Loeffelholz, most enjoyable review I have read thus far! And I agree on the 3rd act comment!
Thank you, sir {[]
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
Tonight I walked from my childhood home, where I live once again, to the same cinema where (at age 9) I walked to see Diamonds are Forever in 1971. Today, this theatre is now a four-screen multiplex, which is about to be converted and expanded into an 8-screen multiplex with stadium seating. But in 1971, it was a single-screen movie palace that dated back to the 1930s. Another difference, today, was that I had two Vesper martinis before making that walk :007)
The problem with reviewing a Bond film here, after it’s been in release on another continent for a couple of weeks---and a great many members of this fan site have weighed in on it---is that pretty much everything has already been said, and said well. Bearing that in mind, I’m going to try to do my best, skipping a linear story description of a film most of us have seen by now and bowing to stream-of-consciousness…while also reviewing some reviewer’s reviews :v
“SPECTRE” (3rd viewing review)
I can’t say how pleasing and exciting it was to watch the MGM and Columbia logos, hearing ominous strains of Bond musical cues, and then see the gun-barrel intro flash across the screen---then again, I probably don’t have to The title card after a fade to black reads: “The dead are alive,” and the relevance of that isn’t made apparent until quite a bit later. The opening shot appears to be a four and-a-half-minute, one-take tracking shot (cleverly disguised, as we move from a crane camera to a Steadicam at some point early on), elegantly photographed and paced in Mexico City during the “Day of the Dead” parade…and as this shot comes to a close, Craig’s Bond is walking along the edge of a high building, fastidiously adjusting his cuffs and then assembling a rifle…and what follows is possibly one of the most exciting pre-credit sequences in Bond history, involving a collapsing building and helicopter aerobatics over a crowd of thousands of extras---the whole thing just looks dangerous, CGI bits and green-screen shots notwithstanding, and as we move into Danny Kleinman’s entertaining-as-ever title sequence, there’s no doubt whatsoever that we’ve bought tickets to a James Bond film.
I don’t mind the Sam Smith song nearly as much as many here do, and it dovetails nicely with Kleinman’s graphics depicting an octopus and its tentacles, writhing around Craig’s Bond and the requisite dancing female nudes.
Of course, the pre-credit sequence and the title graphics are part of the ‘Bond’ brand, and SPECTRE clearly shows very early on that it intends to serve up a traditional James Bond experience, in terms of a slightly lighter tone---and all of the ingredients that the franchise’s many fans have come to expect: Bond and M meeting in M’s old office to start things up…Bond and Q (gadgets, the car)…Bond with multiple beautiful women…Bond versus a brutal, overpowering henchman…Bond chasing, Bond being chased…exotic locations, and a villain’s remote lair which simply must explode in spectacular fashion---with humour and irony sprinkled throughout.
And humour there is…not the cheeky dinner theatre stuff we got in the late ‘70s into the mid-‘80s, but just enough to distinguish this one from Craig’s clearly grimmer and darker other three. By this point Craig’s Bond--- like the classic-era Bonds at their best---knows he is going to survive his perils. His escape from the collapsing building in the pre-credit sequence reflects a distilled hybrid of the physical comedy of Keaton and Lloyd from the 1920s with the suave debonair of vintage Connery (which sharply distinguishes it from the more heavy-handed Keystone Cops ‘fire-engine ladder’ gag ripoff from AVTAK). When Craig plops onto the couch, he looks genuinely grateful that the couch was there…but not terrifically surprised. It works. His Bond moves through this film like Bonds of old, enjoying his hot car and his drinks and his dalliances, moving headlong into danger with a knowing half-smile on his face.
The character and plot stuff works satisfactorily, and I enjoyed the subplot about ubiquitous surveillance technology and the loss of privacy personified by the pencilneck character ‘C’ as played by Andrew Scott: was there ever any doubt who he was really working for, though? M, Q, Moneypenny and Tanner all are steadfast. Bond’s home team is solid, and has quite a bit to do in this piece. I didn’t mind Q’s appearance in Austria, as his character works so well with this Bond.
