THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM - Reviewing Bond's latest bullet, SPECTRE
“The dead are alive” whispers a humble caption as an audacious and sinister opening shot soars, swoops and tracks into one of Bond’s greatest opening overtures. As a lone figure pushes through a pulsing exodus of Day of the Dead carnival goers, it’s Samedi Night Fever on the streets of Mexico City. Spinning senoritas, sexy La Catrinas and cadavarious cads jostle and party in a glorious and ghoulish ‘one take’ melange of remembrance and skulduggery. Pinned to one ‘continuous’ and brilliantly mounted five minute take, Hoyte Van Hoytema’s camera finds our man James and his corpse bride already embroiled in a deadly hunt of cat and louse. Cue all manner of roof hopping, cuff shooting and a remembrance funday the likes of which Craig’s Bond has never done before with such zest, scope and ball-busting ambition. With Tambuco’s pounding percussion, Chris Corbould’s wholly logical special effects, Jamy Temime’s bravura costume design and Gary Powell’s heart-pounding stunt work – these are department heads at the utter peak of their Bond game. And this is just the first ten minutes of Spectre. Not even that. But already this breathless, apocalypse wow of a helicopter fight over the Zócalo puts this movie’s opening gambit up there with any Union Jack parachute or jetpack escape.
That playful sense of relief and victory has been absent from the Craig era. It doesn’t sit with the internal dramatics and renovated psyche of our man James. But in Spectre these opening heroics are fierce, epic and nail bitingly victorious. Craig and director Sam Mendes utterly earn that moment when Sam Smith’s mid Sixties strings fire like familiar harpoon guns into a John Barry-savvy ocean and Daniel Kleinman’s inky titles begin their wraithlike dance. As writhing snakes form the cornea of an eye, eye sockets burn like it’s 1973 and Live and Let Die all over again and Kleinman pays apt reverence to Salvador Dali multiple eye motif (from Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound), Spectre’s notion of surveillance and watching is readily apparent. The turbulent wake behind a speeding bullet becomes the tentacles of an octopus that grips, smothers and seduces; and a naked Daniel Craig stares at the audience as various hands and arms flail for his attention (in a homo-baiting visual not totally dissimilar to a topless, faceless George Lazenby in a OHMSS teaser poster). As the titles make one of cinema’s most utterly reassuring declarations that once again “Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions presents”, a million shards of glass do indeed haunt Bond from his past when the Ghosts of Bond Films Past twist and remind like story phantoms. Contrary to some of the naysayers bashing Sam Smith, it is a wholly fresh notion to cast a male vocalist and a pained love song that retracts the traditional and bombastic momentum of a Bond song with a quiet falsetto or three (Communard Bond anyone?!).
And before you know it, we’re back through that double tufted leather door and Ralph Fiennes’ vexed M bashing Bond for being a Guardian headline. The world’s security agencies and MI6’s Double O Section are allegedly at a crossroads – a cyber sea-change in an ever prescient world of refugees, holiday resort terrorism and identity theft. The rigid, Apprentice contestant sneering of newcomer Andrew Scott and his bureaucratic Max Denbigh are flagging up change for everything that M and Bond know . A new shared surveillance network called Nine Eyes proposes replacing agents in the field with “drones” and previously guarded nations will rather spuriously now “share” information. The thrust of Spectre is utter Edward Snowden and his damaging and downright petrifying claims about government surveillance techniques. This is not surprising for Eon and this particular Bond film. Producer Barbara Broccoli currently has her film making sights on Glenn Greenwald’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, No Place to Hide – Edward Snowden, the NSA and The Surveillance State. In Spectre the NSA is the fictional CNS – the Centre for National Security – or perhaps a rather dubiously managed central nervous system rife for abuse and personal intrusion. Once again out on his own and saddled with diktats from above that even M cannot stop, Bond must not only pursue the mission he is already on when the film starts, he must also do so with the least interaction with the home side.
In Spectre there is a wonderful stuck in boarding school during the holidays dynamic about the M, Moneypenny, Q and Tanner foursome. With Denbigh pitched as Spectre’s blinkered and dangerously naïve Ofsted inspector, Fiennes beleaguered, but principled turn as MI6’s headmaster is one of the film’s highlights. Still imbued with that ex-army, Northern Irish veteran life alluded to in Skyfall, Fiennes’ M is a fiercely principled man, defending with pride the skills of “my quartermaster” and of course top agent, Bond. Echoing one of Bond’s educations in 2008’s Quantum of Solace and probably the key thrust of Spectre, Fiennes firmly believes “a licence to kill means knowing when not to kill”. Playing down some of the near idiot savant tics of the character in Skyfall, Ben Whishaw’s Q relaxes his quartermaster into a supporter of 007. Less cool and aloof geek, he is now more Airbnb savvy hipster getting himself embroiled in a perilous field trip with only the thinnest of escape options.
One almost passing moment of M dining alone (at Rules – Covent Garden’s real dining refuge as featured in the spy worlds of writers Graham Greene and John Le Carre) is so well pitched as an out of hours Moneypenny and Q show concern for Bond, the mission and their careworn boss. Once again London is a support character in Spectre. But this is a very different London to that so gloriously used in 2012’s Skyfall and the wake of the Jubilee and the Olympics. This is a London for loners. Bond lives alone in a decidedly sparse apartment, M is on the lamb with only a meagre holdall of his possessions, Q operates into the early hours out of his own refuge, Moneypenny walks down empty streets at night and MI6’s abandoned base at Vauxhall now cuts a lonely, derelict sight.
