Alien at the Movies

SPECTRE

Bond is back with a bang and "Skyfall" had set the tone for rebooting the franchise story arc. Daniel Craig as 007 seems to be on an unsanctioned mission and the double-oh program is in jeopardy of being shut down. Also back are Bond's colleagues, Moneypenny, Q (the quartermaster) and the new M (Mallory). Christoph Waltz plays the villain behind the secret organization SPECTRE that is bent on world domination and David Bautista is the henchman brute. A new character referred to as C joins the espionage alphabet soup. Designed for today's action thrill seeking audiences, the film is loaded with big over the top explosions and high impact fight scenes. The plot reaches back to connect to Craig's first three 007 efforts as well as to some classic Bond films including "From Russia with Love" & "Goldfinger".  The locales are spectacular as Bond globe hops from Mexico City to London to Rome to Austria to Tangier and then back to London. At nearly 2 ½ hours, it feels a bit long. Although this is Craig's fourth Bond film, it feels more like the middle episode of a "Skyfall" trilogy with hopes that Waltz's character will return unhampered my his short leash here.

Alien gives it 3 "Dia de Muerte" stars out of 4.