007 Debriefings: Spectre

Zero and The Wiz Say MISSION FAILURE for Spectre When thinking about the Craig era reboot of James Bond, a lot of the decisions that were made in Spectre make sense on paper. Things like Bond finding an eventual love interest after Vesper, the introduction of the criminal organization SPECTRE and, of course, the reveal of Ernst Stavro Blofeld sounds like great things to add into the reboot canon. But the decisions made in this movie are not only a total misfire, they hurt the overall quality of the Craig Era and, in some ways, lessens the quality of his other films. Bond seems to stray further away from how he was in Casino Royale, the eventual romance falls flat and the action, while visually appealing and has great stunts, lack stakes and just feel mechanical. But the one mistake that Spectre makes that destroys the movie is that of Blofeld. Waltz does as good of a job as he could, but the writing turns him into the standard super villain he was in the goofy Connery version. That makes it a stark contrast to everything that represents Bond in the Craig era. And then...the twist. Not only is the revelation that Blofeld was behind the last three movies feel stapled on to make Blofeld seem more important, but finding out that Blofeld is his brother is also laughably bad and pointless. I never thought I'd see the day that Bond would be taking elements from Austin Powers...and yet here we are. Despite it's gorgeous visuals and excellent stunt work, Spectre does so much damage to the Craig Bond era that it forms a cloud on the entire proceeding. A disaster on many fronts.