Spectre – Movie Review

Spectre – PG-13
Release Date: Fri 06 Nov 2015

Spectre is Daniel Craig’s fourth outing as James Bond and follows his quest to discover the secrets of the eponymous organization. Meanwhile in the aftermath of MI6 blowing up in Skyfall, forces in the government are trying to put an end to the double-o program.

After the extremely high stakes of Skyfall that resulted in the death of M, it was hard to imagine where the story could really go. The idea of reintroducing Spectre, a storied crime organization that was central to the early Bond movies sounded great, and perhaps it a few breadcrumbs had been put in place before it would have felt better. Instead, the movie seems to be built around the suspense of who the leader of Spectre is, and if he’s the same character from the earlier Bond movies played by a new actor. This falls completely flat as “who” plays the leader of Spectre is blatantly in the trailers, and the eventual reveal of whether or not he’s the same character is divulged by the character himself – for no reason other than to satisfy the audience’s need to have it spelled out.

A nifty long tracking shot gives way to a lackluster opening action scene that ends with a massive explosion and a helicopter fight. All the while, people are in the streets celebrating Day of the Dead. When people are ignoring helicopters coming straight for them or buildings exploding a block away in this movie, they are nowhere to be found. City chase sequences take place in deserted cities. We’re not worried about the possible collateral damage, nor are we for any of the characters. The additional villains of the story are bland at best, but even the main villain – the “author of all [James’] pain” can’t decide if he’s going to be super camp or just a copy of the character that became the blueprint for Dr. Evil. He over-explains his plans and then places his captives in escapable situations.

It’s very likely that Spectre will work as a bridge or a prologue to whatever comes next. The way Quantum of Solace didn’t stand alone (it was Casino Royale Part 2), Spectre may turn out to be a movie that mostly serves to get us from Skyfall to the next movie, and possibly a new actor as Bond too.

Amber, Matthew, Aaron, Mark and I saw it in the theater and had a discussion in the car: