2015 has been a banner year for spy films, with a total of four big budget films coming out. All four were good and very different. From the hyper-violent and outrageous (but also kinda brilliant) Kingsman: The Secret Service to the comedic Spy and the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible series. But the main event was always Spectre, the latest installment in the James Bond series. How does it stack up with the previous 23 films? Well, it's pretty decent for the most part, but I do have a few criticisms.
The film opens in a rather spectacular fashion with an impressive tracking shot as we follow James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) through the Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico City, following him through one long tracking shot through the festival, up into a hotel and then onto the roof, where he takes his place to attempt to assassinate Marco Sciarra (played by Alessandro Cremona), a known terrorist. While listening into their conversation, he discovers they are planning to blow up a Mexico City stadium. Bond is discovered and in the ensuing firefight, the bomb destined for the stadium is detonated, taking out the building they were in and part of the one Bond is on as well. Bond then pursues Sciarra, who survived the explosion, and in the ensuing fight is able to steal Sciarra's ring inscribed with a symbol of an octopus before killing him. Upon his return to London, Bond is placed on indefinite leave by M (played by Ralph Fiennes). Bond ignores M's decision, steals Q's prototype Aston Martin DB10 and travels to Rome to attend Sciarra's funeral and talk to his widow. Sciarra's widow is terrified and tells Bond of the mysterious criminal organization her husband belonged to called SPECTRE. Using Sciarra's ring, James infiltrates their meeting. To his surprise, his presence is discovered and pointed out by the leader of the organization, Franz Oberhauser (played by Christoph Waltz). Narrowly escaping with his life, he finds himself in a car chase with Mr. Hinx (played by Dave Bautista) through the streets of Rome, with Bond narrowly escaping.
Using the information he overheard from the meeting, Bond tracks down Mr. White (played by Jesper Christensen), an MI6 fugitive and former member of Quantum which was a subsidiary of SPECTRE. Mr. White, who is slowly dying of thallium poisoning, directs Bond to his daughter Madeline Swann (played by Lea Seydoux), who can show him to a hotel in Morocco called Le American, where he will find everything he needs to learn about SPECTRE and it's leader on the condition that Bond protects her from SPECTRE. Bond locates Swann working at a private clinic in the Austrian Alps, a place that no doubt reminded saavy Bond fans such as myself of Piz Gloria the clinic setting of much of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Anyway, after eluding SPECTRE goons at the clinic, Bond and Swann escape to Morocco. Once there, Bond is able to retrieve the documents to help him track down SPECTRE's base and it's leader. Bond and Swann join together to journey to SPECTRE's headquarters and take them down for good.
There is a lot I liked about Spectre. For starters, the full reset of the Bond series is now seemingly complete with this entry. We have the gunbarrel opening at the front of the movie again (where it belongs, dammit!). We have M back in his old office. We have Q and Moneypenny back as well and finally we have the infamous SPECTRE criminal organization and his chief baddie Blofeld back. Yes, I said it and it's not much of a spoiler since most called it from the start. Christoph Waltz is playing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, aka Franz Oberhauser, and he's just as magnificent as you can imagine. Any complaints I have are at the fault of the writing, not his performance. In fact, I would've been pissed if he hadn't been Blofeld. The movie is called Spectre for crying out loud! Daniel Craig, despite his genuine grouchiness towards the role of late, is actually quite good as Bond once again. He is even allowed to have some fun with the role this time out. The car chase between him and Mr. Hinx being a memorable standout as Bond tries to figure out all the DB10's added features. Sam Mendes once again imbues the film with plenty of style and substance, staging some genuinely memorable action sequences in the process. I appreciated the nods to previous Bond films as well, notably the nods to On Her Majesty's Secret Service I mentioned earlier and the smashy smashy fight on the train recalling both the iconic one between Bond and Grant in From Russia with Love as well as the one between Bond and Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (the Bond filmmakers sure do love their trains).
However, some of the writing is a bit spotty this time around. In particular there is a plot point concerning Blofeld that I won't spoil but is so obviously a half baked attempt to have continuity between all the Daniel Craig Bond films, which is notable for a series that until the Craig films seemed to carry a motto of continuity be damned! I mean, there were occasionally returning characters, sometimes even played by the same actor. But that was about as far as it went. I'd be fine with it if this was all planned from the start, but it so clearly was not and the movie kind of starts to fall apart as a result. It's not enough to destroy the movie, but it is a glaring flaw in the writing that is hard to ignore. Likewise, Judi Dench is sorely missed as M. She brought so much to the role and her absence is felt this time around. Ralph Fiennes has a tough act to follow, but thus far he's doing well with that he's given.
Overall, Spectre is a decent Bond film. It's not one of the best, but still plenty entertaining. I just wish they had thought through some of the plot points better. It's nice to see the series returning to the classic sensibilities of the Bond series and see the mainstays make their triumphant returns. I'll admit it, I can't wait to see what comes next, because as always James Bond will return.
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