Film Review - SPECTRE (2015)

SPECTRE is the latest James Bond film as Bond (Daniel Craig) faces a grounding following an incident in Mexico City but Bond later receives a cryptic message about a sinister organisation that could have deadly consequences for the world if it's not stopped.

Going into SPECTRE I was fairly down the middle about it hopes wise for while I've loved Daniel Craig as 007 I also feel that the films he's made so far haven't measured up for me primarily because all of them had fairly weak villains to deal with but with the fabled SPECTRE organisation finally coming back into the fold after so many years of legal battles could the tide finally turn?

Well it does and it doesn't for while I feel SPECTRE is a fun ride it also takes a big nosedive in its third act but before I talk about that in more detail I want to talk about the first two thirds of this film in more detail as during that period of the film it's a great ride, Craig is on fine form even if he feels a little tired of doing the role (more on that down below), Lea Seydoux a wonderful French actress does well as does Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw (Paddington) and Dave Bautista aka Drax from last year's Guardians of the Galaxy.

Plus this first two thirds has some great humour and action sequences especially when Craig and Bautista fight it out first in an Italian high speed chase and later on a train where the two finally face off and watching that scene I thought "At last, a proper villain who can knock Bond off."

But like I mentioned above the films third act really doesn't work and watching this section of the film I was reminded of sitting through the new Fantastic Four film from earlier this year in that it felt like there was no one in charge of this segment of the film and it just went in every direction it could go in despite it being blindly obvious where to go and sadly Christoph Waltz while he does very well does not have the material he deserves to have given his casting is a great idea.

But before I wrap this up I want to now talk about where to go next as it is clear to me that Craig's days in the role are pretty well numbered much like Sean's was after Thunderball in 1965 and if he decides to say to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson that he does not want to do the last film left on his deal then he should have that last part of his contract payed out and allow for a graceful exit from the role and the search for a replacement to begin.

And that replacement will have a tough time ahead of them as the series more broadly speaking needs to do 3 things going forward:

- The first is to embrace the growing calls for more diversity in our media these days whether that means casting Idris Elba as the new 007 or not the audience these days particularly people in their late 20s and early 30s want to see more women and people of colour in leading roles both in front of and behind the camera and that market has made its presence felt in the box office particularly with films like Straight Outta Compton becoming a huge hit in the US but whether Barbara and Michael will do this is a very tricky question.

- The second is that the series needs to craft more meaningful female characters in the style of someone like Tracy from On Her Majesty's Secret Service or Anya from the Spy Who Loved Me, the old days of Bond having his way with the women in the films I feel are over and given the global conversation about women in the industry and the huge challenges they are facing (just look at Jennifer Lawrence's recent essay about her pay deal for American Hustle) big film series like this one and Star Wars (which is taking those steps with the Force Awakens) need to lead the way because after all you don't see Paul Feig making Spy with Melissa McCarthy unless you sense that weakness in the spy film market.

- And lastly Bond has to leave Sony Pictures as their meddling with this film is all over the films third act and given the leaks from late last year Barbara and Michael who were rightly angry about their film getting caught up in them should consider Sony to be untrustworthy and find a new studio be it Warner Brothers or 20th Century Fox but given how Fox meddled with Fantastic Four in the way that they did perhaps WB could benefit from having 007 in their belt especially given how badly their Man from UNCLE did earlier this year.

And so that was SPECTRE one of the better 007 adventures but also has a bad third act as well as a sense of staleness to it and unless your a fan I cannot recommend you see it (what I can recommend though is Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman the Secret Service), 2 out of 5.