SPECTRE Review Thread

[coolkev1701]

I liked everything in SPECTRE for the most part, but it needed way more Waltz in it. And that title song. Yeesh.

[imsounoriginal]

The title song has grown on me. I dunno if it's because I've seen the movie or just heard it about a half-dozen times now, but I'll say that I like it. Solidly middle-of-the-pack when it comes to Bond songs, and a damn sight better than the travesties we got with Quantum and Die Another Day. (The instrumental version on the OST is nice, but it's truncated.)

[The Great Owl]

The theme song of Spectre is not the greatest, but I love the title sequence overall. The octopus, the mirrors, the skydiving image, etc.

[StevenHarvey1990]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The theme song of Spectre is not the greatest, but I love the title sequence overall. The octopus, the mirrors, the skydiving image, etc.

The song itself fits perfectly well it's Sam Smith that's the problem IMO. One of the very few highlights of the film is that incredible title sequence.

[dallywhitty]

Yeah, the theme song has grown on me big time. I thought it was dull and forgettable the first few times I listened to it, whereas I've reached the point now where I'll go out of my way to listen to it outside of the film. I still think Sam Smith's vocals are hit-and-miss but I much prefer this song to his other stuff (and I actually like the falsetto in the chorus).

As for the title sequence - love it. Like a film noir vignette with octopuses thrown in.

[madcat0209]

Why I cannot love SPECTRE as much as I wanted to:

1. Bond's

[Show spoiler]personal relationship to Oberhauser/Blofeld and Bond's reaction, or lack thereof, to it

.

2. Swann's

[Show spoiler]declaration of love to Bond while he was being tortured only after being with him for a few days, most of it spent on hating him

.

3. Hinx's

[Show spoiler]death after being thrown off a moving train but only after surviving being thrown out of a speeding car through the front windshield after crashing into a plane. Also, why create a scene on the train where Hinx is trying to kill Bond when the purpose of the trip was so Bond can get to Oberhauser. Oberhauser was obviously expecting Bond. If so, why not restage the fight scene between Bond and Hinx during Bond's and Swann's escape from the facility?

4. The scene where Bond

[Show spoiler]and Swann are given a tour of the main operations by Oberhauser at the facility in the desert, then at a flick of a switch, all work is ceased and everyone stands up and faces the trio in the dark while Oberhauser carelessly shows Swann the last moments of Mr. White's, her father, life. What is the purpose of this scene? To get Bond on his knees so he can be knocked unconscious and prepared for the next scene?

5. Various scenes from the third act where

[Show spoiler]Bond instinctively walks into the old MI6 building rather than escape to what's left of the 007 team. If the purpose of the scene was to set up a damsel-in-distress moment, which was predictively set in motion the moment Swann walked away from the team, then it was poorly executed. Bond happens to find himself on the same floor, in the same room, where she was hidden and still had time to escape. Where Oberhauser flies near enough to the trap [explosion] he set for Bond just to see it go off rather than used that time to escape far, far away. How Bond was able to take the helicopter down with a single shot while in a speeding boat. And why was the helicopter flying so low to begin with? Oh, yes, to give Bond the opportunity to shoot it down from a speeding boat.

6. What is the real purpose of

[Show spoiler]C? Why waste scenes on establishing this character? As an adversary to M? It's obvious that Oberhauser was now getting his hands dirty. Why would he need C anymore?

7. And what made Oberhauser

[Show spoiler]so menacing? His faceless entrance when he takes over the meeting in Rome? The torture scene with Bond at the facility in the desert where if he punctures the right spot in the back of the neck, Bond was supposed to forget everything? Him giving Bond 3 minutes to find Swann in the old MI6 building or save himself? The use of his catchphrase "cuckoo" for Bond?

[cynatnite]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

isn't a 4 out of 5 better than "pretty good"?

Overall, I felt it was a pretty good movie that I enjoyed watching. Aspects of it could've been better.

If I'd thought it was just okay it would've been 3/5.

Maybe I just suck at scoring movies.

[Jumpman]

Originally Posted by madcat0209

Why I cannot love SPECTRE as much as I wanted to:

1. Bond's

[Show spoiler]personal relationship to Oberhauser/Blofeld and Bond's reaction, or lack thereof, to it

.

2. Swann's

[Show spoiler]declaration of love to Bond while he was being tortured only after being with him for a few days, most of it spent on hating him

.

3. Hinx's

[Show spoiler]death after being thrown off a moving train but only after surviving being thrown out of a speeding car through the front windshield after crashing into a plane. Also, why create a scene on the train where Hinx is trying to kill Bond when the purpose of the trip was so Bond can get to Oberhauser. Oberhauser was obviously expecting Bond. If so, why not restage the fight scene between Bond and Hinx during Bond's and Swann's escape from the facility?

4. The scene where Bond

[Show spoiler]and Swann are given a tour of the main operations by Oberhauser at the facility in the desert, then at a flick of a switch, all work is ceased and everyone stands up and faces the trio in the dark while Oberhauser carelessly shows Swann the last moments of Mr. White's, her father, life. What is the purpose of this scene? To get Bond on his knees so he can be knocked unconscious and prepared for the next scene?

