Review of Spectre (2015) by Dcedmonds — 01 Dec 2015

"Spectre" 10 Scale Rating: 7.0 (Good) ...

The Good: Daniel Craig once again reminds us all of why he's been such a fantastic Bond. Sticking to a depiction of the character that is closer to his literary counterpart, Craig might be the best Bond actor in the series. As usual, the settings were fantastic and exotic. The opening sequence doesn't disappoint and overall the action is well done. The fight scenes are also well choreographed and are the perfect blend of comedic moments and violent moments, which is a Bond staple. The supporting cast mostly delivers as well. Wishaw is an amusing young Q, Harris was a solid Moneypenny, and Bautista was classic Bond henchman. While Judy Dench's camaraderie with Craig was definitely missed, Ralph Fiennes was more than adequate as M. Perhaps one of the stronger points of the film was the fact that the other operatives in MI6 got plenty of screen time and were actually an integral part of the final outcome. Lastly, while he didn't have a ton of screen time, Waltz was fantastic as the lead villain.

The Bad: Unfortunately, Waltz's character was poorly written and not very well developed. His motivations were questionable and the end game of his organization, Spectre, was not as grand in scale as one would have hoped. As the film attempts to tie the previous three films together with this one, more was expected from the shadowy organization supposedly behind it all. Lea Seydoux (who is a very talented actress) was completely wasted in the film. We are advised and shown early on that she is tough as nails and can take care of herself, but then degenerates into a cliche damsel in distress within minutes of appearing, remaining that way right up until the end. She also lacked chemistry with Craig, thus making their supposed love completely unbelievable. Lastly, MI6 are "betrayed" by someone close to the organization, but the individual in question was obvious from the moment he steps onto the screen. When the big reveal occurs, you're surprised to find that this was supposed to be a twist of some sort. "Spectre" isn't a bad film and I enjoyed it and while it is a much better film than the disappointment that was "Quantum of Solace", it falls well short of both "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall".