In the fall of 2012, moviegoers were treated with the action-packed Skyfall, the 23rd entry in the long-running James Bond franchise. With a stellar cast, stunts, nods to the franchise's past, a theme sung beautifully by Adele, and an added emotional element unfamiliar to the series, Skyfall quickly became one of the biggest hits of the year, and the highest-grossing Bond movie to date.
Three years later, James Bond makes his return in Spectre, a movie fans and critics have been anticipating to be bigger, and better, than its predecessor. With Daniel Craig, who has played Bond since 2006's Casino Royale, and Skyfall director Sam Mendes returning, Spectre appears ready to meet all expectations. However, the only thing bigger about the Bond series' 24th entry is its runtime. Although entertaining, it is ultimately a disappointment, with very little to add to the series.
The film opens, however, with a stunning action sequence, where Mendes makes use of long-held shots to keep the scene fluid and suspenseful. We see Bond sliding down collapsing buildings and hanging out of a helicopter, keeping with the tradition of breathtaking stunts to hook the audience from the start.
Following such a satisfying opening, we see an interesting, but admittedly strange title sequence with Bond covered not only in women, but octopus tentacles. Visually it is very “out there,” but works because of Sam Smith’s emotional “Writing’s on the Wall,” a theme that gladly lives up to its Adele predecessor.
Despite this strong opening and theme however, the rest of the film comes with many unfortunate mistakes. The story, for example, advertised as a personal journey for Bond, never plays up this idea, with only subtle hints of character development under the action. Similarly, the villainous organization the movie lends its name to never has a strong presence, and its Christoph Waltz-played leader has no believable motivation.
Perhaps the most disappointing part of the movie is Waltz’s character. As a follow-up to Javier Bardem’s Silva in Skyfall, he has no menace, and in a 148 minute long movie, it is almost like he is not even there. Waltz, who has played such great villains in films like Inglourious Basterds, could have been so much more here.
To the filmmakers’ credit, however, it is shot beautifully, acted well, and clearly had great care in its editing. Its later action scenes, even with the film’s mediocre story, are still enough to keep it a fun viewing experience. Overall, Spectre is an entertaining and worthwhile action film, but is plagued by wasted potential and a long running time. It is unmistakably a Bond film, just not the one fans were expecting.