Distant locations such as Rome, the Austrian Alps and Tangier are well-represented (although it’s obvious that the Austrian sequences were probably compromised by cloud cover, snow and a low ceiling…but I rather enjoyed the authenticity of ‘being in the moment’); Italy and Morocco sharing a washed-out amber texture during daylight---but Rome is luminous and golden by night, during a high-speed car chase not far at all from where the Pope lays his head down at bedtime. Much has already been said about how desolate Rome and London’s streets seem to be, which plays here as an admitted concession to the fantasy of this hyper-escapist world, running parallel universe-wise with its more mundane real-world counterpart. The villain’s lair, de rigueur for this particular brand of entertainment, is suitably remotely located somewhere in North Africa and is visually interesting, if a bit disappointingly underexplored.
The women…ah, the women: Monica Bellucci owns the very few minutes of screen-time she’s allotted as the widow of the assassin Bond takes down in Mexico City, and her scenes with Craig show Bond at this film’s most callous and exploitive, but not so much that he doesn't do his best to keep her alive, by putting her in touch with a regrettably unseen Felix Leiter---in fact, a recent formula is broken here by not having Bond’s early-film love interest turn up dead before the final act. Bellucci is simply ravishing here. Lea Seydoux is also very easy to watch as Quantum/SPECTRE heavy Mr. White’s daughter, Dr. Madeline Swann, and her chemistry with Bond seems very organic as it develops. She wears her clothing really, really, really well---whether it’s a standard dress, a shimmery white silky number or fairly basic pants, and she makes the best of a fairly standard primary Bond love interest part. I do regret that we don’t see more of Stephanie Sigman, the Mexican actress at the beginning of the film, as she is gorgeous, but is obviously simply there to adorn Bond’s arm for the introduction.
The organization meeting in Rome that Bond sneaks into may well be the best Blofeld board meeting we’ve seen so far: atmospheric and eerie in its long pauses and lack of musical score, featuring both the introduction of Chrisoph Waltz and Dave Bautista, as Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Mr. Hinx respectively---the former making his impression with soft-spoken politeness, the latter with brutal stoic death-dealing.
(This is a great example of Sam Mendes doing with SkyFall and SPECTRE what Marc Forster deliberately chose not to do with Quantum of Solace: letting scenes breathe, and dramatic beats play out. Some have argued that Mendes plays them out a bit too long, but I’d rather have them err that way than the other. No Bond film yet has been too long for me, especially as they only come every three years or so now.)
The action is fantastic, as it tends to be in these films: helicopter aerobatics, supercars at high speeds, crashing airplanes colliding with Land Rovers on a snowy landscape (which is obviously a bit daft but clearly and enjoyably ‘James Bond’ in its execution)…but the personal highlight for me was the fight on the train between Bond and Mr. Hinx, which for my money is the best one-on-one throwdown since Sean Connery faced off against Robert Shaw in 1963. The brute physicality is awesome, and I’m still smiling about it three viewings later. Where the other diners went once the fighting began (we see a couple of them in the background at one point)---and where any of the train's staff went once it was over---is a very fair question.
My biggest issue with SPECTRE is Act 3. Now, historically many of the Bond films (if not most of them) tend to go a bit sideways in the third act, but it seems particularly problematic here, as Bond and Madeline arrive at Blofeld’s digs in a vintage Rolls-Royce and are allotted old-school supervillain-style courtesy and hospitality. Momentum flags, and tone shifts, as we work through the exposition-via-dialogue stuff. The actors’ performances aren’t the problem, in my opinion; Craig and Waltz do their best with what they’re given. By the same token, I’m not at all convinced that a family tie (even a ‘foster’ one) was necessary, but there we are nevertheless. Bond escapes because of a gadget watch and ESB’s poor drilling aim, or whatever, and then we’re back in London for a final cat-and-mouse in the old MI6 HQ with some ticking-bomb suspense. Add to that the crazy good fortune of Bond shooting down a helicopter with his Walther PPK from fifty yards away, and we have a weighty bit of disbelief demanding to be held aloft.
