007 - overcome by events

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 2015)

Action films have a problem this fall. The reality of the crazy world we live in is not only rapidly closing in the horrors and destruction imagined by script authors, but it is overcoming it also at some moments. 'Spectre' the 2015 edition of the adventures of Agent 007 has a number of TV screens that bring to the world TV audiences information about terror attacks taking place in locations like Mexico City, London or Capetown. Unfortunately they do not look much mode dramatic than what we have lately seen on the news about Paris.
So what is left for Agent 007 in a film set (or at least made) in 2015 at the time the news on TV screen compete and overcome the horrors imagined by Fleming and his followers? Director Sam Mendes brings into the story some of the recurring themes from 'Skyfall' as well as a number of characters from the new generation of Bond's companions. Ralph Fiennes is already comfortable in the role played in many episodes by Judy Dench, and the next generation of Q (Ben Whishaw) and Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) start to gain an air of familiarity. Daniel Craig continues to divide the fan base, bu then, was not this always the case with all Bonds since Sean Connery left the role of the Eyebrowed One? Action is more than reasonable, it is actually quite good in 'Spectre' but this is not something we should be surprised in a Bond movie. The only surprise is actually the lack of surprises.
With the new team taking control with good action, with a Bond widow (Monica Bellucci) worth every second (there are not too many) spent on screen and a Bond girl (Léa Seydoux) who seems here to stay at least for one more film why do I feel still so much missing in the new Bond? One of the reasons may be that the bad guys do not look so bad. It is not that Christoph Waltz is a bad actor, but we do know that in 2015 most of the bad guys have very different ideologies than the politically-correct one brought on screen by 'Spectre'. Old secret services configurations are outdated, and even the evil state surveillance does not seem too high a price to pay in a world dominated by terrorism. The no. 1 enemy of the new Bond film seems to be again reality.