Bond is back in all his glory in the 26th installment in the James Bond film series. Following the more personal exploration of Bond’s character in Skyfall, Director Sam Mendes’ second consecutive James Bond film, Spectre, is back on track to the fast paced action sequences and hand to hand combat scenes we’ve all come to know and love about these films.

There’s something about James Bond’s death-defying character that makes us crave more. The opening sequence is one of the most exhilarating in Bond’s history: staged in the midst of Mexico’s infamous Day of the Dead parade. In typical Bond fashion, viewers are then greeted with a stunning visual introduction, accompanied by the breathtaking vocals of British talent, Sam Smith. The audience find themselves ricocheting from Mexico, to London, to Italy, and finally to Morocco throughout the film, closely followed by explosions, car chases,and mysterious revelations.  Over the last 53 years, Bond films have seemed to stay fairly consistent. Spectre meets all the bond fan favourites: the girl, the car, and the well choreographed action scenes. However Mendes seems to take it a little further. As Mendes had done previously with Skyfall, Daniel Craig’s James Bond unmasks personal information, and fans are able to piece together a minuscule backstory to give the character a little more depth and meaning.

Daniel Craig’s outstanding performance and cunning presence throughout the film is something not to be ignored, successfully consuming every last drop of the viewers attention, and maintaining his reputation as the sternest Bond yet . Léa Seydoux’s performance as Bond girl, Madeleine Swann, left something to be desired, as the connection between her and Bond was not defined in such a way to make her any more relevant than the endless list of Bond girls. Christoph Waltz’s Bond villain Oberhauser is puny stacked against Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva, but this may be the fault of the writers, who failed developing Waltz’s character. Waltz however performed well with the character he was given, having a smart and ruthless aura about him. Although overall satisfying, the entire film felt rather under plotted and predictable. Some ridiculous decisions made by the characters felt unnecessary and were only written in for the sake of the plot to work. However dull the plot may be, the visuals and effects deliver a pleasant wow factor that is expected from every Bond film.

by LUKE WETZEL