James Bland.....

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2015)

Spectre is the latest in the James Bond series of films and its well named. This film is a ghostly shadow of films that have gone before it. It tries all too hard to recapture the essence of older films with set pieces using furniture, locations, clothing, weapons and vehicles that recall the 60's Bond era.
The key problem is there is little on offer in the way of original storytelling. Indeed, the story that is offered up looks more like its been modeled to accommodate the chic Bond 60's revival feel of the film. The result is a disjointed proposition that ambles from dispirit location to location with very little to bind the whole thing together.
The action is of the typical over the top Bond variety but somehow the villains feel a little dull and lifeless. Again rather than being original they feel like quickly assembled caricatures from past films. Worse still some of the action makes little sense. If you pay attention you will see things blow up for no obvious reason and hand guns, in particular, seem to have developed a range, accuracy and power no hand gun ever had. Suspension of disbelief is simply taken a little too far.
Perhaps the last thing that really kills of this film is the noticeable absence of classic bond presence. Daniel Craig's Bond is, for the most part, a rather dead pan character who lacks the classic Bond rascally wit and charm.
The end result of all of this is a film that's no terribly engaging or especially exciting. It simply lacks the style, humour and charisma of past Bond outings. Five out of ten from me.