Bond nods to the past

Rating: 7/10 (20 April 2016)

'SPECTRE,' the newest installment in the venerable James Bond franchise is the inevitable end of a progression that began when Daniel Craig took over the lead role in 'Casino Royale' (2006). Although the Bond franchise clearly needed a fresh start/reboot, I felt that movie went too far in the direction of bringing Bond down to earth (as 'Batman Begins' had with its titular hero) and stripping away the mythology of the series. 'Skyfall' (2012) took great steps in restoring classic elements of the Bond mythology. 'SPECTRE,' while a quite enjoyable installment in its own right, leans a bit too much to Bond as "superhero assassin who blows up secret underground base and lands without a scratch in the arms of a bodacious foreign babe" version of the character. In this sense, it's a very safe movie. Christoph Waltz is adequate as the villain, but the attempt to create a personal relationship between and him and Bond seems a dead end story-wise and nothing comes of it.