Bond Starting to Feel a Little 'Bland'

Daniel Craig's lack of, um, warmth regarding his role as 007 may come across in his fourth and probably final James Bond flick, Spectre. Thought critics aren't exactly bashing it, the film isn't getting anything close to the kind reviews that Skyfall did back in 2012. Here's what critics are saying:

• "It's not—as some critics have said—the worst" Bond flick, writes David Edelstein at Vulture. It's "satisfying" enough, and actually "fun, even if it's a mishmash, leaving you shaken, not stirred." But the film doesn't "deliver the nipping, slightly syncopated rhythms of the best Bond films," and the bad guys don't get the send-offs you'd expect. Meanwhile, Craig, who had planned to reclaim some of the earlier films' irony, doesn't quite manage.
• Rex Reed titles his review as follows: "Bland, James Bland." Spectre is actually "one of the least interesting and most preposterous chapters in 007 history," he writes at the Observer. "We've seen it all before. Despite a plot trajectory that changes so often they seem to be making it up as they go along, everyone on and off the screen seems to be doing it by the numbers." Craig, in particular, looks bored.

• Steven Rea, however, is a fan. "It's business as usual, even if that business is pulled off with brilliant precision, ingeniously choreographed action, and an itinerary boasting some of the most photogenic spots on Earth," he writes at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He adds a "trim, terse, and tough" Craig "has proved himself the perfect Bond for the millennium," and doesn't disappoint here, though "at almost 21/2 hours, Spectre can drag."
• "It's not the best Bond you've ever seen, but on a scale of 1 to 10, it's a solid 008," writes Stephen Whitty at the Newark Star-Ledger. "The jokiness is toned down, and the grown-up elegance—mostly courtesy of a guest appearance by Monica Bellucci—is heightened." He adds that the movie has a "slow middle" that tries to wrap up forgotten plot points from the earlier Craig movies, and a "terrible theme song."

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