Cut to an Italian job in Rome and a funeral rendezvous with Monica Bellucci’s striking and life worn widow, Lucia Sciarra. “Can’t you see I’m grieving?” she barks as Bond’s coy “No, I can’t” is not long followed by quite a passionate bout of Catholic baiting nooky. Not even the Pope could absolve Bond of his sins now. Spectre is a decidedly passionate film. After Lea Seydoux’s Dr Madeleine Swann and Bond are embroiled in a highly brutal train fight with Dave Bautista’s burly Hinx, an urgent instrumental version of Sam Smith’s title song spills into what is a really passionate embrace and a great Roger Moore inspired answer to “well, what do we do now?”.
A long time casting wish for the Bond camp, Monica Bellucci’s presence is a beguiling, but all too brief one. It is a slither of an appearance, but one that sets the film up for one of its masterstrokes – the reintroduction of criminal organisation, Spectre. One gate-crashing bout of Bond’s best Italian language skills later and it’s For Your Eyes Wide Shut as Bond infiltrates a cult-framed criminal summit – a ruthless enclave of vengeful business and the minutes of terrorism. Fearful accountants attempt buoying up middling business success, murderous assignments are tendered out to the most tender-less of candidates and one particular new board member makes a viciously violent play on the phrase ‘by the pricking of my thumbs’. And there is a microphone. And a tannoy. There is no monorail alas, but in a world of mass cyber communication it is refreshing to see how a starter business like Spectre still relies on a pointed microphone. On a stand.
Actually, Spectre the film is refreshingly tech-free. All keyboard tapping intrigue is kept to a minimum, a trickling line of spilt beer is as good a way of finding hidden rooms these days, a secret hand gesture rather than a retina scan gets you into villains lairs, an alpine clinic demands all phones and guns to be handed over upon arrival and the DB10 is not fully fledged just yet (but it does boast a Frank Sinatra cd – in a possible nod to one of Cubby Broccoli’s close pals). In the best John Glen era swagger, Bond is very much “on his own this time” as the story and M require Bond to not communicate with anyone.
And so to Christoph Waltz. Alongside Javier Bardem, the double Oscar winner was the Bond films must-have villain. The National Theatre of Eon now has its most apt actor to nail that necessary sense of European villainy so memorably pioneered in the SPECTRE-bound likes of From Russia with Love and Thunderball. As Franz Oberhauser, Waltz crafts a very still and quietly calculating nemesis. Nothing however quite matches that doom-ladened boardroom entrance as Oberhauser drops the name “James” into the minutes with foreboding precision. In sockless slippers, humdrum slacks and a Nehru suit jacket he refuses to properly button up, Oberhauser emerges almost as an aloof Jeremy Corbyn at a seaside conference. Possibly disadvantaged with constant references to previous Bond villains, Oberhauser may also ultimately emerge as somewhat of a lesser force. He certainly upholds Dr. No’s skills at picking the right dress size for his visiting Bond women, Rosa Klebb’s ability to sour a hotel room for guests and Helga Brandt’s penchant for torture (the Craig era does love to strap its lead to a chair). Obviously the elephant in Spectre’s room is 007’s most famous adversary. But if anything this film is about the children of Spectre – the next generation of flame keepers. And flame throwers. It is a sinister beat when Bond and Swann are in separate rooms at Oberhauser’s Moroccan base and are unnerved to see framed photos on the walls of their childhoods.
The lurking white cat that is Mr White has been sauntering under the radar for three Bond movies now. The Austrian scenes between Jesper Christensen’s White and Bond are one of Spectre’s triumphs. Once again Christensen drags with him a Jacob Marley sense of impending, inescapable doom. But there is now a conscience and a resignation to his fate and actions. Rather than wholly using the Hannes Oberhauser strand of Ian Fleming’s 1966 short story collection Octopussy & The Living Daylights as expected, it is Mr White who is afforded writers John Logan, Robert Wade, Neal Purvis and Jez Butterworth nod to the source material. Instead of Octopussy’s father in the 1983 film being provided with an honourable alternative to court martialling and an ashamed death, it is now Mr White in a scene that comes back to haunt Bond in quite a marked, devilish way.
There is of course more Fleming DNA weaved throughout this Bond bullet. An unused Fleming title is finally put to good use, Fleming’s great nephew Tam Williams plays an all-important, but faceless lover and a torture scene lifts directly from Kingsley Amis’s 1968 continuation Bond novel, Colonel Sun.
And talking of Mr White and taking one of Roger Moore’s Bond Women tropes of the 1980s, Spectre has a lot of Daddy issues. Lea Seydoux’s ele-quaint Dr Madeleine Swann is the estranged daughter of White – a White Swann of haunted memories, divorced parents, a hatred of weaponry alongside an acute understanding of it and a striking love for Commander Bond. And Franz himself is clearly blaming his father and his relationships for his life choices. But the one figure who is refreshingly free of such familial angst is James Bond himself. The much touted back story of the Oberhausers and a teenage James are almost superfluous to Spectre. This then leaves Craig’s 007 to utterly enjoy the Bond ride in the first of his four films (to date) which is just a fun mission.