The critics…ah, the critics. U.K. reviewers were more balanced in their appraisal of this picture, but it has been savaged by American film critics, many of whom clearly aren’t fans of the classic Bond formula. My favourite review headline here in the states: “For Better or Worse, SPECTRE is Quintessential Bond.” Yes, in many ways it is…and that isn’t really a bad thing
Yes, Eon needs new writers. Yes, Sam Mendes should probably move on and let another director have a go. But I think Daniel Craig should stay and complete a Blofeld Trilogy, now that the table has been set. I realize that this probably means that Madeline will have to be “Tracy’d,” as happened in OHMSS, and we’ll have yet another Bond in revenge mode…but I really think Eon has decided to complete Bond’s origin with Daniel Craig, and that means getting both tragic relationships out of the way. I predict that Bond #7, whoever he is, will step---fully formed---into the tuxedo.
FINAL THOUGHTS: A friend of mine has said that SPECTRE is like a ‘greatest hits’ album, and I think he has a point---it certainly works on that level, and is an enjoyable and rewarding experience for Bond fans. However, going forward post-Craig (whenever that comes), Eon is going to have to give up the self-derivative habits it has picked up…and at some point move away from the “Backstory Bond” crutch it has leaned on in the Craig Era. James Bond is a professional doing a job, and his personal history should not continue dictating major plot points and storylines in perpetuity.
This movie made me smile much more than it made me frown.
7.5 out of 10
Good one. Worth waiting for...
1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
Gotta say, Loeffelholz, you really nailed it. Not just because I agree with you on most points but your review is really thoughtful and done in the proper context of what a Bond film is. Nice little aside about you seeing the film in the same (albeit multiplexed) location you saw your first Bond film. Saw my first Bond film in '64 and that place was reduced to rubble long, long ago. I hope what is left of your boyhood movie palace is still a decent place to see a film. You might want to seek out a nice IMAX theater for another viewing. SPECTRE definately is a film that benefits from the jumbo sized screen and primo sound.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
My first viewing was in IMAX, luckily...and it DID look and sound amazing -{
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
Whilst, at first, I wasnt a fan of the change of tone from serious to a bit lighter in this one, it made me think of something. It felt like GF or GE (and even further TND). I say that, because the films that proceed them are serious films, and those films change the tone. So I guess, if I don't think about the fact this followed SF or any of the Craig films, the tone probably won't be as distracting.
I quite agree! One of the very best I've read from a professional reviewer in fact (I'm assuming he is- I may be wrong).
One thing I loved was the way Bond shot at the helicopter out of desperation, and paused before firing the last bullet as if he was wondering if it was even worth trying one more time, and then fired again just in case. -{ Pure Bond IMO.
Loeffelholz... Great review and brilliant in its structure... it is a wonderful read. Thanks for posting your review! I'm going to go see SP for the fourth time here in less than an hour, and who knows how many times I'll go see it next week. For me, it gets more enjoyable each time I see it. SP really brings me back to the 'Bond Wonderment' I felt after seeing Thunderball for the first time when I was nine years old. For me, I rank this DC Bond film second to Casino Royale. Anyway... off to the movie theater again.
"Now pay attention double O seven..." - Q. Words I think we should all live by.
I have to admit, I wasn’t the first one to run to the cinema to see Spectre. I have never been Craig’s Bond’s fan, and Skyfall was the first of his movies that did not wait for to get on DVD/Blu-ray. I enjoyed it, but not excessively. Spectre received rather mixed reviews, so I thought I might wait for Blu-ray again, but with an evening to spare and living close to the cheapest cinema in town I decided to give it a shot. I went to the last show of the evening, at 9:15 pm last Friday night, only a few days after Spectre’s premiere in Australia. I found the theatre less than half full, but the movie started only about 10 minutes after the advertised time. So far so good – Skyfall, which I had seen at a much more upmarket cinema, but one known for endless ad sessions, took easily at least half an hour of previews and adverts before the movie started.
The start was very good. The gunbarrel sequence at the beginning, though not the best in the series, gave me goosebumps, as it is meant to! It’s always a good sign. And then the Mexico scene… I have to admit, based on rave reviews of this part, I expected a lot more, at least as far as cinematography is concerned. The YouTube trailer looked so much better, with vivid colours and sharp focus. Shooting the movie on film was supposed to make it look better – but didn’t. I hope Blu-ray release will help with this, but it is strange than you can see better, sharper details on TV than on a much bigger cinema screen.
