Spectre Review: 007 Battles Mediocrity

Spectre Review: 007 Battles Mediocrity 

Following a series high point in Skyfall, James Bond is back with his latest outing against a classic Bond organization. Can the film measure  up to the hype? Find out in our review of Spectre!

Spectre begins with a gorgeous tracking shot through Mexico City during The Day of The Dead. This entire opening sequence is thrilling. Unfortunately after this, the movie completely falls apart. We go directly into Sam Smith’s theme song, which is very beautifully sung, but the lyrics and theme or so far off from what Bond stands for; also the accompanying title video is just  downright uncomfortable.

The plot begins with 007 on a secret off the books mission that was M’s dying wish, while the rest of his MI-6 team battles Sherlock’s Moriarty in a high octane battle of office politics and pencil pushing. From this point on we watch 007 take his license to kill across the world for reasons, and get the crap kicked out of him by a mute Bautista for an hour. In this section of the film James gets his most forced love interest since the Brosnan era Bond’s. There is no chemistry or reason for this “love” the film makers are trying to feed us.

While reaching the climax of the longest second act in film history, we finally meet Christoph Waltz’s villain. Christoph Waltz was put on this planet to play a James Bond villain, so surely he excels right? Nope. He is introduced so late in the game, and the writers try to weave him into the entirety of the Daniel Craig Bond film saga, but it just doesn’t make a lick of sense. He has no motivation, I’m still not sure how he was supposed to have been apart of the previous films, and he isn’t given anything useful to do. This all leads up to the most anti-climatic third act I have ever seen in a 007 movie. I literally laughed out loud at the solution to bring down our big bad.

Despite all these short comings in the story department, Spectre does have a couple great things going for it besides the aforementioned Day of The Dead scene. The most obvious positive this movie has going for it is the stunning cinematography.  The lighting in this movie is to die for. Along with the visuals, the action in Spectre is top notch. Skyfall was a little light on action, and this movie kicks it into overdrive. If it weren’t for the impressive action, I would have slept through the whole movie, instead of just dosing off for a chunk of the boring second act.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed in Spectre. Following arguably the greatest film in the franchise, and with the same team no doubt, I expected a lot more. The action and cinematography are top notch in this feature, but it can’t hide the drastically boring and stupid plot. Spectre is a British turd wrapped in an immaculately beautiful box and bow.  Bring on the next reboot.

5.8

Story

4.0/10

Action

8.0/10

Visuals

9.0/10

Pacing

3.0/10

Bond Legacy

5.0/10

Pros

• Beautifully Shot
• Great Action

Cons

• Terrible Pacing
• Confusing Plot