God help Christoph Waltz, and thank god for Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris

Rating: 7/10 (6 October 2016)

I am so biased towards James Bond films that I might end up giving 8, 9 or 10 stars to all the Bond films that I have seen. But I give "Spectre" only 7 stars. Of all the Daniel-Craig-as-Bond films, I have not seen only one, "Quantum of Solace". Bond is brooding again, and there is hardly anything in "Spectre" that I have not seen in any of the Bond films featuring Daniel Craig as Bond. Also, there is quite some introspection and retrospection - though not as much as in "Skyfall", thankfully - and Bond is again fighting ghosts from his past. The villain, Franz Oberhauser alias Ernst Stavro Blofeld (played by Christoph Waltz, and he is a complete waste in this role; someone please ask him if, after films like "Inglourious Basterds", "Django Unchained" and "Carnage", was it so important for him to do a Bond film just because it is a Bond film??), heads a mafia-like organisation called Spectre, which is connected to most of the important people from our current Bond's past. Be it the last M (played by Judi Dench), Le Chiffre (played by Mads Mikkelsen) from "Casino Royale", Silva (played by Javier Bardem) from "Skyfall", or Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) from "Casino Royale" - I have not seen "Quantum of Solace" so I cannot name characters from that film - Spectre is connected to all. It is Bond's job to nab Franz and finish Spectre. "Spectre" is stylish, no doubt, but I liked it only for one thing➖for giving more screen time to two vital characters from the Bond franchise who mostly have fleeting roles in most other Bond films: Q and Moneypenny. Ben Whishaw as Q and Naomie Harris as Moneypenny are fabulous; also, there are some hilarious lines between their characters and Bond. The bad thing about "Spectre", which is also the bad thing with most post-Daniel Craig Bond films: Bond girls are just ornamental. Yes, Bond girls have always been ornamental. But the earlier Bond girls, till "Die Another Day", despite just being an accessory to Bond, had spunk and an individuality. Remember Michelle Yeoh's kung-fu and motorcycle ride in "Tomorrow Never Dies", Halle Berry's jump into the sea in Cuba in "Die Another Day", Sophie Marceau's ambition in "The World Is Not Enough", Rosamund Pike's sophistication in "Die Another Day", or Famke Janssen's uninhibited sadistic sexuality in "GoldenEye"➖those were the Bond girls who could do their own things on their own. Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh in "Tomorrow Never Dies") and Jinx Jordan (Halle Berry in "Die Another Day") did not need any man to rescue them. Even Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco in "GoldenEye") and Christmas Jones (Denise Richards in "The World Is Not Enough") were able to manage on their own. But post-Daniel Craig Bond girls, despite being kind of intellectually superior - Vesper Lynd was an agent of the British treasury, while Madeiline Swann (Léa Seydoux in "Spectre") is a psychologist - have been given mostly dark and sad back-stories, maybe to match the broodiness of the current Bond. There is glamour galore in the Bond girls in "Spectre". Monica Bellucci's stilettos and shades and Léa Seydoux's dresses and shades are to die for➖but what else is there in them? Unlike the pre-Daniel Craig Bond girls, they can't even fight their own fights and need Bond to rescue them. And in post-Daniel Craig Bond films, most Bond girls die. Eva Green's and Caterina Murino's characters died in "Casino Royale", Bérénice Lim Marlohe's character died in "Skyfall"➖thankfully, Lucia Sciarra (played by Monica Bellucci) and Madeiline Swann do not die in "Spectre". But, seriously, this new brooding Bond has taken away all life, all individuality from the Bond girls. Also, the theme song. While Adele's "Skyfall" worked excellently as a standalone piece, Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall" could be brought into perspective only if one sees "Spectre" right from the beginning till the end. Just 7/10➖and that too because of Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris; and because Daniel Craig, with his gym-toned body, appears topless during the opening credits. Also, trivia check: In the climax of "Spectre", in the list of names of all the MI6 agents - written on a wall in the bombed MI6 building (check "Skyfall"), hence, Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall" - who laid down their lives in the service of their nation, I spotted a name "Emma Peel". Ms. Peel was the heroine of the TV series, "The Avengers", whose film adaptation I saw, with the rubber-limbed Uma Thurman playing Emma Peel. I still have superb memories of that Ralph Fiennes-Uma Thurman-Sean Connery-starrer, "The Avengers", released in the late 1990s. Who knew that one day something called "Marvel's The Avengers" would come out of Hollywood and spoil the British beauty?