved with the group, such as the widowed Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci, who has disappointingly little screen time considering her prominence in the film’s promotional material) and Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux, who mostly subverts the typical “Bond girl” archetype through her character’s forceful personality and grim humor in the face of a dark past, making her as interesting as Camille Montes of Quantum of Solace and nearly as notable as Vesper Lynd of Casino Royale).

During his journey, Bond moves through a series of car chases, fist fights, shootouts, and all the other trappings of a Bond film, including a train car fight (think From Russia with Love) against an implacable henchman akin to Oddjob or Jaws named Mr. Hinx (played by Dave Bautista, whose performance convinced this reviewer that if any thug could kill 007, this powerful yet quick, mostly mute assassin was the man). This battle is one of my favorite moments in the film due to its sheer intensity and skilled choreography.

Eventually, Bond comes face to face with the leader of Spectre, played by Christoph Waltz. If there is one criticism about Spectre that rises in my mind above the rest, it’s the underdeveloped nature of Waltz’s character (I’m leaving him nameless to avoid spoilers). While he is interestingly charismatic whenever he is on screen, as any Bond villain should be, Waltz’s character isn’t in enough of the film for us to form a genuine connection with or interest in him or his actions. Whereas I could feel some measure of sympathy for Raoul Silva in Skyfall despite his obviously evil actions, I never made a connection with Waltz’s character. This says more about a lack of development from the writers than it does about Waltz, who uses his two-time-Oscar-winning skill to charm his way to the top in almost every one of his scenes.

Overall, Spectre is entertaining and features several impressive, Bond-worthy stunts and sequences, as well as some interesting moments that fit in well with the other Craig films—there is a conversation scene (specifically, between Bond and Swann in a train car about a gun) that rings as true in this blockbuster as it would in a drama film—even if it lacks the emotional substance of the previous three Bond films. It certainly isn’t the worst Bond fare that has ever been put onto the table, even if it’s not quite top-notch like director Sam Mendes’ previous Bond flick Skyfall, either.