Spectre

By: Robert Murphy

Much like the main villain for the latest installment to the James Bond series, Spectre moves about with hushed tones. This will be the last Bond film to feature star Daniel Craig as it's leading man and while this last film connects any lose ends from the previous films it never quite stands on it's own. That being said the efforts to create a great connecting story to all the recent additions made for some interesting developments for the story and takes the story in a new/revamped direction that later films would do well to take advantage of down the line.

Long are the days where James Bond would enter into a ridiculous situation filled with bad dialogue, ridiculous gadgets and super villains seated in rooms of minions bent on world domination, or is it? Spectre captures much of what made the original Bond films incredibly cheesy but made them less of a spectacle and more of a serious affair. This I believe is what the film makers have been doing slowly up until this point as they've brought back time old character such as Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw). Now though we are in full on Bond mode with the introduction of the mastermind to all of Bond's misfortunes, the leader of the criminal organization known as Spectre. 

Yes the much hyped leader of the evil organization, Franz Oberhauser (Christopher Waltz) or the Pale King as he is called, has finally been tracked down and brought out of the shadows thanks to a parting gift by the previous M (Judi Dench). He and Bond go face to face in a number of situations as it is revealed that he has a deep connection to Bond's past as well as some of the treacherous occurrences in his present. Where all the other villains to come to pass have been impeccable on their own it would seem that they were just puppets on a string to the Franz Oberhauser and his grand organization. But sadly he does not share in the same splendor as the previous films villains even as he sits firmly in control for most of the movie, he does not take charge and stand out as the grand leader of the menacing organization that has plagued the world all these years. 

This is also extends to Spectre as an organization as well and while I praised the film for it's inclusion of classic Bond tropes it is also a double edged sword. It appears you can't take all of the good that the previous Bond movies have done without taking the bad with it as some of the goofier exploits seeped over into the story. This in particular begins when Bond sets out to find Spectre only to find a grieving widow in need of protection, there is horrible cheesy dialogue that somehow turns sex into a formal interrogation for information. Fast forward to the introduction of the Pale King and you meet the hulking henchman who plagues Bond like Jason Statham in the reason Fast and the Furious film. Played by Guardians of the Galaxy's Hinx (Dave Bautista) pops up in whatever corner of the globe Bond ends up in this film (there are SO many) and he makes his introduction by pulling some classic snapping your neck style shenanigans. That ridiculousness aside the character shares the same qualities as Waltz where there is no real flaw with the character, he's just not strong enough to see over and over again.

As the story retraces some off it's roots however stable footing is found with it's characters. Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) returns to shed some light once again on the organization that he has spent his entire life working with, where you once thought he aided Le Chiffre, he actually was aiding Dominic Greene and so on and so forth. While his character has seen better days he nonetheless gives some helpful advice and a chilling performance for his brief time on screen. The same goes for the leading lady that he sends Bond after, Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), who returns the tradition of making all other Bond style leads to shame just as Vesper did in Casino Royale. The attraction between the two is almost instantaneous and watching the two dance around each other in a world of espionage was spectacular. Both of them being raised in the shadows and knowing how to handle themselves but at the same time they share a similar damaged quality that befits one another. 

Things with the diverging story is very par for the course as well, the new M (Ralph Fiennes) and the other members of MI6 have their own issues to deal with after the move to remove the double O program is about to be done away with to make way for a new electronically monitored future filled with drones, surveillance and basically everything that got the NSA in trouble with the United States. Heading up the initiative for this program is a man dubbed by Bond as C (Sherlock's Andrew Scott) and he and M share some short but heated stare down situations with another that leads nowhere good. Q himself gets his hands dirty too and has a chance to stand out more as a character which after Skyfall was well earned and the same goes for Moneypenny who plays secret squirrel to Bond for most of the story and continuing her charming role alongside Q.

Spectre has plenty of the guns, car chases and that classic male bravado that makes a Bond film what it needs to be but it just never pops out as a grand conclusion to everything that we've seen so far. Everything ties up neatly in a bow by the closing credits and leaves just enough breadcrumbs to be picked up by the next Bond star to contend with but all the build up was far too low key. The final send off for a Bond character leaves much more to be desired and while I did not hate how things end up I would have liked there to be more left to stand on than what was presented here. 

Good:

- Bringing more of the classic Bond style tropes from old films

- Ties together all of the events of previous films

- Side characters such as Q, Moneypenny and newcomer Madeline Swann

Bad:

- Spectre as an organization is a little too old school

- Lacks a powerful send off for a conclusion of Craig as Bond

- Disappointing villain 

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10