5. Various scenes from the third act where

[Show spoiler]Bond instinctively walks into the old MI6 building rather than escape to what's left of the 007 team. If the purpose of the scene was to set up a damsel-in-distress moment, which was predictively set in motion the moment Swann walked away from the team, then it was poorly executed. Bond happens to find himself on the same floor, in the same room, where she was hidden and still had time to escape. Where Oberhauser flies near enough to the trap [explosion] he set for Bond just to see it go off rather than used that time to escape far, far away. How Bond was able to take the helicopter down with a single shot while in a speeding boat. And why was the helicopter flying so low to begin with? Oh, yes, to give Bond the opportunity to shoot it down from a speeding boat.

6. What is the real purpose of

[Show spoiler]C? Why waste scenes on establishing this character? As an adversary to M? It's obvious that Oberhauser was now getting his hands dirty. Why would he need C anymore?

7. And what made Oberhauser

[Show spoiler]so menacing? His faceless entrance when he takes over the meeting in Rome? The torture scene with Bond at the facility in the desert where if he punctures the right spot in the back of the neck, Bond was supposed to forget everything? Him giving Bond 3 minutes to find Swann in the old MI6 building or save himself? The use of his catchphrase "cuckoo" for Bond?

The purpose of that scene along with the intial SPECTRE meeting is to show off Oberhauser's power over all that work for SPECTRE...hence the octopus imagery throughout the film.

[runstop]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I loved the second viewing yesterday. I just sort of relaxed, because I knew what was coming, and I simply enjoyed.

This echoes my feelings. There's so much expectation around a new Bond film it can be hard to appreciate it on first viewing. I've seen it 4 times now and enjoyed it more and more each time. I think Spectre will age quite well, and a lot of people who didn't like it the first time if they give it a 2nd chance will get more out of it. We'll see anyway.

[Jumpman]

Originally Posted by runstop

This echoes my feelings. There's so much expectation around a new Bond film it can be hard to appreciate it on first viewing. I've seen it 4 times now and enjoyed it more and more each time. I think Spectre will age quite well, and a lot of people who didn't like it the first time if they give it a 2nd chance will get more out of it. We'll see anyway.

Going tomorrow for my 2nd viewing. Can't wait to see this again. Dug it a lot, even with its flaws in the 3rd act.

[imsounoriginal]

I dunno how so many of you are rewatching it so soon after your first viewing. The movie is so long and just exhausting, I need at least a week to recover

[Makarov]

That meeting scene with Spectre had great atmosphere introducing the villain except I wish there was more to it. The only thing we really get to see is the cliche thing of

[Show spoiler] one of the goons kill another with his bare hands to take his place. That's like stuff out of a gangster movie and these are meant to be elite villains. He even did the blade runner thing instead of anything new there. Meh...

And that henchman guy was great in his scenes but there's just nothing to the character. Can't rank him among Jaws or Oddjob.

I'll probably wait till it hits bluray to see it a second time. One thing I wonder is if Daniel Craig himself was really

[Show spoiler]walking on that ledge and jumping over spots between buildings

in the opening sequence.

[ScarredLungs]

I may be going to this tonight with my wife.

[Agent Bond]

I miss the gunbarrel zig zagging.

[Show spoiler]I noticed Blofeld crossed his legs during the conversation. I wonder if that was a slight nod to Charles Gray.

There was also no

[Show spoiler]Emilio Largo, but I'm assuming that who Blofeld's Right Hand Man (as he's credited in the titles)

was supposed to be.

4. The scene where Bond [Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]Blofeld did it to fu** with him to add more grief. To try to break him so to speak, which is why 007 had Madeleine look away otherwise seeing her father commit suicide would've emotionally scarred her for life.

[stlcards]

I went to the 10:30am show this morning. I stayed away from reviews beforehand. I really liked it!

[Dunemoon]

Much better than Skyfall. Nice to see the gunbarrel sequence proper. First time since 2002. Not sure if Hildebrand (location in third act) is a nod to the short story.

Still not a patch on the golden era that ended with Dalton. Maybe, if Craig quits or gets fired. Still trying to arty but comes across as pretentious. But that's Sam for you.

[Scottie]

I hate how everyone is comparing this movie to Skyfall as if Skyfall is the standard.

That being said, I found this film to be very average. Interesting plot, interesting villain, but the presentation was rather lackluster and dull.

Every scene, including the action scenes, felt like they were on cruise control. Nothing more, nothing less.

[coolkev1701]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I hate how everyone is comparing this movie to Skyfall as if Skyfall is the standard.

That being said, I found this film to be very average. Interesting plot, interesting villain, but the presentation was rather lackluster and dull.

Every scene, including the action scenes, felt like they were on cruise control. Nothing more, nothing less.

I agree. It was like here's the running on rooftops bit, here's the fight in a helicopter, here's the expected car chase, here's the airplane bit. It felt like they were just checking boxes on a list.

[Ironhorse75]

I've seen a lot of reviews complaining about how the movie felt like a mish mash of older bonds with the Craig era. I didn't get that vibe at all.

[Show spoiler]The brother aspect didn't add any emotional value. Hell, it didn't even add any emotional value for Bond's character. I think they could have cut that out and even the character C. I know C was supposed to represent how far Spectre's reach is but I don't think he surprised anybody.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by coolkev1701

I agree. It was like here's the running on rooftops bit, here's the fight in a helicopter, here's the expected car chase, here's the airplane bit. It felt like they were just checking boxes on a list.

The only thing it had going for it, in my opinion, was its throwback to Bond films of the past.

I saw nods to From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the universe as a whole with boats, car chases, and some of its playful, clichéd romantic writing.