The opening credits were such a mixed bag. Sam Smith’s song, though not his best, was one of the highlights of the whole movie, but the “octopus porn”, as some called it, was very kitch. No-one does it like Maurice Binder any more, but why not make it similar to Skyfall, if you have no other inspiration? I did not notice that the music was recycled from Skyfall. Was it really? A lot of it was based on the title song, and went quite well with the film, though I agree with those who consider David Arnold to be the best Bond composer of the last 2 or 3 decades. We will miss him!
Americans have a strange habit of remaking foreign, even English-language, movies and TV series. What’s wrong with watching The Ring, The Office, or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in their original version? I hear they are even remaking The Slap! Watching Craig’s Bond movies always gives me the same impression. It’s like something I have already seen, but shot again for no apparent reason. It’s like watching someone playing Bond, and not someone being Bond. I don’t think I will ever get over this, and really look forward to the new Bond actor, in the hope that I will be able to accept him (or is it going to be her this time?) more. Having said that, Craig is improving in his portrayal as Bond with each movie – if ever so slightly. In Spectre, his Bond is the best so far. But it does not necessarily make it a great movie. One of the critics called Spectre the worst Bond movie in 30 years. I will not argue with that, even though I find it difficult for any other movie than Quantum of Solace to win this title.
The trouble with Spectre is that the producers could not decide what they wanted to do. Move the franchise forward, or appeal to tradition? Re-cycle old elements or create new? I have no idea. There are even problems with continuity within the Craig Bond own sub-series. In Skyfall, Q claims that there is no more room for exploding pens, and palm-reader guns are the way to go. Spectre scriptwirters seem to have forgotten that. Bond uses a standard gun (though luckily no longer the WW2 era Walter PPK), but instead of an exploding gun he gets… an explosive watch. And his car is full of Q-equipped gadgets again too. Craig’s fans have praised his ruthless, straightforward portrayal of Bond, supposedly closed to the literary original. What are they thinking now? Given a chance to co-produce the movie, Craig chose to emulate Roger Moore’s more humorous portrayal of 007, though he still lacks Moore’s charm and comedic skills.
Despite the attempt at comedy Moore-style, Spectre’s Bond is probably the most misogynistic we have seen since Connery. I literally cringed when Bond refused to take the mementoes offered him by Moneypenny, and asked her to bring the box to his place at night! He also seemed to care about gratuitous sex with Lucia Sciarra more than he did about her safety, and again, seemed to be disappointed to find out that Money penny actually had a life. I suppose this was an intentional nod towards the first Bond movies, but it does clash with 21 century sensitivities, and will not go down in history well.
Moneypenny, who was a great character in Skyfall, is certainly underutilised in Spectre. Naomie Harris is a great actor, so I wish she had been allowed to show more of her talent.
Ben Wishaw’s Q, on the other hand, shines through much better than he did in the previous release. He looks more confident, more mature, and is less sketchy that previously. A great replacement for Desmond Llewelyn. Almost as good as John Cleese!
And now for the baddies… First we have Hinx, a cross between Oddjob and Jaws. His only claim to originality is that he volunteered for a position at Spectre by pointlessly murdering the contender. Is this how an international organisation for evil is really supposed to work? The SPECTRE we know from older movies made more sense: only a person who held a certain authority would execute another, and never without a reason. This organisation did not tolerate failure, but never killed its loyal members just for fun. And the supervillain? While Christoph Waltz can be menacing, in Spectre he is anything but. In fact, in the scene when he tried to torture Bond, he acts like a comedian. Are the slippers he is wearing supposed to be scary?
What troubles the movie the most is the plot though. It clearly wasn’t perfected, appears unfinished, and it is as if the scriptwriters were hoping that the viewers will miss it all! Well, I didn’t.