One of the successes of Spectre is how it reinstates – and earns – that Bond swagger. As composer Thomas Newman’s choir and Vatican establishing shots fanfare that Bond Arrives ™ moment, this twenty-fourth 007 bullet is peppered with joyous beats. This is a Bond film with abundant champagne on ice, an alpine clinic with remote control shutters, a rather useful watch and a real lack of second unit domination. And that unashamed heterosexuality is back. Quite right. Craig’s Bond has not yet bedded a Bond woman who stays with him as the end credits hit. There is even space for not one, but two ‘c’ word gags. That potty mouthed Judi Dench and her Skyfall expletives have a lot to answer for.
Sam Mendes second spin of the dice is less the bespoke, mahogany hued world of Skyfall. The Mexico City scenes have a contemporary immediacy to them whilst conversely the Morocco scenes aboard a vintage train and later in the desert reek of Agatha Christie movies as an anachronistically dressed Bond and Swann await an appointment with death. Cue EON Productions Chauffeur Complex (and one close to the heart of Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan). Nearly every Bond film features a suited chauffeur. Spectre is no different as an approaching and beautiful Rolls Royce Wraith shimmers out of a desert mirage like a wheeled Omar Shariff.
Talking of Lawrence of Arabia, there is a marked nod to David Lean in Spectre. Pursuing the hot and cold motif of Mexico and Morocco versus the freezing climes of Austria, Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography has the romantic visual sweep of Doctor Zhivago and that duality of ice and sand. Antique trains thread through the desert, shadows are thrown at Spectre HQ like Ken Adam drapes and aerial shots show Bond and London from the eye of an eagle. Hoyte’s work here underpins one of the most deceptively romantic looking of Bond movies. Freddie Young (who shot Zhivago, Lawrence and 1967’s You Only Live Twice) would be proud. The dusty hues of Mexico City are awash with that key marigold Day of the Dead colour and Rome is suitably romanticised and Catholicised with candle-light auburns and oranges.
This is not a 007 adventure that feels the need to keep the action plate spinning. Casino Royale was sometimes fearful of its central card game motif so threaded in constant physical peril and stairwell skirmishes. The action beats in Spectre are all pinned to the story. As in Skyfall, the stunts inform the story not pause it. Gravity is the action motif here – the gravity of Bond sliding down a crumbling Mexican wall onto an abandoned sofa, the gravity of a fiercely realised fist fight aboard an out of control helicopter, the gravity of a wingless plane chasing a fleet of jeeps down an Austrian mountain on nothing but momentum, the gravity of a playful parachute descent in Rome and the gravity of a last act jump off an exploding building.
From Pale Kings to pain authors, Spectre is a breathless triumph that breathes, thrills, romances and glows with a sinister, retro pride. It is Mendes’ Kubrickian opera of baroque quirks, wit and deliberately strange imagery.
Many thanks to EON Productions.
Spectre is released nationwide in the UK on Monday 26th October and 6th November in the US.
Random question... in the torture scene with Blofeld, when the needle went into Bond's head or neck with the intent of disrupting facial recognition, Bond was able to remember Swann. How?
Random question... in the torture scene with Blofeld, when the needle went into Bond's head or neck with the intent of disrupting facial recognition, Bond was able to remember Swann. How?
Random question... in the torture scene with Blofeld, when the needle went into Bond's head or neck with the intent of disrupting facial recognition, Bond was able to remember Swann. How?
Some theories below:
a) From what Blofeld explained, the desired impact would happen only if the needle hit the right spot. So Blofeld missed
b) Before being injected with the needle, Bond is seen removing the watch. By holding on to the watch, he is also somehow able to hold on to his memories
Loud.
Unlike the PENS they don't make anymore... )
Kind of makes you wonder if they forgot that line in SF.
Skyfall: "Exploding pens? We don't really go in for that sort of thing anymore."
Spectre: Bond uses a car with machine guns, flame thrower, and ejector seat, as well as having a n exploding watch.
I was thinking about exactly the same thing. But then again, continuity is probably the weakest part of the Bond franchise.
You must be registered to POST. Anyone can read it! I found it to be a fair reflection of the mixed reviews that the movie is receiving everywhere else, this forum included.
Saw it last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it, action was engaging for the most part and, as almost everyone has said, the opening sequence and train fight were highlights. But for me it lacked the impact of earlier Craig films. My feeling is that CR, SF and even QoS had set a precedent for what I've come to expect from DC's Bond, and that definitely included a certain amount of emotional weight and seriousness (which I completely understand some people don't like). IMHO, this time around, the team behind the film still tried to shoehorn in that emotional component, but it never felt earned. Honestly, I probably could have done with less time spent on romantic long shots of Bond in a boat and Bond on a train, and more time on some honest character development (I think they definitely got it right in the Mr. White scene).
With the humor, overall I thought it was very well balanced. But even then there were some missed opportunities. For example, Q injecting him with the tracking nanobots: It would have been a perfect time for Bond to throw out a "I know what the bloody thing does" or "They've tried this before, Q."
The only thing I would add to the article: I think it would actually have been more effective if Blofeld was simply a powerful megalomaniacal genius who Bond had pissed off. And this angle would probably of helped the film makers' and writers' efforts to "close" the mythology of the first 3 films: Bond is found to be an irritant in CR, so SPECTRE facilitates the death of Vesper to knock him off balance. In QoS, he again disrupts SEPCTRE's plans which leads to Blofeld unleashing Silva in SF to take Bond out once and for all. Blofeld's explanation for his actions becomes much simpler: when your goal is global domination, you can't afford to have a single British agent constantly making a fool of you; Blofeld had to make an example of Bond, completely dismantling his life, to send a message to any other threats out there.
