Despite the bad reviews that have surfaced lately, I still took the family to see the new James Bond movie. How could I not? I’ve been a fan for the most part of my 43 years. When I was in my teens during the 80s, I was able to see all of the James Bond films from the 60s and 70s. For some reason I can’t recall, the producers saw fit to issue a theater release of them. At a pace of one per month, it took me over a year to catch up. But I consider myself privileged to have experienced all of them in a movie theater, as they were meant to be seen.
I believe every fan grows fond of the first Bond they meet. For me, it was Roger Moore, whom I even met personally when he visited Honduras as a Unicef ambassador. My kids have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan. However, we all agree that Daniel Craig did a good job of shedding 40 years of patterns and customs with the new beginning that was Casino Royale. That was until now.
So it is safe to say we enjoy the films—all of them, even the maligned Quantum of Solace. Spectre has garnered some bad rep, and yet it is the first movie from Craig that has all the classic elements of a Bond film: the walk down the barrel, the pre-credits sequence, the gadgets, the women, the cars, the unique henchman, and the megalomaniac antagonist with contrived ways of killing 007. Don’t fool yourself, Spectre has it all. In fact, the movie has so many references to previous ones that this should have been the anniversary feature instead of Skyfall.
I think people are put off because we have grown accustomed to a different kind of Bond movie. Daniel Craig’s previous entries have set us up to expect a sober, gadget-free agent, one that is almost too real. So now that we get this throwback action flick which evokes its predecessors it is bad-mouthed. Spectre may not a perfect movie, but I consider it's a good Bond movie if you judge it by the average of 20+ films standards and not just the last three.
