A depressing, 'washed-up' lifeless Bond flic. Easily the worst Bond movie ever.

Rating: 3/10 (28 February 2019)

I am actually currently very 'unfamiliar' with.......and have never 'officially' rated ANY Daniel Craig-era James Bond movies -until NOW.
Up until the "Daniel Craig" era -- all James Bond movies -- even the 'worst' in the series -- have had a sense of 'magic' and 'charisma' as well as great action scenes and utilized 'techno-gadgetry' on a level that only few other movie franchises have. In my opinion, even the 'worst' James Bond movie that I can recall -up till the "Daniel Craig" era- "A View To a Kill" still effectively presented a certain level of 'magic' and 'intellectuality' and charisma and 'interest' that was befitting of this movie franchise. I recently 'officially rated' "A View To Kill" -- and rated this flic 2 stars......and considered it to be, by a slim margin, the worst Bond movie that I could recall watching. That being said, "A View to a Kill" is by no means a bad movie.....but it is 'mediocre.'
Daniel Craig, if nothing else, is perhaps an actor -- a 'product' of his era: Even though technically he is the first ever 'blonde-haired' James Bond actor....he does have a presence and a decent amount of 'charisma' and 'attitude' and 'demeanor' that is befitting of '007.' He is also -since he is a product of his era- easily the most stoic, serious, un-humorous and to a great degree 'mean-spirited' and vicious and sadistic James Bond actor -which, for me, makes him easily the least 'likeable' James Bond actor ever. He is in every way the 'antithesis' of esp. say, "Roger Moore." 007 actors such as Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, and Pierce Brosnan on the other hand found the perfect balance between being intelligent, dangerous, and serious....but also being 'likeable' and having much charsima and screen presence as well.
Another attribute of Craig is that he seems to probably be the most 'physically-adept' Bond actor ever -in terms of fighting ability and stunts...
The movie, "Spectre," starts out in Mexico City where "The Day of the Dead" is being celebrated. The imagery and cinematography for this event is saturated with soft and dusty yellow/orange hues and tones give the impression that Spectre is transpiring in a day and age of a post-apocalyptic neo steam-punk world. The opening helicopter scene is probably the most amazing helicopter action sequence since the beginning of the 1981 Bond flic "For Your Eyes Only." After this scene.....the plot of "Spectre" unfortunately lags into oblivion and remains quite 'uninteresting' -- only barely watcheable for quite sometime. The first half of the movie, "Spectre," especially......feels completely 'purposeless,' 'washed up,' 'pointless,' and 'dead.' All of the magic and interest that permeated Bond movies prior to the "Daniel Craig" era are completely 100% absent in much or most of "Spectre." The cinematography -esp. during the first half- of "Spectre" is dark, unimaginative, and uninteresting and is the antithesis of 'eye-candy': It is 'eye-salt.'
There is a 'semi-okay' car chase scene in which Bond is driving an Aston Martin or Jaguar.....but this is a very overrated chase scene and fails in comparison to pretty much all other car chase scenes in all previous Bond movies. This chase scene isn't nearly as memorable as car chase scenes in Vin Diesel movies "The Fast and the Furious" nor does it even compare to chase scenes in any of the movies of the "Jason Bourne" franchise. Even the opening car chase scene of the 1981 Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" (when Bond and his female companion bound over trees and hills in a four-wheel drive utility jeep-type vehicle) is much, much more interesting and 'creative.'
The plot and pacing of "Spectre" as well as the dismally-dark and depressing cinematography fortunately does become more 'intelligible' and interesting as the movie progresses, thank goodness. The scene where Bond chases villains -while Bond is in a plane and the villains are in vehicles- is definitely a fairly vintage "Bond-esque" scene....one of the EXTREMELY FEW in the entire movie.
Ben Whishaw is unbelievably-terribly-miscast as a new "Q" replacement. He isn't only '2 steps down' from the likeability and charisma and intelligence of the former "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn) - he is '20 steps down': He comes across as very confused and uncertain and unintelligent.
Finally, the "Spectre building complex" which comes into the plot towards the end of the movie doesn't embue anything resembling the sense of 'awe' or 'wonder' that villainous buildings/complexes embued in previous Bond movies -such as the orbiting space station in "Moonraker."
In my opinion, "Spectre" is clearly the worst Bond movie that I have so far ever seen or 'rated.' It seems to have higher 'production values' than 'A View to a Kill.' But most everything about 'Spectre' seems 'forced,' lifeless, pointless, lacking in magic or interest and just completely 'washed up.' The opening theme music "Writing's on the Wall" was merely just barely 'okay' -- and certainly far inferior to the Duran Duran theme song 'A View to a Kill' and most other theme songs from previous Bond flics. All things considered, I rate "Spectre" 3 stars.