Rating: 4/5

Three-Word Summary: Bond villain backstory

Those of us who have seen all of the 23 James Bond films prior to Spectre will notice that the film’s title is a reference to the vast criminal organization which dominates so many of the other Bond installations.

In fact, that’s not the only reference to past films found in the latest one. Here’s a whole video uncovering all of the allusions.

Different from the last three movies starring Daniel Craig, Spetre is much more of a classic Bond film in a number of ways:

• The usual gun barrel opening
• Less gritty and more grand action
• A silent henchman that just won’t die
• An Aston Martin with all of the gadgets
• He orders a vodka martini: shaken, not stirred

These were seemingly out of character with Bond during Craig’s tenure. However, I believe that this was intentionally done by the film makers.

If you’ve seen the last four Bond films, you’ll begin to notice that they establish sort of an anachronistic prequel series to the remainder of the cannon.

Casino Royale involves Bond’s first mission. Skyfall delves into Bond’s backstory. And Spetre establishes his biggest nemesis.

When viewed in this light, fans of James Bond can appreciate Spetre’s contribution to the series as a whole. I agree that it was’t as satisfying as Skyfall or Casino Royale; but neither is it as campy as Moonraker or Octupussy.

In the end, it’s just another decent chapter in a lengthy, yet memorable spy saga.