Spectre is best described as the
Bond greatest hits collection. It is a nod to all of those classic scenes,
characters, and imagery from Bond lore. Just as Sean Connery's Bond plowed his
way through Dr. No, Largo, and Rosa Klebb to get to the villainous No.1 of the
sixties S.P.E.C.T.R.E.; Daniel Craig's twenty-first century Bond undertakes the
same odyssey to reveal the true puppet master behind his woes. This is the new
origin story's faithful adherence to establishment. Most Bond fans will be
chuffed and delighted
the finest Bond film of the modern era, took the character
to new places with visual flair. Spectre seems formulaic in comparison, but a
spectacular effort nonetheless. Spectre opens with a maverick James Bond
(Daniel Craig) causing chaos in Mexico. M (Ralph Fiennes) is furious. Why was
he there? What was the purpose of his mission? Stubborn and secretive, Bond is
decommissioned. His callous indifference to command spelling doom for the
double O program. But he has the unquestioning loyalty of Q (Ben Whishaw) and
Money Penney (Naomie Harris). Bond has procured a bloodstained ring emblazoned
with an octopus. It leads him to Rome, a funeral, and a widow (Monica
Bellucci). She pulls back the curtain to reveal Spectre, a sinister and
incredibly powerful organization. As Bond puts together the clues from his life
as an assassin, he realizes that the shadowy leader of Spectre, Franz
Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), has been intimately involved in each event, with
a vendetta against him more personal then he could ever have imagined. Director
Sam Mendes orchestrates an epic in scale production that ticks every box. It's
Bond 101. Beautiful women, exotic locations, mind blowing stunts, witty banter
from a diabolical villain; who dutifully monologues about his greatness and
Bond's futile efforts to stop his evil plan. Don't get me wrong. It's as well
done as cliché's can be. But therein lies the rub. It's a tad disappointing to
see Spectre fall prey to such predictability. All the mystery and build-up
becomes contrived if we know that Bond will never be tortured to death because
the baddies only took his gun. The near omniscient antagonist would have to be
aware of his lethal gadgets. It is the suspension of disbelief that the Austin
Powers franchise successfully satirizes when it pokes fun of Bond. As Bond fans
we accept it, but the Craig era films had pinned their stake to a more
believable espionage thriller up to this point. Beyond a critical eye to the
procedural aspects of the film, Spectre is solidly entertaining. Daniel Craig
continues to be an absolute beast as Bond. There's a line in the film where a
character compares him to a kite flying into a hurricane. An apt description if
reversed, Craig is a hurricane of ass kicking in Spectre. But don't worry about
Bond being all fight. He's still a smoldering sex machine that lures women like
moths to a flame. The damsel in distress nature of the female roles cries
sexism, but let's be frank; the Bond franchise is machismo incarnate. The
filmmaker's are going back to the Bond roots, which doesn't embrace equal time
for the ladies. I've purposefully avoided delving too deep into the supporting
cast to avoid spoilers. I will say that Christoph Waltz does a capable job as
Bond's nemesis. His sly, menacing delivery and sheepish grin just scream super
villain. It plays well on screen, but doesn't quite reach the more unique
performances of Javier Bardem in Skyfall and Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale.
Once again, it's most likely because Waltz is playing the textbook Bond bad guy
as described in the script. He's got two Oscars on his shelf that prove he has
range and can play any character well. The legions of fans that have grown up
on Bond will love the throwback plot of Spectre. Other audiences should be
happy with the stupefying action scenes, even if it runs long at two and a half
hours. I suppose after Skyfall I expected a more complex film with Sam Mendes
distinctive style. As in all mainstream franchises, it is a product meant for
mass consumption that can probably only push the envelope so far. Hopefully the
next Bond film will be an entirely new adventure. But I have a feeling the
Broccoli family will continue along the same storyline that successfully
carried Bond into the Roger Moore era.
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