So in short: had a great time seeing Bond back on the big screen, really enjoyed the many parts they got right, but it all came across as a little superficial and underwhelming in the end.
Random question... in the torture scene with Blofeld, when the needle went into Bond's head or neck with the intent of disrupting facial recognition, Bond was able to remember Swann. How?
Braindead script writer.
It's a bit of a problem, to be sure (I'm generally not one to defend P&W, or any of the writers)...but I tend to think that Blofeld simply wasn't as accurate with his drilling as he intended to be. He did succeed in causing Bond great pain, clearly---but given an opportunity to rewrite that scene prior to filming, I'd have ESB do a couple of drillings for sheer pain's sake...and then have Craig detonate the watch just before the amnesia procedure. There's a logistical hurdle, though, in that the 'close' moment between Bond and Madeline (will he remember her?) was needed for him to pass her the watch...but they could have just as easily had Madeline plead for an opportunity to say goodbye to him...and Blofeld, being the gentleman megalomaniac, would have allowed it. There are suspensions of disbelief required for either solution, but I think I would have preferred the latter. It's a niggle, no doubt
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Saw it last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it, action was engaging for the most part and, as almost everyone has said, the opening sequence and train fight were highlights. But for me it lacked the impact of earlier Craig films. My feeling is that CR, SF and even QoS had set a precedent for what I've come to expect from DC's Bond, and that definitely included a certain amount of emotional weight and seriousness (which I completely understand some people don't like). IMHO, this time around, the team behind the film still tried to shoehorn in that emotional component, but it never felt earned. Honestly, I probably could have done with less time spent on romantic long shots of Bond in a boat and Bond on a train, and more time on some honest character development (I think they definitely got it right in the Mr. White scene).
With the humor, overall I thought it was very well balanced. But even then there were some missed opportunities. For example, Q injecting him with the tracking nanobots: It would have been a perfect time for Bond to throw out a "I know what the bloody thing does" or "They've tried this before, Q."
The only thing I would add to the article: I think it would actually have been more effective if Blofeld was simply a powerful megalomaniacal genius who Bond had pissed off. And this angle would probably of helped the film makers' and writers' efforts to "close" the mythology of the first 3 films: Bond is found to be an irritant in CR, so SPECTRE facilitates the death of Vesper to knock him off balance. In QoS, he again disrupts SEPCTRE's plans which leads to Blofeld unleashing Silva in SF to take Bond out once and for all. Blofeld's explanation for his actions becomes much simpler: when your goal is global domination, you can't afford to have a single British agent constantly making a fool of you; Blofeld had to make an example of Bond, completely dismantling his life, to send a message to any other threats out there.
So in short: had a great time seeing Bond back on the big screen, really enjoyed the many parts they got right, but it all came across as a little superficial and underwhelming in the end.
I don't think I can say it any better than you have here, so I won't add anything other than to say that the (mis)use of Blofeld took what was otherwise a top five Bond film for me and landed it somewhere in the middle of the pack.
Btw, I liked the SP gunbarrel more than the previous 2, but for me the best Craig gunbarrel is easily the one in CR.
The SP gunbarrel is good enough though, although rather reminiscent of the Dalton gunbarrels.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
The SP gunbarrel is good enough though, although rather reminiscent of the Dalton gunbarrels.
You say that like it's a bad thing...
It's just that the Dalton gunbarrels were fantastic on their own, and the SP gunbarrel feels like, well, almost a rip-off. Almost.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
I think that we will see a new movie sooner than latter. I saw an interview with Craig, and he said that the producers wanted him to shoot movies back to back and he did not want to do that because Bond movies were so demanding. The way the movie ended leads me to believe that we are going see some sort of OHMSS version for the next film. Peter Hunt who directed OHMSS said that he always felt that they ended that movie all wrong. He said that instead of killing Diana Rigg at the end of the movie they should have ended the movie with Bond driving off into the sunset with the girl and the opening for Diamonds Are Forever should have been the death of Bond's wife. SPECTRE ended the way Peter King would have wanted and I think the opening of the next movie will be the Death of Mrs. Swann. It makes sense, that is why they wanted to film the movies back to back. The bullet hole in the SPECTRE logo. looks like a bullet through a car window and even the music, not heard in the movie but was heard in the SPECTRE trailer is the theme from OHMSS. I think the next movie opens with Blofeld killing Mrs. Swann. I think Craig comes back for one more, he is contracted for one more.
I think that we will see a new movie sooner than latter. I saw an interview with Craig, and he said that the producers wanted him to shoot movies back to back and he did not want to do that because Bond movies were so demanding. The way the movie ended leads me to believe that we are going see some sort of OHMSS version for the next film. Peter Hunt who directed OHMSS said that he always felt that they ended that movie all wrong. He said that instead of killing Diana Rigg at the end of the movie they should have ended the movie with Bond driving off into the sunset with the girl and the opening for Diamonds Are Forever should have been the death of Bond's wife. SPECTRE ended the way Peter King would have wanted and I think the opening of the next movie will be the Death of Mrs. Swann. It makes sense, that is why they wanted to film the movies back to back. The bullet hole in the SPECTRE logo. looks like a bullet through a car window and even the music, not heard in the movie but was heard in the SPECTRE trailer is the theme from OHMSS. I think the next movie opens with Blofeld killing Mrs. Swann. I think Craig comes back for one more, he is contracted for one more.
