"Spectre" is an entertaining enough action/spy film, but disappointing as a Bond film.

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2015)

Let's take a moment to talk about the octopus, whose image and symbolism figure prominently in 2015's cinematic James Bond incarnation, "Spectre" (PG-13, 2:28). The creature's eight tentacles have often been used as symbolic of people or organizations with a wide and varied reach, but that's only the most obvious example of octopus as metaphor. As a cephalopod mollusc, the octopus lacks a fixed skeletal structure, which enables it to more easily hide from its enemies. It can also defend itself by emitting an ink cloud, which functions as a smoke screen to enable its escape, and also uses its explosive speed to great advantage. If necessary, it can even shed tentacles and still survive. The octopus has three hearts, as opposed to the single heart in us fragile humans. The creature's nervous system is similarly decentralized, meaning that its brain doesn't control all of its movements. Octopus tentacles sense and react separately from each other, yet to the singular benefit of the whole organization, er, I mean, organism. The tentacles and their suction cups can reach relatively far and wide for food, yet the nourishment all finds its way to the appropriate spot in the octopus' one and only head. Many facts about the octopus make it a compelling symbol for the villainous international entity called Spectre.
Before images of octopus tentacles float throughout the film's title sequence, the sea creature's evocative image has already made its appearance in the midst of the action on screen. James Bond (Daniel Craig, in his fourth and reportedly final outing as 007) is in Mexico City for the Day of the Dead festival. He's there to use his License to Kill against a highly-placed international criminal figure. After nearly having a building fall on top of him and almost being thrown from a helicopter flying erratically over a crowded public square, Bond returns to London, claiming that he had been in Mexico "on holiday". Bond's current supervisor, the new M (Ralph Fiennes), restricts him to London, but with help from M's assistant, Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and the technical and computer whiz called Q (Ben Whishaw), that doesn't last very long. Bond was in Mexico on a mission, which led to revelations that turn out to be dangerous to people all around the world as well as very personal to Bond himself.
With information from an assassin's widow (Monica Bellucci), whom he meets in Rome, Bond soon finds himself in direct confrontation with the international crime organization known as Spectre. This is a group of people who are involved in everything from human trafficking to covert surveillance, all to build both wealth and power. Spectre's leader (Christoph Waltz) takes a very intense interest in 007, for both professional and personal reasons, and this guy manages to get inside Bond's head very effectively! Before he can even try to take down the criminal mastermind, James has to keep out of the clutches of Spectre's murderous thug, Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), confront an old adversary, and try to protect this film's main "Bond girl", Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), who, of course, is the only person who can help him find and defeat Spectre. Meanwhile, in the midst of all of this action and intrigue, M is back in London trying to reign Bond in and fight the efforts of a British government official known as C (Andrew Scott) who believes that the double-O program (as in, "007") is outdated and needs to be terminated.
"Spectre" is, in its own right, an entertaining globe-trotting action-adventure, but suffers by comparison to the other recent Bond films. It starts out thrillingly enough, causing me to hold my nacho in mid-air above my cheese dip until the movie's first few breathless moments had passed. And for a while after that beautifully stylistic title sequence, the plot looks promising. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the movie becomes much like the brand new Astin Martin that Bond dumps in the Tiber River - soggy and not worth as much as its earlier versions. Craig looks as tired as some audience members by the end of the film's 2 ½ hour running time. Seydoux reminds one a little of a young Annette Bening and she looks great in a silky evening gown, but her character lacks the intelligence and sultriness to be a proper Bond girl. The villains aren't especially compelling either. Waltz was more menacing at some moments in "Big Eyes". Bond dispatches one bad guy after the doomed thug makes a very corny utterance in the midst of a scene that feels stolen from "Air Force One" and then 007 fails to put another threat to innocent people everywhere out of his existential misery when all common sense seems to demand it.
Several moments in this movie are either non-sensical, corny or derivative. For example: Why would South Africa be the one holdout in an international intelligence consortium that, for some unexplained reason, can't move forward without them? The movie does a great job of honoring past Bond films and tying together all four of Craig's 007 excursions, but overdoes it just a bit. The major conflicts, with Bond pursuing a secretive criminal organization while others are fighting the proposed elimination of his job, feels a bit too much like the plot of "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" earlier in 2015. Not to accuse either movie of copying the other, but having seen this basic story just a few months earlier does rob the 24th (official) Bond film of some of its impact. Having said all that, what these criticisms mainly reflect is my general disappointment in "Spectre", compared to the last three Bond films which raised the bar for the venerable franchise. The movie is above-average as an actioner and a spy flick, and is a good Bond film, but just not great. I recommend it, but just barely: "B-"