PASS

SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.

TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

It's totally unbelievable that the same team who made the near-masterpiece Skyfall returned to produce a sequel with exact opposite quality!

Let's get down it. The main issue lies with the writing, plain and simple. The plot is dry, tepid and tensionless. To be honest, how many times are we going to see James Bond (Daniel Craig) being grounded by MI6? Merging MI6 and banning the 00 program provides little to no threat to the audiences because the overall story is extremely subpar! In an effort to pair Bond with a new love interest after Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) from Casino Royale, we follow a tiring journey of the protagonist swearing to protect Dr. Madeleine (Léa Seydoux), who happens to be the daughter of Mr. White (Jesper Christensen). Yes, the same Mr. White who was one of the antagonists in the past instalments. Seriously, who in the writing team thought this was the most exciting and logical idea that would warrant a sequel? How are the audiences supposed to care about the safety of a villain's daughter? Léa Seydoux is an incredibly boring character to watch, with everything she touches containing a backstory about her father that she has to narrate without fail. The moment the movie completely drops the ball is when primary antagonist Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) announces that he has been orchestrating all the events happened in all the previous pictures to get at James Bond, because of childhood jealousy and daddy issues. It's truly shocking that a high caliber director like Sam Mendes went along with this idea. What a shame!

At least, the action sequences are entertaining. Chopper brawl and accidental building collapse during an amazingly erected Day of the Dead festival at Mexico City, car chase around Rome with car ammunition trick and parachute exit-in-style, plane versus cars at the snowy mountains with enemies simultaneously chasing after Q (Ben Whishaw) and Mr. Hink (Dave Bautista) whopping Bond in a train carriage are fun no doubt! Bond manipulating Q to work for him and stealing the Aston Martin meant for 009, Mr. Hink's killing credential, Bond finding a secret room after intimidating a rat and the needle torture chamber followed by a foolishly done escape are some of the interesting scenes Spectre has to offer. Not to forget, Hoyte van Hoytema's camerawork is solid.