It starts early: When the helicopter collects Sciarra and Bond jumps in, the pilot seem to be unable to make up his mind. Should he take off, or land? Instead, he just circles aimlessly over the crowd - probably the silliest thing to do. But then the weakest part, which almost makes the movie fail for me. Strangely, I do not recall it mentioned in any reviews before, but Mr White, as a former Spectre operative, must know what the organisation is about. Yet, he is so careless with his security setup, that he allows Bond to locate him easily. Worse, he reveals information to Bond that endangers his own daughter in full view of cameras and microphones. What was he thinking??? Couldn’t he have just written the information on a piece of paper? Or whispered it in Bond’s ear? Really, viewers can’t be expected to be so naïve. And then White decides to take his life without so much as erasing the recordings, offering them all to Spectre on a silver platter. Bond was there, so he knew the records would be available, so why not torch White’s house? Another thing that doesn’t hold water is that It was not necessary for Spectre to send someone to assassinate White. Spectre had already poisoned him. Talk about overkill! Things like that go on almost endlessly, which does not make for a seamless plot we expect from a Bond film. I won’t even go into details about why it is necessary for Bond to go to Morocco (where he wears a jacket during the day and then takes it off and sweats at night, as if the moon was hotter than the sun there!). It was one of the few moments when I found my mind drifting away, and may have missed something. Lose concentration when watching a Bond movie? That’s a first for me!
To sum up, those mixed reviews for Spectre are more than deserved. But even if Spectre WAS the worst Bond movie in 30 years (which I don’t think it is), it doesn’t make it a bad movie. Bond films are never below a certain rather high standard, so the difference between the worst and the best of them is only very slight.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Thanks all for your very kind remarks -{ I wanted a few viewings under my belt before summing up my thoughts. SP isn't for everyone, certainly---but it IS for Bond fans (though some certainly won't like it, as is always the case with each entry), and clearly not for random critics who don't find the franchise itself worthy of still being around.
chrisisall: I am a professional writer, but alas not a professional movie critic. I clearly don't have the proper credentials :v
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
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
My introduction to Bond was reading DR NO about a year before it opened here in the US(1963)and with the exception of AVTAK I never missed a Bond yet. My wife and I went to the first matinee and really enjoyed it(and I think I caught most of the nods to other films,etc. ) I'll just touch on a couple of things,as I think most everyone who posted has pretty much covered everything pro or con.
The gun barrel was good, except for the sound, especially the gunshot which seems kind of muted. being an old Bond fan
I think they should just take the music and sound from the FRWL gunbarrel and simply insert the current Bond.
The other thing is the PPK. I'm not going to bemoan the unlikelyhood of downing a helicopter with it. What got me was the absolutely trite as can be of Bond throwing the PPK away. Again:trite! If Bond wanted to give up his gun and 00 license,the camera should have focused closely on the cocked PPK aimed at Blofeld's head, then Bond thumbs the decocker,dropping the hammer and Blofeld winces seismically, and Bond hands the Walther silently off to M and walks off to Madeline.
While thanks to the spoilers, I knew that was coming but my wife didn't. On the way out I asked her what she thought and she said she enjoyed it, but "Throwing away a nice gun like that is a shame!" So I asked her what she would have done. "I'd have grabbed M's Glock and gone to work on that other damned eye!" That's my girl
Regards,
Tecolote
My introduction to Bond was reading DR NO about a year before it opened here in the US(1963)and with the exception of AVTAK I never missed a Bond yet. My wife and I went to the first matinee and really enjoyed it(and I think I caught most of the nods to other films,etc. ) I'll just touch on a couple of things,as I think most everyone who posted has pretty much covered everything pro or con.
The gun barrel was good, except for the sound, especially the gunshot which seems kind of muted. being an old Bond fan
I think they should just take the music and sound from the FRWL gunbarrel and simply insert the current Bond.
The other thing is the PPK. I'm not going to bemoan the unlikelyhood of downing a helicopter with it. What got me was the absolutely trite as can be of Bond throwing the PPK away. Again:trite! If Bond wanted to give up his gun and 00 license,the camera should have focused closely on the cocked PPK aimed at Blofeld's head, then Bond thumbs the decocker,dropping the hammer and Blofeld winces seismically, and Bond hands the Walther silently off to M and walks off to Madeline.
While thanks to the spoilers, I knew that was coming but my wife didn't. On the way out I asked her what she thought and she said she enjoyed it, but "Throwing away a nice gun like that is a shame!" So I asked her what she would have done. "I'd have grabbed M's Glock and gone to work on that other damned eye!" That's my girl
Regards,
Tecolote
Craig is making a bad habit of throwing away his gun. You may remember he threw his gun away on the train in the Skyfall PTS
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,924Chief of Staff
as Bond and Madeline arrive at Blofeld’s digs in a vintage Rolls-Royce and are allotted old-school supervillain-style courtesy and hospitality.
