"Spectre" Review - Written by Tim Hellman

'SPECTRE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

The 24th James Bond movie; and the 4th installment starring Daniel Craig. This one has Bond battling an evil organization, known as SPECTRE, as well as corrupt political forces. It was directed by Sam Mendes (who also helmed the last Bond flick, 'SKYFALL') and it was written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Jez Butterwort. The movie costars Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott and Monica Bellucci. It's not quite as good as 'SKYFALL' or 'CASINO ROYALE', but it is one of the better Bond films (throughout the franchise's history).

James Bond (Craig) is on a special mission, given to him by the deceased M (Judi Dench), before she died, to track down a ruthless organization known as SPECTRE. He's relieved from duty, by his new superior, the new M (Fiennes), but travels to Rome anyway; in pursuit of the terrorist organization. Bond finds aid from former allies, Q (Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Harris), while also falling for the daughter of a previous enemy, named Dr. Madeline Swann (Seydoux). Bond also finds lethal opposition, from the head of SPECTRE, Franz Oberhauser (Waltz), and his deadly henchman, Mr. Hinx (Bautista). At the same time there's a political struggle, between the new M and the new head of the Joint Intelligence Service, called C (Scott); who wants to eliminate the '00' program.

The movie cost between $245 and $300 million to make, and it's reportedly one of the most expensive films ever made; you can see nearly every dollar of it up on screen though! The action scenes are breathless and geniuslly done. I really like Bautista as Mr. Hinx; I think he's probably the best Bond goon since Richard Kiel, as Jaws. At times the film even feels a lot like 'THE SPY WHO LOVED ME'. The romance, of the film, is completely unbelievable though (even for a Bond movie) and Seydoux was severely miscast as a Bond girl (her and Craig have absolutely no chemisty together). I wish Bellucci (the oldest actress ever cast as a Bond girl, at 51) didn't have such a small part. Like all James Bond movies, the film is too long, and slow-paced (at times), but it's still well worth seeing!