007: Spectre

After the slew of serious movies, this is the tongue-in-cheek fantasy- like homage to the 60's Bond films that we wanted. There's lots of beautiful locales, a Day of the Dead parade, Bautista playing a beautiful henchman, Waltz playing the villain, Aston Martin chases and the most gags out of all the Craig films thus far. There's lots of welcome nostalgic throwbacks like a train fight, an evil lair and skiing scenes.

The plot relies on the standard Bond formula, the backstory of the villain is underwhelming and the climax is a little weak, but the first two acts of the film were great and as a whole, this is a very entertaining action film.

Despite an initial action scene full of CGI that you can also experience in the trailer, this movie hasn't got too much to offer.

The main problem is the bad script and dialogs and the pretentious style which tries to keep the tradition of older Bond films incorporating some not-so-witty and cliché humor and ludicrous action sequences with nothing new to offer. Planes, helicopters, cars...Well we've seen it all before and in much better executions.

Also Blofeld (or should I say BLOWfeld), despite the fact he is the King of all previous villains, seems quite harmless.

Casino Royale (2006) is far more entertaining (I've watched it again recently) and engaging. Spectre is "Meh!" in almost every department including (unfortunately) the ladies.

Thomas Newman who serves as the composer of the film, is proved to be a bad decision too. At the beginning he tries to revive the good-old 007 theme in almost every scene and the outcome is sub-par to say the least. Later he replaces the music with the same note again and again (da-da-da-da-da-da-da). David Arnold did a great job in C.R. and should have been the composer in this too (although I doubt that he could save this movie).

And what's the deal with this lame song? Unsuitable for a Bond movie or any movie out there. Same goes for the same-o same-o intro sequence. The combination of these 2 makes it look like it was made by Liberace.

Overall: The whole movie is pale like the Pale King it mentions.

When rewatching spectre after a few years I realised what an amazing film it actually is. It's far better than the reviews on here claim and after watching it a second time you will truly appreciate it far more than after the first watch.

It's overly long, the pacing slows down too much in the second act and Christoph Waltz is massively underutilized but Spectre is still a really good Bond film that's thrilling, fun and epic whilst also being a more classical Bond film.

Daniel Craig is reliably perfect once again but with more charisma and a lot more quips compared to his previous films. Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista and Ben Whishaw are all great.

Sam Mendes' direction is excellent, it's beautifully filmed and consistently stylish with extremely well filmed action sequences. The music by Thomas Newman is fantastic and the song by Sam Smith is also great.

Resuming where Skyfall left off, Spectre points James Bond on a quest to discover and unearth truths behind the sinister organization responsible.

The 00 organization is under duress as the Centre of National Security attempts to take over control of all clandestine undertakings in the protection of the nation. Bond is on his own and off grid as he follows Spectre across the globe, with one mission in mind, to terminate it at the source. Much has changed for Bond since his first mission in Montenegro where he fell for the beautiful Vesper Lynd. On guard, 007's seductive charisma is set aside as he fervently pursues vengeance for M and truth for himself.

Daniel Craig has been James Bond for close to ten years now, a near unbelievable fact until you go back and realize the first film, Casino Royale, was released in 2006. Opening with a strong action sequence set during the Day of the Dead festivities in Mexico City, Spectre starts promisingly intense. Set in exotic locations with transcendentally tactile productions, Spectre satiates the audience's wanderlust craving. Something happens once Sam Smith's "Writings on the Wall" concludes, and the dark gritty James Bond we've grown to be enamored with takes several steps back toward the triteness of the 90s.

It was always going to be difficult for director Sam Mendes to supersede expectations set from the wildly successful Skyfall. The narrative had taken a complicated turn with deceit and bloodshed interwoven with treachery and malice. Mendes had teased us with a captivating scene set in a wintry tundra where a cloaked man compared Bond to a 'kite dancing in a hurricane'. It was enigmatic but furtively beguiling. Desperately longing for Spectre to capture this essence for the totality of its duration, it fails to meet expectations.

There is something intangibly weary about Spectre as a whole. The amorous allure inherently exuding from Bond is overdone and forced, injected into the plot to satisfy token assumptions. His unflinching execution of his license to kill has softened, leaving Bond to feel less like 007 and more like IMF agent Ethan Hunt who participates in a similar journey this year.

Do not mistake these criticisms of Spectre as a conclusion for it being substandard. The hand-to-hand fight sequences are marvelously intense and brutal, especially those against Dave Bautista. The narrative plots across Mexico, Rome, Austria and Morocco and does so without sacrificing the story too much. It just ends up feeling drawn out, as if it were going through the motions.

Spectre is vastly superior to the Pierce Brosnan 007 films, it is just in comparison to its peers that it fails to measure up and is more akin to them than the Craig films we've grown to love. With rare occasions of cheesiness that make you more laughably amused (especially at the senseless love scenes) than suspensefully entertained, we can only hope for a sensational Bond 25.

6.5/10

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