) ) So true. I agree Loeff, great review. I liked it a smidge more, I'd give it a solid 8. Guess I've warmed up to ol' DC.
Nice to see you drop by again -{
Indeed! :x
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
Comments
Yep, that's Eva Green's sport, Sir Miles :v
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Thank you, sir {[]
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Good one. Worth waiting for...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Lea Seydoux isn't even the best looking woman in the film...she's miles behind Bellucci and Harris :x
I prefer her playing this game...
:x :x :x
I'd rather play a round of "connect 4" with all of them B-)
One thing I loved was the way Bond shot at the helicopter out of desperation, and paused before firing the last bullet as if he was wondering if it was even worth trying one more time, and then fired again just in case. -{ Pure Bond IMO.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
- Troy
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
The start was very good. The gunbarrel sequence at the beginning, though not the best in the series, gave me goosebumps, as it is meant to! It’s always a good sign. And then the Mexico scene… I have to admit, based on rave reviews of this part, I expected a lot more, at least as far as cinematography is concerned. The YouTube trailer looked so much better, with vivid colours and sharp focus. Shooting the movie on film was supposed to make it look better – but didn’t. I hope Blu-ray release will help with this, but it is strange than you can see better, sharper details on TV than on a much bigger cinema screen.
The opening credits were such a mixed bag. Sam Smith’s song, though not his best, was one of the highlights of the whole movie, but the “octopus porn”, as some called it, was very kitch. No-one does it like Maurice Binder any more, but why not make it similar to Skyfall, if you have no other inspiration? I did not notice that the music was recycled from Skyfall. Was it really? A lot of it was based on the title song, and went quite well with the film, though I agree with those who consider David Arnold to be the best Bond composer of the last 2 or 3 decades. We will miss him!
Americans have a strange habit of remaking foreign, even English-language, movies and TV series. What’s wrong with watching The Ring, The Office, or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in their original version? I hear they are even remaking The Slap! Watching Craig’s Bond movies always gives me the same impression. It’s like something I have already seen, but shot again for no apparent reason. It’s like watching someone playing Bond, and not someone being Bond. I don’t think I will ever get over this, and really look forward to the new Bond actor, in the hope that I will be able to accept him (or is it going to be her this time?) more. Having said that, Craig is improving in his portrayal as Bond with each movie – if ever so slightly. In Spectre, his Bond is the best so far. But it does not necessarily make it a great movie. One of the critics called Spectre the worst Bond movie in 30 years. I will not argue with that, even though I find it difficult for any other movie than Quantum of Solace to win this title.
The trouble with Spectre is that the producers could not decide what they wanted to do. Move the franchise forward, or appeal to tradition? Re-cycle old elements or create new? I have no idea. There are even problems with continuity within the Craig Bond own sub-series. In Skyfall, Q claims that there is no more room for exploding pens, and palm-reader guns are the way to go. Spectre scriptwirters seem to have forgotten that. Bond uses a standard gun (though luckily no longer the WW2 era Walter PPK), but instead of an exploding gun he gets… an explosive watch. And his car is full of Q-equipped gadgets again too. Craig’s fans have praised his ruthless, straightforward portrayal of Bond, supposedly closed to the literary original. What are they thinking now? Given a chance to co-produce the movie, Craig chose to emulate Roger Moore’s more humorous portrayal of 007, though he still lacks Moore’s charm and comedic skills.
Despite the attempt at comedy Moore-style, Spectre’s Bond is probably the most misogynistic we have seen since Connery. I literally cringed when Bond refused to take the mementoes offered him by Moneypenny, and asked her to bring the box to his place at night! He also seemed to care about gratuitous sex with Lucia Sciarra more than he did about her safety, and again, seemed to be disappointed to find out that Money penny actually had a life. I suppose this was an intentional nod towards the first Bond movies, but it does clash with 21 century sensitivities, and will not go down in history well.
Moneypenny, who was a great character in Skyfall, is certainly underutilised in Spectre. Naomie Harris is a great actor, so I wish she had been allowed to show more of her talent.
