Being half-British, half of me has always loved James Bond; the other half is sort of indifferent. So let’s see what side half Sam Mendes’ “Spectre” appeals to, shall we? Well anyway, the movie once again stars Daniel Craig in the title role with Christoph Waltz and Lea Seydoux debuting as the antagonist and the primary Bond girl.

The movie, itself, begins with Bond on a trip to Mexico, doing a mission without the express support of MI6. This leads to massive destruction, where he blows up an entire city block. This, no doubt, causes M (Ralph Fiennes) to ground Bond, but anyone who has ever seen a Bond film knows better than to think that is the end of it. Bond disappears off to Italy where he discovers the leader of the terrorist organization he’d been dealing with since “Casino Royale” is someone he knew from his childhood, the birth son of Bond’s surrogate father who had supposedly died. Meanwhile, a company in England is working on a global surveillance network (with their president secretly in league with the villain). Finally, Bond meets his love interest/salvation in the form of the estranged daughter of Mr. White from “Quantum of Solace.”

Watching the movie, I couldn’t help but feel the movie was actually more interesting during the non-action packed scenes. The love story between Bond and Dr. Swann had this very strong classical feel, with the cinematography being reminiscent of “Casablanca,” “Doctor Zhivago,” or (more recently) “the Grandmaster.” This is especially notable during the train scene where Dr. Swann displays a Inga Bermann style haircut. Besides that though, Sam Mendes succeeded in appealing to my half that loves bond because “Spectre” is easily one of the best Bond movies to date.