MOVIE REVIEW: SPECTRE


4/5

Following the final testament of late "M" James Bond is tracking down the syndicate of killers, unaware that for him it's going to become the most personal battle yet.

James Bond films are famous to have an easy one line synopsis. The plot of SPECTRE is designed to finish the quartet of Daniel Craig journey as Bond, with story coming the full circle, uniting the elements and the characters from the previous films. 

Using familiar plot devices like putting the secret agency on the brink of extinction (latest Mission Impossible movie) and  creating an all seeing worldwide computer security system ("Captain America: Winter Soldier" and "Furious 7" played with the idea), it continues to give us a very human version of Bond. Here, once again, he is falling in Love.

What SPECTRE does best, however, is to preserve the atmosphere of a Bond movie the way we remember it, awakening nostalgia mixed with the sense of adventure, and a pure pleasure for those grew up with Bond Films. 

The sky battle above Mexico city, just before the opening titles, is probably the most spectacular sequence in the film. The later action is rather more meaningful then simply impressive, and the film is always focused on characters more then the next car chase.

Lea Seydoux has a fresh look for a Bond girl,  being very attractive she is, however, is not a perfect beauty. While Monica Belucci is exquisitely beautiful at 50, she, disappointingly, has only a brief appearance in the film. Christopher Waltz as the main villain gives a familiar performance and is quickly upstaged by Dave Batista's Mr Hinx, who does not talk, but bursting with monster energy, is a tribute to the old-fashionably brutal super-villains of the past.

The plot, overarching multiple films, seems a little too far fetched, but SPECTRE does more rights than wrongs, giving us one of the better Bond films and a perfect farewell for Daniel Craig.

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