That sounds good to me. Whenever they mine Fleming for material it usually is for the better. Apparently there is material from YOLT and DAF novels. Maybe Hinx kills her on Blofeld's orders. With the death of Ms. Swann maybe they can find a tie-in to use the title "Property of A Lady". "The Garden of Death" would be a great title for Bond 25 also.
It's just that the Dalton gunbarrels were fantastic on their own, and the SP gunbarrel feels like, well, almost a rip-off. Almost.
How?
That was just my perception. Craig's pose just struck me as very similar to Dalton's.
In any case, Craig's CR gunbarrel will always be his best as far as I'm concerned, even if, paradoxically, it's my least fave of Craig's 007 movies.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
Is this the first gunbarrel in which you can actually see Bond holding the gun before he actually shoots? I watched TB right after SP and (again) was blown away by Connery's first gunbarrel in which he's like at first a hapless target casually walking, until he strikes...like Thunder-ball! ) Lazenby continued with that tone. Moore's two (were there more?) then began to change in that his walk was less careless and casual. I think it was Dalton's gunbarrel that they began to be perfunctory, seeming like, "let's get this over with and just do it" and it has unfortunately been that way after that with Brosnan and now, Craig.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
SC's GBs look like he's going to fall over.
The first two Moore ones are good that you can see his face, but I don't like the arm holding.
Moore's final ones are great, Dalton's is awesome.
Pierce's are the best. Imagine seeing that in 1995!
That was just my perception. Craig's pose just struck me as very similar to Dalton's.
Upon having a look at them, you're right, there is a similarity - but I wouldn't say it was a rip-off. Just happens to be they do it their own way, but the turn seems to be close.
as for how he got the black plane: when he walks up to the Klinik you see the plane's nose in the left corner of the screen, so it's not unlogical at all
You can also see a landing strip with a plane out of the window as Bond is on the passenger plane. Some people need to pay more attention, particularly if they are planning to write reviews.
When the promotional poster for SPECTRE used the glass bullet hole so prominently, I was worried that Mendes would get carried away with the nods to Bond's past and try to tie together OHMSS with the new movie.
Obviously he didn't but because of the ending of the movie, and the fact that they wanted to make SP and B25 back-to-back, I also feel like we're going to get some sort of OHMSS-remake for the next movie.
Not sure how I'd feel about that to be honest. In the books, there were 8 novels and 5 short stories between Casino Royale and OHMSS but with Craig he's had Vesper die in CR/QoS and M die in Skyfall so having another woman die in Bond 25 would be too much I think.
"You are about to wake when you dream that you are dreaming"
I read a copy of the leaked script yeaterday whilst bored on the plane!
The last line of the very movie had a huge nod to OHMSS but I guess was omitted at some point - bit of a shame really (unless im deaf and didnt hear it lol)
Comments
And how glorified Skyfall seems to be over there.
I am just reading on The Rolex Forum ( you must be registered to read there ) and it's hilarious:
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=442601
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM - Reviewing Bond's latest bullet, SPECTRE
“The dead are alive” whispers a humble caption as an audacious and sinister opening shot soars, swoops and tracks into one of Bond’s greatest opening overtures. As a lone figure pushes through a pulsing exodus of Day of the Dead carnival goers, it’s Samedi Night Fever on the streets of Mexico City. Spinning senoritas, sexy La Catrinas and cadavarious cads jostle and party in a glorious and ghoulish ‘one take’ melange of remembrance and skulduggery. Pinned to one ‘continuous’ and brilliantly mounted five minute take, Hoyte Van Hoytema’s camera finds our man James and his corpse bride already embroiled in a deadly hunt of cat and louse. Cue all manner of roof hopping, cuff shooting and a remembrance funday the likes of which Craig’s Bond has never done before with such zest, scope and ball-busting ambition. With Tambuco’s pounding percussion, Chris Corbould’s wholly logical special effects, Jamy Temime’s bravura costume design and Gary Powell’s heart-pounding stunt work – these are department heads at the utter peak of their Bond game. And this is just the first ten minutes of Spectre. Not even that. But already this breathless, apocalypse wow of a helicopter fight over the Zócalo puts this movie’s opening gambit up there with any Union Jack parachute or jetpack escape.
That playful sense of relief and victory has been absent from the Craig era. It doesn’t sit with the internal dramatics and renovated psyche of our man James. But in Spectre these opening heroics are fierce, epic and nail bitingly victorious. Craig and director Sam Mendes utterly earn that moment when Sam Smith’s mid Sixties strings fire like familiar harpoon guns into a John Barry-savvy ocean and Daniel Kleinman’s inky titles begin their wraithlike dance. As writhing snakes form the cornea of an eye, eye sockets burn like it’s 1973 and Live and Let Die all over again and Kleinman pays apt reverence to Salvador Dali multiple eye motif (from Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound), Spectre’s notion of surveillance and watching is readily apparent. The turbulent wake behind a speeding bullet becomes the tentacles of an octopus that grips, smothers and seduces; and a naked Daniel Craig stares at the audience as various hands and arms flail for his attention (in a homo-baiting visual not totally dissimilar to a topless, faceless George Lazenby in a OHMSS teaser poster). As the titles make one of cinema’s most utterly reassuring declarations that once again “Albert R. Broccoli’s Eon Productions presents”, a million shards of glass do indeed haunt Bond from his past when the Ghosts of Bond Films Past twist and remind like story phantoms. Contrary to some of the naysayers bashing Sam Smith, it is a wholly fresh notion to cast a male vocalist and a pained love song that retracts the traditional and bombastic momentum of a Bond song with a quiet falsetto or three (Communard Bond anyone?!).
