Tell Me of Your Thoughts on Bond

Full disclosure: I am one of the worlds foremost James Bond nuts. My taste in music, my preferences in architecture and other cultural signposts are certainly influenced by what I saw as a kid in these films. I presume even my political bent and world outlook was informed in childhood by the influences of my father and the church as much as they were reinforced by Bond lore.  After all, who doesn't want to believe that the government can dispatch someone who can travel to faraway land, blow up an evil doer's headquarters and end up always getting the girl?

I'm happy to say in my adulthood, that every so often I can still look to the big screen to see such a reassuring scenario.  In this sense SPECTRE delivers. But not flawlessly.

Long time Bond fans will be torn over certain elements of SPECTRE,  but those simply looking for the classic escapist Bond formula will likely be very pleased. Are we still looking at the recent psychiatric profiling of Bond in everything he does, infused by the screenwriters to give Bond a modern presence? Yes, every action he makes,  every subtle nuance is analyzed. It kind of makes want to wish we could go back to the Roger Moore days when no subtext existed whatsoever.   Yet these things add depth to the character and the plot, although there is one twist near the last quarter of the film  that may be such a wrong move that no level of front-loaded exposition can save it for what may be a very tragic mistake on the part of director Sam Mendes and his screenwriters   I won't tell you because it would be a spoiler, but I did want to warn you. Some folks don't mind stupid plot twists; I am not one of them.

Btw, in IMAX it's a big, loud thrill no matter what.