Spectre

The 414th film I have seen in theaters…

Daniel Craig returns for his fourth Bond film.

Following one last directive from the late “M”, Bond discovers a conspiracy that leads him to Spectre, a global terrorist organization who has him targeted. Along the way, he meets Madeleine Swann- daughter of “Mr White”, they fall in love, and then he comes face to face with Blofeld- his long lost “Brother”. Sheesh.

Daniel Craig returns as James Bond. This is the closest he’s been to playing “Classic Bond” and he does fairly well. He is showing some age though. Not physically as much as emotionally. I think the rumors are true and he is ready to check out of this after #5.

The great one, Christoph Waltz appears as Franz Oberhauser, the long lost adopted brother of Bond who has turned to evil and become Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Yes. They gave him the Doctor Evil background. He is the ideal Blofeld hampered by a sub-par script. A damn shame.

Lea Sedoux is Madeleine Swann, a woman that breaks through Bond’s defenses and helps him leave MI6. Yes, she is supposed to be this generation’s “Theresa”. I can only imagine that Blofeld will kill her in the next film.

Bautista as Mr Hinx! This generation’s Jaws and Odd Job rolled into one! He completely fails. This guy was awesome in Guardians of the Galaxy, and is wasted here. A mute villain like the former, he does absolutely nothing, has a “Robert Shaw” style train fight, and dies like a chump. I can only hope he returns next time to redeem the character.

Some news was made of “mature” Monica Bellucci appearing as a Bond Girl. She mourns the death of her assassin husband, bones Bond, and disappears. Terrible role.

Ralph Fiennes returns as “M”, and thank god he did. I love the classic “M” with the wooden office.

Andrew Scott appears as random government official working for Spectre in a sub-plot that is incredibly stupid. Spectre, the organization that has ears everywhere, wants a bigger ear in central London.

Short but sweet, Jesper Christensen reappears as Mr. White. His few minutes of screen time were terrific.

Man, I wanted to love this movie. Blofeld is back! He even has his cat!!! Then they went full Dr Evil and it became even more nonsensical as it is revealed that Blofeld was responsible for everything that happened in the first 3 films. Even the theme song was bad. Completely forgettable other than they dude squealing about “The writing on the wall”.

The cast was great. The Director is a good one, very good. The script was pure shit. Far from the worst Bond film, Die Another Day, but not very good. An “okay” film that should have been top 3 of the year.

I had a similarly low view of Quantum of Solace when I first saw it. Repeated viewings made me appreciate it quite a bit. Maybe the same will happen here too. Too bad.