by Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright November 2015
Spectre feels like one of the later Roger Moore versions of the James Bond movie series. It has great sets, exotic locals, and a ho-hum story. The story is ho-hum because it is cliched, trendy and confusing.
The cliches start at the beginning... well, after the flashy stunt start that is a bond movie theme. (I won't call that a cliche.) The first cliche is that the 007 program is not working and getting phased out -- Bond is on his own... again... [sigh].
The trendy part is that the main story and sub story both turn out to be family arguments. One of them is that Bond is a step-brother to Blofeld, the top villain in Spectre. There is some end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it threat, but it has just a bit part in this movie.
The confusing part is all the inconsistencies throughout the story. There are a lot of imaginative chase scenes that, other than being imaginative, just don't make any sense. One of the consistent inconsistencies in these is that Bond is shooting down all sorts of big vehicles at long distances with a small pistol. Another is that after he takes damage in one scene, he will recover completely seconds later for the next scene. Yet another is that all the traveling around makes little sense.
Spectre is a James Bond movie, but that is really all it has going for it. The neat story ideas have run out again.
-- The End --