And before you know it, we’re back through that double tufted leather door and Ralph Fiennes’ vexed M bashing Bond for being a Guardian headline. The world’s security agencies and MI6’s Double O Section are allegedly at a crossroads – a cyber sea-change in an ever prescient world of refugees, holiday resort terrorism and identity theft. The rigid, Apprentice contestant sneering of newcomer Andrew Scott and his bureaucratic Max Denbigh are flagging up change for everything that M and Bond know . A new shared surveillance network called Nine Eyes proposes replacing agents in the field with “drones” and previously guarded nations will rather spuriously now “share” information. The thrust of Spectre is utter Edward Snowden and his damaging and downright petrifying claims about government surveillance techniques. This is not surprising for Eon and this particular Bond film. Producer Barbara Broccoli currently has her film making sights on Glenn Greenwald’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, No Place to Hide – Edward Snowden, the NSA and The Surveillance State. In Spectre the NSA is the fictional CNS – the Centre for National Security – or perhaps a rather dubiously managed central nervous system rife for abuse and personal intrusion. Once again out on his own and saddled with diktats from above that even M cannot stop, Bond must not only pursue the mission he is already on when the film starts, he must also do so with the least interaction with the home side.
In Spectre there is a wonderful stuck in boarding school during the holidays dynamic about the M, Moneypenny, Q and Tanner foursome. With Denbigh pitched as Spectre’s blinkered and dangerously naïve Ofsted inspector, Fiennes beleaguered, but principled turn as MI6’s headmaster is one of the film’s highlights. Still imbued with that ex-army, Northern Irish veteran life alluded to in Skyfall, Fiennes’ M is a fiercely principled man, defending with pride the skills of “my quartermaster” and of course top agent, Bond. Echoing one of Bond’s educations in 2008’s Quantum of Solace and probably the key thrust of Spectre, Fiennes firmly believes “a licence to kill means knowing when not to kill”. Playing down some of the near idiot savant tics of the character in Skyfall, Ben Whishaw’s Q relaxes his quartermaster into a supporter of 007. Less cool and aloof geek, he is now more Airbnb savvy hipster getting himself embroiled in a perilous field trip with only the thinnest of escape options.
One almost passing moment of M dining alone (at Rules – Covent Garden’s real dining refuge as featured in the spy worlds of writers Graham Greene and John Le Carre) is so well pitched as an out of hours Moneypenny and Q show concern for Bond, the mission and their careworn boss. Once again London is a support character in Spectre. But this is a very different London to that so gloriously used in 2012’s Skyfall and the wake of the Jubilee and the Olympics. This is a London for loners. Bond lives alone in a decidedly sparse apartment, M is on the lamb with only a meagre holdall of his possessions, Q operates into the early hours out of his own refuge, Moneypenny walks down empty streets at night and MI6’s abandoned base at Vauxhall now cuts a lonely, derelict sight.
Cut to an Italian job in Rome and a funeral rendezvous with Monica Bellucci’s striking and life worn widow, Lucia Sciarra. “Can’t you see I’m grieving?” she barks as Bond’s coy “No, I can’t” is not long followed by quite a passionate bout of Catholic baiting nooky. Not even the Pope could absolve Bond of his sins now. Spectre is a decidedly passionate film. After Lea Seydoux’s Dr Madeleine Swann and Bond are embroiled in a highly brutal train fight with Dave Bautista’s burly Hinx, an urgent instrumental version of Sam Smith’s title song spills into what is a really passionate embrace and a great Roger Moore inspired answer to “well, what do we do now?”.
A long time casting wish for the Bond camp, Monica Bellucci’s presence is a beguiling, but all too brief one. It is a slither of an appearance, but one that sets the film up for one of its masterstrokes – the reintroduction of criminal organisation, Spectre. One gate-crashing bout of Bond’s best Italian language skills later and it’s For Your Eyes Wide Shut as Bond infiltrates a cult-framed criminal summit – a ruthless enclave of vengeful business and the minutes of terrorism. Fearful accountants attempt buoying up middling business success, murderous assignments are tendered out to the most tender-less of candidates and one particular new board member makes a viciously violent play on the phrase ‘by the pricking of my thumbs’. And there is a microphone. And a tannoy. There is no monorail alas, but in a world of mass cyber communication it is refreshing to see how a starter business like Spectre still relies on a pointed microphone. On a stand.
Actually, Spectre the film is refreshingly tech-free. All keyboard tapping intrigue is kept to a minimum, a trickling line of spilt beer is as good a way of finding hidden rooms these days, a secret hand gesture rather than a retina scan gets you into villains lairs, an alpine clinic demands all phones and guns to be handed over upon arrival and the DB10 is not fully fledged just yet (but it does boast a Frank Sinatra cd – in a possible nod to one of Cubby Broccoli’s close pals). In the best John Glen era swagger, Bond is very much “on his own this time” as the story and M require Bond to not communicate with anyone.
