Haunted ‘Spectre’ misses 007’s target
The clichéd ghosts of James Bond past haunt Spectre, an action adventure whose biggest failure is looking back on 007’s own success.
Never coming close to the style or substance of 2012’s previous installment, Skyfall, Daniel Craig ’s fourth turn as the superspy isn’t his worst, and he and director Sam Mendes remain a dynamic duo for the franchise. As much as Spectre flirts with breaking from tradition, though, it leans too heavily on vehicles and explosions aplenty, gorgeous women and dastardly villains that hardcore Bond fans expect.
Right from the start, Bond goes rogue on a mission to Mexico to track down an assassin. His boss, M (Ralph Fiennes), is none too pleased with him since a government bureaucrat (Andrew Scott) is trying to shut down the “double-0” program of secret agents in favor of a collective using drones and surveillance.
Christoph Waltz turns the evil up to 11 for Franz Oberhauser, the leader of a secretive roundtable of terrorists known as SPECTRE, who has a surprise in store for Bond — but only after 007 meets Austrian doctor Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), a love interest who hangs with the suave spy while he takes out baddies in the Alps, on a train and back in jolly old England before the explosive climax.
Craig ’s Bond lacks the polish of Roger Moore’s and Pierce Brosnan’s versions, and for the better. Seydoux’s Swann is a strong female counterpoint to his bruising ways, but their romantic chemistry never comes together.
Monica Bellucci and Stephanie Sigman are wasted in small parts that exist only to move the plot forward.
But as SPECTRE’s Mr. Hinx, Dave Bautista turns in an inspired performance that nicely lives alongside past henchmen such as Jaws and Oddjob.
Instead of creating something new, the movie recycles the past, with recognizable throwbacks to Sean Connery, and defaults to what’s come before by the end.
It’s an odd decision, considering how successful the prior movie was with experimenting with the norm, as well as having to compete in pop culture post-Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer. Rehashing old James Bond material 50 years later isn’t likely to shake or stir anyone nowadays.