A Specter is Haunting the Movies

I usually don't write up a movie in this blog for a week or so after I watch it, to give me a chance to mull it over. For example, we watched Spectre (2015) two weeks ago. Unfortunately, I've forgotten almost every detail of the movie since then.

I remember the opening set piece in Mexico - It's a Day of the Dead celebration and everyone in dressed and masked as skeletons. I remember the fight in the helicopter flying dangerously low over a crowded square. And... that's about it.

I remember that this is the film that Daniel-Craig-as-Bond meets Blofeld (Christopher Waltz) and discovers SPECTRE. It turns out that they have been behind everything in the series: Quantum, Skyfall, etc. Also, Blofeld is Bond's half-brother or something. I'll ask again: Why do screenwriters always go for daddy issues to raise the stakes? It just seems lazy to me.

So, I didn't think much of the plot. Honestly, whenever I think I remember a scene (like the record store or the opera scene), it turns out I'm thinking of Mission Impossible. Still, I do remember enjoying watching it. Little bits of business, like seeing Bond order a vodka martini and getting a health shake instead. The SPECTRE octopus rings were pretty metal, too.

Craig is still my second favorite Bond (after Jimmy Bond, Woody Allen), and this is still a fun action franchise. But totally forgettable, if my experience counts for anything (and it may not, maybe I just fell asleep again).