How Does Daniel Craig’s (Possibly) Last James Bond

Bond fans the world over ask nothing less, or more, of the franchise with a almost miraculous survival instinct. The action scenes are fast and furious and incredibly well shot. (The ones who aren’t dead are long retired, but you know what I mean.) But because Mendes is a fancy-pants artiste with an Oscar on his mantle (for the loathsome American Beauty), he feels obligated to proffer a sluggish meta-commentary on the iconography of classic Bond. And, chances are, you’ve seen at least one Bond movie over the years. In exchange for a brief, scowly sexual encounter, she provides Bond with a tip about a meeting of Spectre, infiltrated by 007 because he has purloined an evil-insignia ring. It might be time to figure out a way to reinject some life into this reboot or it’s going to get stale real quick – which would be a shame, because there are a few interesting developments that can be fun to play with in future movies.

“Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists”. “Not at all. That’s fine”.

Iconic is the first word that comes to mind when I think of the James Bond franchise. I’m over it at the moment.

The movie is bang on target in delivering what an audience wants: globetrotting locations, spectacular stunts, impossible intrigue, inconceivable costume changes, laugh-out-loud zingers and a plot that is at once utterly preposterous yet oddly apposite in its skewering of surveillance technology as inherently sinister and infinitely corruptible.

Speaking of Waltz, the actor does manage to bring a heightened level of presence to the movie as the main villain, despite only being featured towards the end. Like the overall tone of the movie, this leads to a somewhat confusing character that seems to contradict himself.

The opening sequence is a pip. You’ve got the gunshot-at-the-camera open, followed by credits full of writhing women (and a shirtless Daniel Craig, thank you feminism), then a big action scene, the dumdadadadumdadada-dumdadadaDUMdadada theme song, the presentation of the latest auto, then jumping and punching and shooting and creepy, aggressive sexuality (though both Lea Seydoux as Bond Girl Madeleine Swann and Naomie Harris as Awesome Girl Moneypenny do a lot to mitigate the misogyny, thank you feminism).

“I don’t think the actor needs to be British, but he has to play Bond as a British character”.

As stated in the opening paragraph, the basic setup is the exact same as Skyfall to almost the last detail but second rate to it, which is especially puzzling since Mendes set the bar in Skyfall.

Even still, the film should enjoy plenty of success in the box office despite the rather ho hum reviews.

Spectre is now out in theaters everywhere. (And it’s not particularly close.) But here, you can sense him checking out every so often, as if his attempts to ground the franchise in something rawer and angrier have, over the years, finally worn him down.