Review of Spectre (2015) by Josh H — 11 Feb 2016

Daniel Craig's Bond movies, by adding a couple near-indisputable series highlights, have earned the right to be taken seriously (well, sort of seriously). 007's latest outing may therefore suffer in its historical context.

It's no A View To A Kill or Die Another Day. It's a much, much better film than those earlier low points. It's also something other than mid-level comfort food like Octopussy or For Your Eyes Only.

So, great. But you can't say the damn thing is successful. It feels like it for a good hour, gliding over beautifully shot landscapes with sleek lethality, seething with dark omens. You even forgive it the lame MI6-is-old-hat subplot.

You love Mr. Hinx, David Bautista's terrifying amalgam of Oddjob, Jaws, and Red Grant. And of course that amazing opening sequence with the Live and Let Die visual callback for anyone who's interested.

But, around the time Lea Seydoux is introduced, the spell wears off. It's not really Seydoux's fault. We inevitably compare her character to earlier Bond-falls-in-love situations. She's fine, but she's no Eva Green, and certainly no Diana Rigg.

For that matter she's no Monica Bellucci, whose character and performance would have made for a much more intriguing love interest. It's great that Bond finally beds an age appropriate woman, but what's the point if she's discarded after two scenes? Then there's the good Mr.

Waltz, and the long overdue reintroduction of Bond's Moriarty, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. And he's...fine. Not bad. Not memorable either. Waltz's soothing psychotic schtick is a better fit for the character than Charles Gray's effete interpretation from Diamonds Are Forever, but he's essentially playing Col.

Hans Landa again, minus the juicy dialogue. You can't get away from the impression that, like the rest of the movie, he's little more than a competent missed opportunity. The whole deal really falls apart in the final act, where Spectre agents apparently make a quick Kinkos run to remind Bond of the previous three movies, listlessly "tying" the "plot" together before blowing stuff up for no particular reason.

Ultimately Spectre has more going for it than the series's low points, or even its middling entries. But it is not, after Skyfall and Casino Royale set the bar so darned high, what you'd hoped for.