The Walther PPK compact pistol. Intense hand-to-hand combat. Cutting-edge technology. Seemingly random romantic endeavors with women with “shaken not stirred” martini, followed by that familiar visit to Q-branch and the MI6 director, M.
Yes, millennials, there was a famous action hero before Matt Damon’s Bourne movies, and that can only be one person: Daniel Craig returns in his fourth outing as James Bond in “007: Spectre” (Metro Goldwyn Mayer), now available in theaters, and, as of this re-working, on DVD in the United States.
First up: the plot. Similar to Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character in 1976’s “The Enforcer,” Bond finds his actions at the beginning of the film suspending him from his job indefinitely. M, his boss (played by Ralph Fiennes since Judi Dench's character died in "Skyfall"), had 007 injected with nanotechnology to track his movements so he does not try to “investigate” things as only Bond does.
“Spectre” tries to dodge some of the usual, ugly clichés of action movie damsel-in-distress formula, and it does with a number of surprises from really old Bond movies.
Let’s start with the most apparent one and put this review on hold for a moment: the front of the movie’s poster, a top-hatted man with a skeleton costume, rung firstly in my mind a villain from the 1973 Roger Moore 007 outing “Live and Let Die,” which consisted of such a character, Baron Samedi, as a secondary character.
However, Samedi makes no appearance in this film other than the aforementioned cryptic poster.
Back to the review. There are a few major twists and turns in this one that are in places you will not see coming. It is a little tricky to review this one without going too far, but here is a synopsis for you: after receiving that message from his past, Bond goes after the daughter of that messenger in a dramatic, action-filled quest to protect her at all costs from a shady organization known only as Spectre.
Through this action-filled story, Craig’s Bond starts to show us more depth of his character than something like the disappointing “Quantum of Solace” or the slightly confusing-at-times “Casino Royale,” so the script is obviously trying to breathe some life into the British agent.
It works, for the most part.
I have to honor this movie’s intense action (intense to that the organization which rates movies describe it as “intense violence”), reminiscence, epic car chase between expensive cars, exploding gadgets, and Bond’s refreshing depth. Since I have generally used the 4 star scale, I find it a fun enough movie to give 3 stars to. But the movie’s rather predictable ending a small plot hole stop me from giving it more…and wondering if its director, Sam Mendes, has the ability to stay on track with his interesting take on Bond, James Bond.
For the easygoing Bond fanatic, “Spectre” will likely please the crowds.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
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