Spectre

Movie Name: Spectre

Year of Release: 2015

Director: Sam Mendes

Stars: Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Jesper Christensen, Stephanie Sigman

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis & Review:

After the colossal success of "Skyfall", director Sam Mendes is back, with yet another world trip alongside James Bond. This time around, James Bond faces an enemy that is the umbrella under which all of his previous enemies originated from - the organization by the name of Spectre, and specifically under the tutelage of someone from his own past, a man named Blofeld. Bond starts by sabotaging Spectre's plans in Mexico City, and quickly moves to London, where he has to navigate the efforts of a new Intelligence Bureau adamant on terminating the 00 program, that is being created by an ambitious man by the name of C. Unraveling these plans leads back to Mr. White (the character introduced in Martin Campbell's "Casino Royale"), and eventually to his daughter. It's up to Bond and his team, to defeat Spectre and their goal of taking over the world with a unified surveillance system that tracks everything and everyone.
The James Bond series has a reached at this point a level of polish that is undeniable. The production assets behind these films have reached a tremendous level of sophistication, where the glossiness of it all pours from every inch of celluloid on screen (or in case of digital, of every byte on screen). That being said, it also means that these films have a formula that they abide to, and the variables end up being the players and the locations where they are set. "Skyfall" deviated a bit from this formula, in the sense that it presented a closer relationship between the action and the past of James Bond himself, something that the series has always shied away from. "Spectre" tries to pick up that pace, but also be reverential of past adventures, which means that it presents bigger explosions and set pieces, something that eventually dwarves the actors, their interactions and whatever subtlety the screenplay has. The main villain on this film has little if anything to do, and the level of danger is close to none (even more shocking when compared to the edge and charisma brought by Javier Bardem in "Skyfall"). Where the film does succeed is in the stunts, the action set pieces and in the supporting cast that make the film tolerable, particularly the wonderful Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris. The cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema is superb as is the elegant score from Thomas Newman. Entertaining, yet not quite as iconic as its previous installment.