Daniel Craig is back for his final appearance as James Bond in Spectre. Craig plays the suave 007 for his fourth time and we get the action, car chases, womanizing and humor that we’ve come to expect from a Bond film. Unfortunately none of the things we’ve come to expect were very good. If you would like a plot synopsis, check out the Spectre IMDB page.
**This review is spoiler-free**I will start by saying that I really do enjoy Daniel Craig as Bond. He projects a believable confident persona and he appears rugged (unlike the pretty-boy Pierce Brosnan, who was arguably my least favorite Bond). I think that Craig’s portrayal is more human, and less god-like, than past Bonds. He makes mistakes. He gets hurt. He gets dirty. I was really hoping that in this last film he would go out on a high note, but to my dismay, it fell flat.
First of all, the opening scene was not as exciting as I wanted it to be. It starts in Mexico City during the Day of the Dead celebration and James is following a suspect with a woman already on his arm. He leaves, an explosion happens, he follows again, and a fight occurs in a helicopter. The action was fine, but it definitely wasn’t the opening rooftop chase scene from Casino Royale or the opening car chase from Quantum of Solace. It felt a bit forced. Following this opening scene you’re introduced to the next disappointment…
…the intro music. Sam Smith did a whiny intro song that didn’t amp you up for the next two hours of movie viewing. It reminded me of a song that someone cries to and plays after a really nasty breakup. I personally wasn’t a huge fan of Adele’s Skyfall intro song either, but it was leaps and bounds above whatever Sam Smith was singing about.
Now I know that James Bond is a womanizer, but I felt that the scenes in Spectre with women were not really explainable. A man dies, James goes to the wife, saves her, they have sex, he leaves. Even the relationship that James has with the leading actress seems to go from one extreme to the next. One minute they hate each other, then they’re **surprise surprise**, in love? Wait, what did I miss? This relationship definitely wasn’t developed the way James’s love for Vesper Lynd was in Casino Royale.
Another thing that wasn’t as developed as it could have been was the plot. Without giving anything away I’ll just say that it appeared that there were quite a few holes where you were left with questions while other plot lines just fell flat entirely. There’s a ring with an octopus that has something to do with an international crime syndicate that we end up not finding out very much more information about. I normally like Christoph Waltz as well, but his villainous character really fell flat as well.
Now don’t get me wrong, the movie had its good and great moments: the train fight scene, Bond’s humorous interactions with Q, the gorgeous locations, and of course the Aston Martin. Unfortunately it felt like you had to muck through periods of slow and overdone scenes to get you to the next high point.
Overall, Spectre was not my favorite James Bond installment due to lackluster character development, disappointing action, and an ending that built up for 30 minutes only to leave you asking, “That’s it?” For fans of the series it’s worth it to see the action in the theater. Everyone else should wait for it to come to DVD/Blu-Ray.
Watch Spectre, but wait until it’s out of theaters. 6/10
Co-Owner, Director of Marketing & Outreach
Late Night Gamers LLC
PSN: ThePsychicFetus