What do we want from our Bond?

Rating: 5/10 (15 November 2015)

After fifty years and two films for every book, it seems like we should be able to decide what we want from our Bond movies. Decades ago these films were mostly just goofy. I say this with love. The Craig era has attempted flush out 007 beyond a collection of tropes and add some genuine drama. Spectre cannot hope to rise above a middling action movie because it simply cannot make up its mind.
Spectre gets the basics right. Thank the budget, Bond is certainly an international man of mystery. With three continents worth of exotic locales, you have to respect a movie that could go anywhere and chooses to go everywhere. Obviously, there are many explody bits along the way. You get your money's worth, just absolutely nothing else. Spectre is supposed to be the resolution of an arc, but you can rarely tell. The plot is simple. Bond finds a lead, follows it, finds a lead, follows it. A to B to C to D. oh the monotony. For two and a half hours. Sure the prequels did this, but in those there are satisfactory discoveries or we are not made to feel the expectation of a major revelation at every turn. Even a different/intelligent villain is too much to ask for. You would think an all-powerful all-seeing organization could afford a couple more henchman. Christoph Waltz acts the shadowy boss well, but his character is a disaster. Blofeld is responsible for the events in all the preceding Craig films, but when he personally takes center stage his incompetence is almost humorous. The overconfident supervillain trope only works in comedies. The least he could do was kidnap the girl correctly. Another forgivable sin if it were not for the constant buildup. At this point I am just ranting and I do not want to give a totally negative impression. The film functions. The little gags get some laughs. If the supports are not memorable at least they are solid. I am not opposed to a new model Bond movie. It is simply whenever Spectre exhibits ambition it begins to crumble.