Spectre

Why change what works? For the past three movies in the 007 franchise – all of which star Daniel Craig – tone has shifted and the stereotypical approach to the James Bond film has been ignored. Instead, directors like Martin Campbell of Casino Royale and Sam Mendes of Skyfall have helmed the mission to recreate Bond as a more human character and take a more modern and realistic approach to the agent’s adventures. Now comes Spectre, a movie that capitalizes on the efforts of character building demonstrated in its immediate predecessors but also returns the franchise to its glory of the formulaic James Bond film.

Kicking off with the most insane and intense Bond opener since Casino Royale, Spectre wastes no time assuring moviegoers they’re spending their time and money wisely. The opening scene starts with a long shot through the streets and buildings of Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade before cutting to a chain of events involving an assassination, an exploding building, and a man-vs-man fight scene on a low-flying helicopter. Cue the Sam Smith song and seductive opening credits montage.

Bond’s reasoning for this altercation is explained through a video from the recently deceased M (Judi Dench). The video shows M’s dying wish being for James to hunt down and kill the man from Mexico, which Bond does without question – only to discover the man played a role in a much larger scheme. Upon discovering the villainous organization Spectre, Bond unwittingly opens a door to his traumatic past when he finds out the ghosts of his past are still alive to haunt him. He’s forced to confront Ernst Blofeld (Christoph Waltz, in a limited but chilling role), his former brother in practice who has been orchestrating all the catastrophic events of his past. But of course, we need a Bond girl before we go any further. In Spectre, it’s Léa Seydoux. Following a brief but cold-hearted appearance in 2011’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Seydoux is paving her way to becoming a mainstream femme fatale that most male actors will surely be intimidated to go toe-to-toe with on the big screen.

The movie doesn’t make any efforts to redefine the franchise, something that understandably disappointed some critics and audiences. However, just because it didn’t take any noteworthy risks doesn’t make the film a failure. Spectre is an extremely fun, sleek, and entertaining crack at the Bond filmography. It takes the quality of filmmaking we’ve seen starting with Daniel Craig’s entrance into the series and perfectly capitalizes on the formulaic Bond structure audiences love. It’s got a kickass opening, crazy car chases, gripping hand-to-hand combat scenes, Bond bedding women, and a joyful abundance of bullets. With a hefty runtime of over two hours, the brisk editing and marvelous pacing kept things captivating until the last minute – by the end of the movie, I was wishing for more.

Some would argue that the film is riddled with Bond clichés. I disagree. I see Spectre as following an established structure that has brought the pre-Craig era Bond films continued success. Spectre follows this structure and heightens all of its elements to never before seen places. It may not be the best movie featuring James Bond in terms of pure filmmaking, but it’s arguably the best “James Bond film” in recent memore because it delivers comparative perfection within the structure. In that regard, Spectre is better than Skyfall, and I’d name it best movie of the year so far if it weren’t for a criminally underused Christoph Waltz and a bit-too-ridiculous plane crash that leaves Bond unbelievably unscathed. It also should be noted that just a few hours after leaving the theater the excitement I felt while watching the movie didn’t carry into my day the way I was expecting it would. But in the words of Roger Ebert, “there's something to be said for a movie you like well enough at the time.” Well, I think there’s even more to be said for a movie you loved at the time – and I loved Spectre.

Rating: 4.5/5