Release Date: Nov. 6, 2015

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Stars: James Bond (Daniel Craig), Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux),  Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), Denbigh (Andrew Scott), Gareth “M” Mallory (Ralph Fiennes)

Our Rating: B+

On Friday, Nov. 6, fans were greeted by another James Bond movie. Taking place shortly after Skyfall, a departed friend leaves James Bond (Daniel Craig) a message requesting he kill a man, leading Bond on a wild goose chase through the mysteries behind villains from previous films.

The film does have some intense action sequences, but also tones these down at times for fight scenes that contain fewer guns and more choreography. It also uses these moments to put more intrigue into the movie, making it resemble the previous generation of Bond films. Spectre starts off following the tradition that has been in nearly every other Bond film before of Bond in the middle of an unspecified mission. Bond is also portrayed more similarly to the Bond novels, portrayed as charming, but also unlikable at times, as he’s a cold murderer and raging alcoholic. Here’s freshman Sam White’s thoughts on the film:

While it’s great, the film is not perfect. It still has some major flaws – most notably, the intro song. The video behind the music is extremely weird, even for Bond standards. Besides this, the plot requires you to know the plots of all previous Daniel Craig Bonds. Along with this, it has some of the Bond tropes, including a damsel in distress, a thug and a weird deathtrap.

Overall, it was a good film, making the most money out of any Bond film in its opening weekend and keeping one of the oldest running franchises alive. It had many creative touches, while establishing the finishing touches to the current Bond formulas and staying more true to the characters of the books. But on the other hand, it had a very weird intro song and still suffered from the usual Bond cliches, making our rating for it a B+.