Ben Wishaw’s Q, on the other hand, shines through much better than he did in the previous release. He looks more confident, more mature, and is less sketchy that previously. A great replacement for Desmond Llewelyn. Almost as good as John Cleese!
And now for the baddies… First we have Hinx, a cross between Oddjob and Jaws. His only claim to originality is that he volunteered for a position at Spectre by pointlessly murdering the contender. Is this how an international organisation for evil is really supposed to work? The SPECTRE we know from older movies made more sense: only a person who held a certain authority would execute another, and never without a reason. This organisation did not tolerate failure, but never killed its loyal members just for fun. And the supervillain? While Christoph Waltz can be menacing, in Spectre he is anything but. In fact, in the scene when he tried to torture Bond, he acts like a comedian. Are the slippers he is wearing supposed to be scary?
What troubles the movie the most is the plot though. It clearly wasn’t perfected, appears unfinished, and it is as if the scriptwriters were hoping that the viewers will miss it all! Well, I didn’t.
It starts early: When the helicopter collects Sciarra and Bond jumps in, the pilot seem to be unable to make up his mind. Should he take off, or land? Instead, he just circles aimlessly over the crowd - probably the silliest thing to do. But then the weakest part, which almost makes the movie fail for me. Strangely, I do not recall it mentioned in any reviews before, but Mr White, as a former Spectre operative, must know what the organisation is about. Yet, he is so careless with his security setup, that he allows Bond to locate him easily. Worse, he reveals information to Bond that endangers his own daughter in full view of cameras and microphones. What was he thinking??? Couldn’t he have just written the information on a piece of paper? Or whispered it in Bond’s ear? Really, viewers can’t be expected to be so naïve. And then White decides to take his life without so much as erasing the recordings, offering them all to Spectre on a silver platter. Bond was there, so he knew the records would be available, so why not torch White’s house? Another thing that doesn’t hold water is that It was not necessary for Spectre to send someone to assassinate White. Spectre had already poisoned him. Talk about overkill! Things like that go on almost endlessly, which does not make for a seamless plot we expect from a Bond film. I won’t even go into details about why it is necessary for Bond to go to Morocco (where he wears a jacket during the day and then takes it off and sweats at night, as if the moon was hotter than the sun there!). It was one of the few moments when I found my mind drifting away, and may have missed something. Lose concentration when watching a Bond movie? That’s a first for me!
To sum up, those mixed reviews for Spectre are more than deserved. But even if Spectre WAS the worst Bond movie in 30 years (which I don’t think it is), it doesn’t make it a bad movie. Bond films are never below a certain rather high standard, so the difference between the worst and the best of them is only very slight.
chrisisall: I am a professional writer, but alas not a professional movie critic. I clearly don't have the proper credentials :v
"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
Precisely -{
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Enjoyed it more than the first. Looks like its shaping up to be my favourite Daniel Craig Bond Film.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
The gun barrel was good, except for the sound, especially the gunshot which seems kind of muted. being an old Bond fan
I think they should just take the music and sound from the FRWL gunbarrel and simply insert the current Bond.
The other thing is the PPK. I'm not going to bemoan the unlikelyhood of downing a helicopter with it. What got me was the absolutely trite as can be of Bond throwing the PPK away. Again:trite! If Bond wanted to give up his gun and 00 license,the camera should have focused closely on the cocked PPK aimed at Blofeld's head, then Bond thumbs the decocker,dropping the hammer and Blofeld winces seismically, and Bond hands the Walther silently off to M and walks off to Madeline.
While thanks to the spoilers, I knew that was coming but my wife didn't. On the way out I asked her what she thought and she said she enjoyed it, but "Throwing away a nice gun like that is a shame!" So I asked her what she would have done. "I'd have grabbed M's Glock and gone to work on that other damned eye!" That's my girl
Regards,
Tecolote
Hey, Monique...nice to see you
Glad you're beginning to warm to DC...but he's still mine :v
Craig is making a bad habit of throwing away his gun. You may remember he threw his gun away on the train in the Skyfall PTS
Nice to see you drop by again -{
Indeed! :x
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I would not call them "turkeys", as it's all in the eye of the viewer. I'll take AVTAK and DAD, with all their flaws, before CR any day!
All the bond films are enjoyable.
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming