If you say this is the worst Bond film in 30 years, then you're a moron.
“Spectre” continues the effort to revamp James Bond for an age that wants to be edgy, but not offensive. It’s also the fourth film in Daniel Craig’s tenure as England’s number one secret agent. Given the current critical climate of his work, he’s batting 50/50. That puts the fellow well above Dalton, Brosnan or Lazenby. What I’m saying is that audiences should embrace the fact that we don’t have the second coming of Connery, but a put-on disciple of Roger Moore.
The film trots between exotic locales, as Bond is being pushed off from the central command of his governing agency. After returning from an unsanctioned mission ordered by Judi Dench’s M, he finds himself placed on disciplinary action by the new Ralph Fiennes M. Bond finds himself warned to simmer down, as his department is facing a government merger in order to best benefit England’s espionage efforts. This lead Bond into investigating leads and other suspicions about the operation that bring back Mr. White and the entirety of things that seemed to have been forgotten about 7 years ago.
But, let’s stop for a second. You’ve heard the complaints about the film and I’ve heard the complaints. It’s boring, it tries too hard and/or it tries to reinvent things that didn’t need to be handled so haphazardly. One, it’s not boring. In fact, it stuffs action sequences into the mix with the intent of Thunderball, but with the rough hands of a Tomorrow Never Dies. Two, if trying hard is a crime, then I want all films to be guilty. The problem with the intent of Spectre is that it wants to re-establish plot points that Skyfall all but ignored outside of a final set piece.
The third major complaint is where I start to complain with the Internet Film community. Imagine if The Dark Knight (a film that Mendes continues to ape) went out of its way to keep from calling Heath Ledger as the main villain. Imagine if they did their best to keep him out of makeup or his trademark villainy for the majority of the film. Then, it spent the last 20-30 minutes forcing down your throat that IT’S THE JOKER! Be wary now! The pacing is destroyed and the reveal is ruined. The reveal means nothing than older fans who caught the telegraphs coming a mile way, while the younger fans still don’t have a reason to care about Blofeld.
The film forces the relationship between Craig and Seydoux together in a way that felt far more honest between Lazenby and Rigg. All fans with a working intelligence should know that we’re getting another film. Regardless of what Craig says, the direction of this story and the overall journey will come to a natural conclusion with the next film. Then, you’ll get a new Bond to complain about for a few years. Rinse and repeat.
But, back to the Roger Moore assessment from before. Moore is far more remembered for being the funny and charming Bond. What so many younger viewers forget is that he’s also the Bond that would headline films with out much direction or plot outside of a basic conceit. “Spectre” is easily the equal of a “For Your Eyes Only”, “Octopussy” or “A View to a Kill”. A forgettable Sunday movie that only contributes footnotes to the greater Bond legacy. But, I guess that’s worth getting up in arms over on the Internet. Oh, a Bond movie slightly disappointed you?!? Well, there’s about 10 other ones that you can rank together on the matter. So, take to your terrible websites and lamer YouTube channels to go on with the matter.
RELEASE DATE: 11/6/2015
