Beautiful but hollow

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2019)

This review contains spoilers.
Spectre is an action spy movie that premiered in 2015. The movie is directed by Sam Mendes who had directed Skyfall, the previous installment. The movie is based on James Bond by Ian Fleming. The movie stars Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz and Léa Seydoux. James Bond is pitted against the Spectre Organization which is revealed to have been responsible for the events of Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall. James Bond must thwart the leader of Spectre in Ernst Stavro Blofeld played by Christoph Waltz.
Spectre is a beautiful movie with exciting action scenes. The movie is well shot much like the previous Bond movie of Skyfall. The movie has amazing action set pieces that are both exciting and impressive to watch. Spectre has a great ability to convey tension to the screen with a few key visuals. The direction from Sam Mendes starts impressively and continues across the 140 minute running time. The James Bond movies always have an impressive opening scene and Spectre is no exception.
This opening scene is one of the most impressive opening scenes in the recent James Bond movies. The editing and direction flow incredibly well as James Bond is thwarting a terrorist plot in Mexico city during the Day of the Dead. This opening scene is one of my favorites across the James Bond movies that I have watched. The editing, and direction does continue into the running time and is an absolute positive for this movie.
Spectre's problems are however numerous. This movie is not well written. The movie felt like a mix between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall. The villain in Ernst Stavro Blofeld is similar to Raoul Silva from Skyfall. The villain has an intricate and well thought out plan with loads of resources. The plan is revenge against James Bond and MI6. The Quantum of Solace writing style seems that to have re-emerged in this movie. There is so much bloat in this movie. It seemed as if the movie tried to both play it safe and take risks which lead to an inconsistent tone. There are so many plot points that the viewers simply have to accept. This movie throws these plot points in to be accepted by the fans of previous movies. I felt that this did taint the older movies rather than offer a new way of looking at the older movies. I felt that the older movies were better off at feeling more stand-alone rather than being forced to tie in a long story arc across multiple movies. This made the movie of Spectre feel less impactful than it should have been. The grand reveal that both James Bond and Ernst Stavro Blofeld shared a common childhood felt incredibly hollow. None of the earlier James Bond's had even hinted at this. This is absolutely an aspect that could have been improved upon to help the story, but it required more of a setup across the earlier Bond films.
The acting in this movie is solid. The three leads in Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, and Léa Seydoux do a capable job. I enjoyed Christoph Waltz's performance even though I did not enjoy his character. Christoph is able to portray a great screen presence even when his character is not well written Likewise Léa Seydoux and Daniel Craig do a good job in their roles. It would have been better to see more from Léa Seydoux's character of Dr. Madeleine Swann, who is not introduced until the movie is already well underway.
Spectre is not recommended. The movie has enough to satisfy action junkies but anyone looking to a conclusion to Bond's story are started in Casino Royale will be disappointed.
Grade: D