By Lily Mather
*Some spoilers in this review
Spectre is the 24th installment in the Bond franchise and is definitely not in the top ten. This movie may be the last time we see Daniel Craig as James Bond, and that might not be a bad thing. Now I think he’s done a pretty good job as the character and I’m sure there are many people that agree with me. But this movie just wasn’t good.
For starters the plot was a mess, as in it didn’t make any sense. It supposed to connect the past previous film with an underlying villain and a evil organization. The antagonist, The Pale King, is meant to be someone Bond was friends with years ago but he has never been mentioned before as a friend or as a villain. It also brings back a villain from “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” and I didn’t even realize it. Now I’ve seen all of Daniel Craig’s Bond Movies at least more than once but I’m not going to remember a villain from a movie that came out 9 years ago.
I also feel like half the movie was spent in a crashing helicopter or in a car race. The “spectacular” opening scene in Mexico during Day of the Dead was ruined by 10 minutes of a fight in a helicopter that turned monotonous two minutes in. There was the feeling that they were trying to out do “Skyfall” but they kinda failed. The antagonist from “Skyfall” had a reason for his revenge on 007 and M but the one in “Spectre” had a flimsy daddy issues that he took out one Bond. Everything that the villain did was for a completely stupid reason and left no impact on me.
Every James Bond film has a “Bond Girl” and I was not impressed with the one in Spectre, Madeleine Swann. Her likeable traits were all redundant in the first 30 minutes after she was introduced. At first they hinted there would be no relationship between her and 007 and I was excited for no crappy, rushed relationship that wouldn’t help the movie’s quality. This of course was ruined like three minutes later and gave the movie a stupid ending. And was the ending bad. Riding off in the sunset with a girl he meet two days ago that claimed to know his feelings? Really? Is this a James Bond film or a bad action movie from 90s? Not all James Bond movies are good but Daniel Craig’s latest installment needs a lot of fixes.
The movie wasn’t all bad decisions and shotty plots points though. M, Q, and Moneypenny, who were introduced in “Skyfall”, got more screen time and were enjoyable parts of the movie. I liked their interactions with Bond and gave him more of a personality than being a cold killer or lady’s man. The action scenes were nicely shot and a couple were not entirely boring.
James Bond “Spectre” is not the worst movie or worst Bond movie made, but it’s definitely the worst in a long time. To much of it didn’t make sense or was all over the place. Its an enjoyable action movie if you forget Skyfall’s excellence, the bad plot, or the fact that it’s suppose to be a Bond movie at all. The franchise needs a new face and probably a new formula. LIke I said, this is mostly likely Craig’s last movie, so hopefully with a new actor there’s better writing. Unless you’re a huge James Bond fan, I would suggest waiting for RedBox or skipping it all together.
