Spectre (2014)

 

Nearly beaten to death but is fine ten minutes later and is able to make love to a young girl. Crashes a plane in the mountains and walks away without a scratch while perfectly hitting the right barn that allowed him to take out the two trucks he is chasing down the mountain roads. It's so goofy that it made me think I was in a Roger Moore Bond movie and that is the worst part of Spectre. It has no idea of the story it wants to tell. At times it doesn't even want to BE a James Bond film. It seems like they shot their load with Skyfall and didn't know where to go from there.

No reason to sleep with Monica Belluci if only to balance the sex he will have with the younger actress later in the film. Maybe the days of the 'bond girl' is over and done with. Take out the useless romances and we have ourselves a half decent action adventure film.

So many old tropes of Bond are recycled here. The 60s playboy does not match well with this modern 22 century adventure tale. Those parts of the film and Bond's personality seem played out and tired as does Daniel Craig. I hate to say it but it's true. For all the jumping and punching and explosions this is a lazy film.

Great stunts, car chases, and cinematography takes the edge off the worst excesses of this Bond film but even those moments can't hide the fact that this is a boring film and about a half hour or more too long for it's own good.

 

The opening scene was gorgeously staged but that is no indication of the lackluster film that is to come. Spectre is not a film that knows what it wants to be. The lack of gadgets is a move towards more realism but boy could this picture use some nifty new weapons from Q Branch. Where is the villain who wants to take over the world with some crazy scheme? Where is his big speech about why the world needs to be cleansed? This is just a revenge tale with no teeth. The movie can be both things but ends up being neither. It makes all the wrong story decisions and discards all the stuff we love about a James Bond film.

 

 

Dave Bautista is devastating brutal as the main henchman. He didn't need to do anything but be a scary badass and he was. Smart move in his career development.

 



 

There was really only ONE surprise here and I certainly didn't need to got two hours into a movie to experience it. That and the EASIEST and most stupid escape in James Bond series history were a big F-You to long time fans of 007. All I ever ask is that you TRY and people seemed to have stopped trying with this franchise. No one's motivations feel real and many people are acting like they are in an entirely different movie altogether.



 

Overall this one was a bust and the least of the Bond films of Daniel Craig. Only for those who want to say they have seen all the Bond films.