9 “Perfect” Casting Decisions That Went Horribly Wrong

1. Christoph Waltz As Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavros Blofeld - Spectre

Younger movie fans who have discovered Bond in the Daniel Craig era have a distinct advantage over those of us who grew up with everyone's favourite British secret agent playing on repeat every year on the television. Their expectations for the franchise - and the villains Bond goes up against - are informed not by the iconic performances of the past but by the current standards of action cinema.

In this respect director Sam Mendes strives to recreate the success of Spectre's predecessor Skyfall, where he did a great job of linking the past and present, updating the look and feel of Bond while at the same time retaining that quintessentially British feel which makes the series so appealing. With that in mind, it's such a shame that the casting of Christoph Waltz as arch-villain Franz Oberhauser - aka Ernst Stavros Blofeld - fell so short of expectations.

Waltz is the go-to-guy for villains in contemporary cinema, yet his performance in Spectre barely registers as a good villain when compared to Casino Royale's Le Chiffre or Skyfall's Raul Silva, never mind Goldfinger.

What went wrong? Aside from being woefully underdeveloped (particularly harmful to the effectiveness of his character in light of the "twist"), there's something basic and rudimentary about Waltz's performance itself, as if he's striving to distill the essence - and simplicity - of "the Bond villain" rather than trying to inject something new. The result is a Blofeld with very little scope or mystery, as much as Mendes tries to create it by frequently placing him in shadows.

With Spectre, Sam Mendes tried too hard to merge the playfulness of Bond circa-1960s with the grittiness expected from Daniel Craig, and Waltz's performance as Blofeld suffered as a consequence. But at least he made an effort - the less said about Craig's commitment to the character this time around the better.

Do you agree with the choices on this list? What other "perfect" casting decisions turned out to be huge disappointments?