By: Declan Hertel Entertainment Editor
Let’s begin with a disclaimer: I love James Bond. The suits, the gadgets, the villains, that theme song, the whole shebang. I especially love Daniel Craig’s run as Agent 007; in my opinion, he made the character seem more like an actual human being than any of the many others who portrayed Bond have.
“Spectre” is Craig’s almost-certainly final outing as Bond, and the film sees him going more rogue than ever before on an unofficial and mysterious mission at the behest of the now deceased M, played by Judi Dench (“Philomena”).
The opening sequence of the film starts with a long tracking shot of Bond in a Day of the Dead mask, following a man in a white suit, walking through a parade in Mexico City with a beautiful woman on his arm.
It’s quintessential Bond: sexy, dangerous, and indulgent.
We then move very swiftly through an exploding building, a foot chase through the parade, and a brutal fistfight in a helicopter over a mass of people gathered in the town square for the festival, complete with some serious aerial acrobatics.
It’s super intense, beautifully shot, and shamelessly over the top, serving as an excellent primer for the rest of the movie, which is all of the above.
Yes, “Spectre” is 140 minutes, but if you expected a James Bond film to be under two hours, you have some fundamental misconceptions about the franchise. That said, the grin on my face for the 140 minutes of the film could only be described as “really goofy.”
James Bond is pure fantasy, and “Spectre” provides a great deal of that fantasy. His world is a world of excess, decadence, and pure escapism.
The film mostly sticks to the established Bond formula, but I hardly think this is a bad thing.
Sure it gets a bit muddy at times, and Christoph Waltz’s (“Django Unchained”) excellent portrayal of the latest Bond villain is underused by a mile, but it hits its marks and hits them well, and I enjoyed every second.
I’ll be the first to admit that the Bond franchise’s treatment of women has never been stellar, but “Spectre” takes a step in the right direction.
It’s by no means perfect, but there’s definitely no deplorable conduct like some entries in the series have had (looking at you, shower scene in “Skyfall”).
The thing about James Bond is that he’s always a man of his time, yet as our world marches onward he’s a man out of time.
James Bond is still fundamentally the same as he was when he debuted with a different face in “Dr. No” those many years ago, but every installment changes him a bit. Craig’s Bond is the one I’ll miss most, mostly because he allowed us to see a man with darkness inside.
He was always the male fantasy that James Bond is at his core, but he also allowed himself to be vulnerable and scarred. That is what made him great.
I hope James Bond lives on after Craig leaves the role. But if it does not, I would be at peace with “Spectre” as the final entry. If you’re not a fan of Bond, this film probably won’t change your mind. But if you enjoy the franchise, you can’t go wrong.
3.5 of 4 paws