And so to Christoph Waltz. Alongside Javier Bardem, the double Oscar winner was the Bond films must-have villain. The National Theatre of Eon now has its most apt actor to nail that necessary sense of European villainy so memorably pioneered in the SPECTRE-bound likes of From Russia with Love and Thunderball. As Franz Oberhauser, Waltz crafts a very still and quietly calculating nemesis. Nothing however quite matches that doom-ladened boardroom entrance as Oberhauser drops the name “James” into the minutes with foreboding precision. In sockless slippers, humdrum slacks and a Nehru suit jacket he refuses to properly button up, Oberhauser emerges almost as an aloof Jeremy Corbyn at a seaside conference. Possibly disadvantaged with constant references to previous Bond villains, Oberhauser may also ultimately emerge as somewhat of a lesser force. He certainly upholds Dr. No’s skills at picking the right dress size for his visiting Bond women, Rosa Klebb’s ability to sour a hotel room for guests and Helga Brandt’s penchant for torture (the Craig era does love to strap its lead to a chair). Obviously the elephant in Spectre’s room is 007’s most famous adversary. But if anything this film is about the children of Spectre – the next generation of flame keepers. And flame throwers. It is a sinister beat when Bond and Swann are in separate rooms at Oberhauser’s Moroccan base and are unnerved to see framed photos on the walls of their childhoods.
The lurking white cat that is Mr White has been sauntering under the radar for three Bond movies now. The Austrian scenes between Jesper Christensen’s White and Bond are one of Spectre’s triumphs. Once again Christensen drags with him a Jacob Marley sense of impending, inescapable doom. But there is now a conscience and a resignation to his fate and actions. Rather than wholly using the Hannes Oberhauser strand of Ian Fleming’s 1966 short story collection Octopussy & The Living Daylights as expected, it is Mr White who is afforded writers John Logan, Robert Wade, Neal Purvis and Jez Butterworth nod to the source material. Instead of Octopussy’s father in the 1983 film being provided with an honourable alternative to court martialling and an ashamed death, it is now Mr White in a scene that comes back to haunt Bond in quite a marked, devilish way.
There is of course more Fleming DNA weaved throughout this Bond bullet. An unused Fleming title is finally put to good use, Fleming’s great nephew Tam Williams plays an all-important, but faceless lover and a torture scene lifts directly from Kingsley Amis’s 1968 continuation Bond novel, Colonel Sun.
And talking of Mr White and taking one of Roger Moore’s Bond Women tropes of the 1980s, Spectre has a lot of Daddy issues. Lea Seydoux’s ele-quaint Dr Madeleine Swann is the estranged daughter of White – a White Swann of haunted memories, divorced parents, a hatred of weaponry alongside an acute understanding of it and a striking love for Commander Bond. And Franz himself is clearly blaming his father and his relationships for his life choices. But the one figure who is refreshingly free of such familial angst is James Bond himself. The much touted back story of the Oberhausers and a teenage James are almost superfluous to Spectre. This then leaves Craig’s 007 to utterly enjoy the Bond ride in the first of his four films (to date) which is just a fun mission.
One of the successes of Spectre is how it reinstates – and earns – that Bond swagger. As composer Thomas Newman’s choir and Vatican establishing shots fanfare that Bond Arrives ™ moment, this twenty-fourth 007 bullet is peppered with joyous beats. This is a Bond film with abundant champagne on ice, an alpine clinic with remote control shutters, a rather useful watch and a real lack of second unit domination. And that unashamed heterosexuality is back. Quite right. Craig’s Bond has not yet bedded a Bond woman who stays with him as the end credits hit. There is even space for not one, but two ‘c’ word gags. That potty mouthed Judi Dench and her Skyfall expletives have a lot to answer for.
Sam Mendes second spin of the dice is less the bespoke, mahogany hued world of Skyfall. The Mexico City scenes have a contemporary immediacy to them whilst conversely the Morocco scenes aboard a vintage train and later in the desert reek of Agatha Christie movies as an anachronistically dressed Bond and Swann await an appointment with death. Cue EON Productions Chauffeur Complex (and one close to the heart of Catching Bullets – Memoirs of a Bond Fan). Nearly every Bond film features a suited chauffeur. Spectre is no different as an approaching and beautiful Rolls Royce Wraith shimmers out of a desert mirage like a wheeled Omar Shariff.
Talking of Lawrence of Arabia, there is a marked nod to David Lean in Spectre. Pursuing the hot and cold motif of Mexico and Morocco versus the freezing climes of Austria, Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography has the romantic visual sweep of Doctor Zhivago and that duality of ice and sand. Antique trains thread through the desert, shadows are thrown at Spectre HQ like Ken Adam drapes and aerial shots show Bond and London from the eye of an eagle. Hoyte’s work here underpins one of the most deceptively romantic looking of Bond movies. Freddie Young (who shot Zhivago, Lawrence and 1967’s You Only Live Twice) would be proud. The dusty hues of Mexico City are awash with that key marigold Day of the Dead colour and Rome is suitably romanticised and Catholicised with candle-light auburns and oranges.
This is not a 007 adventure that feels the need to keep the action plate spinning. Casino Royale was sometimes fearful of its central card game motif so threaded in constant physical peril and stairwell skirmishes. The action beats in Spectre are all pinned to the story. As in Skyfall, the stunts inform the story not pause it. Gravity is the action motif here – the gravity of Bond sliding down a crumbling Mexican wall onto an abandoned sofa, the gravity of a fiercely realised fist fight aboard an out of control helicopter, the gravity of a wingless plane chasing a fleet of jeeps down an Austrian mountain on nothing but momentum, the gravity of a playful parachute descent in Rome and the gravity of a last act jump off an exploding building.
