Spectre review: James Bond returns to the ham-fisted days of Roger Moore

comel91 · Post time 4-11-2015 02:58 PM

Earlier this year, a Spectre trailer spoof made the rounds, replacing shots of Daniel Craig’s modern take on James Bond with footage of Roger Moore. The joke was in the premise itself: while the latest string of movies have largely been praised for rebooting the character with a gritty, nihilistic edge, Moore’s films throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s have come to be seen as a series low point, heavy on wah-wah one-liners and comic book supervillainery. The current Bond era has tried to stay above that sort of thing, and when it did mine from the franchise’s past— and in Skyfall, it mined a lot — its memory was selective, mostly calling back to Sean Connery’s original take on the character.

With Spectre, the series is attempting to tie things together, wrapping up loose ends fromCasino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, while placing Bond up against one of his most classic nemeses: the titular criminal organization Spectre. With director Sam Mendes back for the second time in a row, I was expecting an adventure full of spectacle and scale, grounded by Craig’s tortured anti-hero superspy.

If only. Spectre is a mess; a listless mash-up of lazy gags and storytelling shortcuts that doesn’t just echo the series’ Mooreian lows — it undermines all the work the franchise has done since 2006. By the time it was over, I completely understood why Daniel Craig wants out.