SPECTRE (SPOILER-FREE) REVIEW

What Is It: Spectre is the twenty-fourth James Bond film from Eon Productions and the fourth with Daniel Craig in the title role.  Returning characters include Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Q (Ben Whishaw), and M (Ralph Fiennes).  The plot is driven by Bond attempting to determine the secrets behind an unknown organization with a sinister agenda while M struggles with keeping MI6 relevant in the modern age of drones and cyber warfare.

My Experience: I can honestly say I haven't been in a theater that crowded probably since I saw the midnight showing of Star Trek: Into Darkness.  It was the opening weekend and the theater was nearly packed.  The average age of the crowd skewed a bit older than most of the movies I see, but that's to be expected of a James Bond film.  Most of the jokes seemed to land, which was something else I haven't seen in the theater in a while, and the audience appeared appropriately awed by the admittedly impressive cinematography.  I didn't feel much of a draw to any of the new characters, but the returning characters from previous films came back stronger than ever.  Unfortunately for me I wasn't impressed by Christoph Waltz's villain.  The relationship between Bond and Léa Seydoux's Dr. Madeleine Swann also felt forced in most of the film.

Why You Should See It: One of the best compliments I can give the film is that, despite being two and a half hours, it never felt long.  I'm sure there were some harsh editing choices that could have been made, but I was completely fine with the length of the film.  It was an enjoyable outing by Bond even if it wasn't as game-changing or well formed as its predecessor Skyfall.  Daniel Craig finally getting to embrace some of the more comedic parts of Bond and the expanded role of Q were particular high points for me.

​The Future: What we know is the franchise will continue and development on the next film will begin early next year.  Whether Daniel Craig will be returning and what the film will be about is still up in the air.