From Pale Kings to pain authors, Spectre is a breathless triumph that breathes, thrills, romances and glows with a sinister, retro pride. It is Mendes’ Kubrickian opera of baroque quirks, wit and deliberately strange imagery.
Many thanks to EON Productions.
Spectre is released nationwide in the UK on Monday 26th October and 6th November in the US.
This writing was originally posted on www.markoconnell.co.uk
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Braindead script writer.
Some theories below:
a) From what Blofeld explained, the desired impact would happen only if the needle hit the right spot. So Blofeld missed
b) Before being injected with the needle, Bond is seen removing the watch. By holding on to the watch, he is also somehow able to hold on to his memories
part of his body :v
"Better make that two."
I was thinking about exactly the same thing. But then again, continuity is probably the weakest part of the Bond franchise.
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With the humor, overall I thought it was very well balanced. But even then there were some missed opportunities. For example, Q injecting him with the tracking nanobots: It would have been a perfect time for Bond to throw out a "I know what the bloody thing does" or "They've tried this before, Q."
Then there's the Villain. The website i09 does a great job of summing it up for me: http://io9.com/the-huge-problem-with-spectres-villain-1741528736?trending_test_a&utm_expid=66866090-62.H_y_0o51QhmMY_tue7bevQ.1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fio9.com%2F%3Ftrending_test_a.
The only thing I would add to the article: I think it would actually have been more effective if Blofeld was simply a powerful megalomaniacal genius who Bond had pissed off. And this angle would probably of helped the film makers' and writers' efforts to "close" the mythology of the first 3 films: Bond is found to be an irritant in CR, so SPECTRE facilitates the death of Vesper to knock him off balance. In QoS, he again disrupts SEPCTRE's plans which leads to Blofeld unleashing Silva in SF to take Bond out once and for all. Blofeld's explanation for his actions becomes much simpler: when your goal is global domination, you can't afford to have a single British agent constantly making a fool of you; Blofeld had to make an example of Bond, completely dismantling his life, to send a message to any other threats out there.
So in short: had a great time seeing Bond back on the big screen, really enjoyed the many parts they got right, but it all came across as a little superficial and underwhelming in the end.
It's a bit of a problem, to be sure (I'm generally not one to defend P&W, or any of the writers)...but I tend to think that Blofeld simply wasn't as accurate with his drilling as he intended to be. He did succeed in causing Bond great pain, clearly---but given an opportunity to rewrite that scene prior to filming, I'd have ESB do a couple of drillings for sheer pain's sake...and then have Craig detonate the watch just before the amnesia procedure. There's a logistical hurdle, though, in that the 'close' moment between Bond and Madeline (will he remember her?) was needed for him to pass her the watch...but they could have just as easily had Madeline plead for an opportunity to say goodbye to him...and Blofeld, being the gentleman megalomaniac, would have allowed it. There are suspensions of disbelief required for either solution, but I think I would have preferred the latter. It's a niggle, no doubt
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
I don't think I can say it any better than you have here, so I won't add anything other than to say that the (mis)use of Blofeld took what was otherwise a top five Bond film for me and landed it somewhere in the middle of the pack.
The SP gunbarrel is good enough though, although rather reminiscent of the Dalton gunbarrels.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
It's just that the Dalton gunbarrels were fantastic on their own, and the SP gunbarrel feels like, well, almost a rip-off. Almost.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
It's the gunbarrel...I was just happy to see it at the front. What should they have had him do....walk on his hands and shoot with his feet? 8-)
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
How?
"Better make that two."
Welcome, BTW! {[]
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
That sounds good to me. Whenever they mine Fleming for material it usually is for the better. Apparently there is material from YOLT and DAF novels. Maybe Hinx kills her on Blofeld's orders. With the death of Ms. Swann maybe they can find a tie-in to use the title "Property of A Lady". "The Garden of Death" would be a great title for Bond 25 also.
That was just my perception. Craig's pose just struck me as very similar to Dalton's.
In any case, Craig's CR gunbarrel will always be his best as far as I'm concerned, even if, paradoxically, it's my least fave of Craig's 007 movies.
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
SC's GBs look like he's going to fall over.
The first two Moore ones are good that you can see his face, but I don't like the arm holding.
Moore's final ones are great, Dalton's is awesome.
Pierce's are the best. Imagine seeing that in 1995!
Upon having a look at them, you're right, there is a similarity - but I wouldn't say it was a rip-off. Just happens to be they do it their own way, but the turn seems to be close.
The Skyfall GB is awesome.
"Better make that two."
You can also see a landing strip with a plane out of the window as Bond is on the passenger plane. Some people need to pay more attention, particularly if they are planning to write reviews.
Obviously he didn't but because of the ending of the movie, and the fact that they wanted to make SP and B25 back-to-back, I also feel like we're going to get some sort of OHMSS-remake for the next movie.
Not sure how I'd feel about that to be honest. In the books, there were 8 novels and 5 short stories between Casino Royale and OHMSS but with Craig he's had Vesper die in CR/QoS and M die in Skyfall so having another woman die in Bond 25 would be too much I think.
The last line of the very movie had a huge nod to OHMSS but I guess was omitted at some point - bit of a shame really (unless im deaf and didnt hear it lol)