I happen to love Glen and Young, but other than those, I found Fukunaga to be above average. Certainly above Apted, Spottiswoode, and Tamahori (and I defend the Brosnan entries more than most).
I guess I’m just feeling like NTTD (especially in the last couple months) has been unfairly maligned, whereas so many older entries get a free pass for some reason. And why? Because people didn’t like Bond dying? For me, NTTD was the first Craig entry post-CR which actually lived up to the high expectations set by Craig’s debut (although SF came pretty darn close). I am thrilled with NTTD, and the only thing I’d change is fleshing out Safin’s motivations a bit more. But everything else was great, from acting, to action, sets, music, etc…
And I think we sometimes view earlier entries with rose tinted glasses when we have these discussions. GF is great, but I cannot accept that any of Hamilton’s subsequent three entries were better directed than NTTD.
I just don’t want us to turn into Star Wars fans.