Daniel Craig returns as James Bond in his fourth movie as the famed agent 007. After being suspended after a botched mission in Mexico City, Bond tries to uncover the mysterious criminal organization known as SPECTRE.

Once again, Daniel Craig does a pretty good job of playing the world-famous secret agent. He manages to bring the more traditional aspects of the Bond character in this particular movie. Ben Whishaw does a fine job as Q considering he had big shoes to fill in after Desmond Llewelyn passed away. The film is also great from a technical standpoint. One of the major highlights of the movie is the long tracking shot at the beginning of the movie.

The main problem of this movie is that it appears to be suffering from an identity crisis. Its predecessor “Skyfall” combined the traditional Bond elements with the darker tones of “Casino Royale”. While this movie relies on the traditional Bond narrative, “Spectre” brings nothing new to the table. It doesn’t appear to have an identity of its own outside of borrowing established Bond tropes. A movie that was released earlier this year entitled “Kingsman: The Secret Service”, did a better job of paying homage to the Connery-era Bond movies. Some might find it strange that I amm criticizing a Bond for its storytelling but it’s rather disappointing considering it’s a follow-up to both “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall”.

Another critical aspect of the movie is usage of Christoph Waltz. While “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall” had well-developed villains, Waltz’s character was very underdeveloped considering his character is well-known in the franchise. He only appears for a total of 20 minutes throughout the duration of the movie. Although his character is just another stereotypical villain, Waltz does a fine job.

There have been rumors that this might be the Craig’s last movie as the Bond character. If this is the case, this is a rather lackluster way to go considering both “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall” are considered one of the strongest entries in the entire Bond series. Despite that, the technical aspects of the movie (plus Daniel Craig’s performance) are the movie’s saving grace. Overall, the positives of this particular movie outweigh the negatives.

SCORE: 3/5