SPECTRE Review Thread

[Tony208]

Best Bond since Casino Royale. Swann is the best Bond girl since Vesper. Lea Seydoux is stunning! Great set pieces and action scenes. Everything was just amazing except the backstory and wow, it is terrible.

[Show spoiler]Blofeld was jealous of his dad's relationship with Bond so he had his dad killed, faked his own death, and went on to become a criminal mastermind?

4.5/5

[SethRex]

Oh I can imagine there's probably been worse backstories...or hell some villains don't even really have backstories to go with.

[The Debts]

@imsounoriginal

Which Brosnan picture is it most like? Because if it's anything like Tomorrow Never Dies, my butt will wind up in a theater.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Absolutely loved it.

I would implore all of you who may be avoiding this movie, or at least a little nonplussed by it, to PLEASE go see it. This is the first true Bond adventure we've had since the Brosnan days, and in fact, the first two-thirds of the movie are very much like a Brosnan picture (and I mean that in the best way possible). There is a good amount of humor, including some jokes that I would never have expected to see in a Craig film, but it never detracts from the intensity of the action or mystery on-screen. Frankly I was very pleasantly surprised that just about all the humor worked. If you're looking for a return to the older style Bond films, this is one to support. (I don't know what Orndorf is referring to with the poop joke in his review...)

Few little nitpicks:

• Last third of the movie gets a little messy plot-wise; one character drops out for no reason briefly only to show up later for plot purposes (the whole point of this character seemed motivated by plot more than anything), and the last shot of the movie doesn't make much sense unless they're setting up the next movie to be a semi-remake of
  [Show spoiler]OHMSS
  .
  
• Not enough Waltz, and what we get of him is a little underwhelming. His whole beef with Bond just doesn't really add up to why he would hatch this huge, multi-movie scheme of his to take revenge.
  [Show spoiler](Basically adds up to Oberhauser/Blofeld being a jealous little boy who was afraid of losing daddy's love to an adopted orphan.)
  Also some of the connections to previous films seem tenuous at best, I would've liked that to be a little better explained.
  
• The score... I dunno why Newman said in that report about a year ago that he was recording 100 minutes of new music, since at least 1/3 of the music is recycled from Skyfall. Nearly everything up until
  [Show spoiler]Austria
  is old music, and then most of
  [Show spoiler]London
  is The Moors track on repeat, with some new Bond theme variations added in. Still, the stuff that is new is quite good.
  
• The cinematography is GORGEOUS (see it in IMAX)... until we get to
  [Show spoiler]London
  . Then for some reason, all the stuff shot at the
  [Show spoiler]old MI6 building
  looks like it was done on Miami Vice-era digital cameras. Just ugly. Other than that, aces.

Very nice job all around. I will definitely be seeing this again. BTW, did anyone who saw this in IMAX get a T-shirt? I was expecting a poster (which I didn't get ), but this is quite nice, too

If for no other reason, I don't know why I should go see a movie with such a terrible plot twist. Especially one that Austin Powers did first. For me, that's not a nitpick. That's a huge deal.

Everyone says the third act is weak, which is exactly what the Sony execs were complaining about in the leaked script.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by The Debts

@imsounoriginal

Which Brosnan picture is it most like? Because if it's anything like Tomorrow Never Dies, my butt will wind up in a theater.

there's a good mix of all the Brosnan pictures. The car chase certainly recalls the humor of TND's, the plane chase gave me flashbacks to the tank chase in Goldeneye. Beyond that, Seydoux is able to hold her own to some extent in fights, so there's some Wai-Lin to her. But just in terms of the overall structure and tone of SPECTRE, it very much reminded me of Brosnan and Moore's movies, at least for the first two-thirds. I really don't think fans of the older style films will be too disappointed here.

Originally Posted by Infernal King

If for no other reason, I don't know why I should go see a movie with such a terrible plot twist. Especially one that Austin Powers did first.

Everyone says the third act is weak, which is exactly what the Sony execs were complaining about in the leaked script.

Waltz's material is handled pretty clumsily, but I wouldn't say the third act is weak, just weaker than the first two. It basically goes back to Skyfall territory (complete with yet another

[Show spoiler]building getting blown up

) after the first two-thirds are really pretty fun.

[BigPudge]

I gotta say... i found this to be quite boring.

It took 2 and half hours to tell a story that in the end was extremely simple!

Skyfall was a far superior flick.
.i did enjoy the scenes with Bautista and the ones with Waltz... needed more of them.

And i dont think this is a spoiler but maybe it is.. if it is, it is EXTREMELY minor

[Show spoiler]can someone explain to me what a Bond Girl is? Cuz a big discussion was that Monica Bellucci was the 1st over 50 bond girl and that led me to believe she had a big part... she was jn the movie for like 2 minutes... just cuz Bond got up in that, makes her a bind girl?

[SilentNight]

just saw it. LOVED it. I'm stunned at the negative reviews. Maybe a bit too long but I appreciated that they went in a slightly different direction for the last several. See this in the theater!

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

there's a good mix of all the Brosnan pictures. The car chase certainly recalls the humor of TND's, the plane chase gave me flashbacks to the tank chase in Goldeneye. Beyond that, Seydoux is able to hold her own to some extent in fights, so there's some Wai-Lin to her. But just in terms of the overall structure and tone of SPECTRE, it very much reminded me of Brosnan and Moore's movies, at least for the first two-thirds. I really don't think fans of the older style films will be too disappointed here.



Waltz's material is handled pretty clumsily, but I wouldn't say the third act is weak, just weaker than the first two. It basically goes back to Skyfall territory (complete with yet another

[Show spoiler]building getting blown up

) after the first two-thirds are really pretty fun.

I definitely appreciate you trying to drum up enthusiasm. It's just that almost nothing about Spectre appeals to me (I'm sure nobody here wants me to go through the laundry list) and I don't want to have a conflicted time at the theatre, which I almost never go to anymore. Interestingly, the only Craig movie I've enjoyed at the cinema was Skyfall, although that's a movie with some significant flaws. I chalk it up to being different enough from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, which instilled some goodwill.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I definitely appreciate you trying to drum up enthusiasm. It's just that almost nothing about Spectre appeals to me (I'm sure nobody here wants me to go through the laundry list) and I don't want to have a conflicted time at the theatre, which I almost never go to anymore. Interestingly, the only Craig movie I've enjoyed at the cinema was Skyfall, although that's a movie with some significant flaws. I chalk it up to being different enough from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, which instilled some goodwill.

Fair enough; I know you've been meh on this one for a while now hopefully when you do get around to seeing it, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Honestly I hope this is the direction the series moves in, just without any more Bond Begins backstory; we got pretty much all we needed before SPECTRE and it was handled much better.

[The Debts]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I definitely appreciate you trying to drum up enthusiasm. It's just that almost nothing about Spectre appeals to me (I'm sure nobody here wants me to go through the laundry list) and I don't want to have a conflicted time at the theatre, which I almost never go to anymore. Interestingly, the only Craig movie I've enjoyed at the cinema was Skyfall, although that's a movie with some significant flaws. I chalk it up to being different enough from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, which instilled some goodwill.

Personally speaking, out of all the Craig films, Skyfall was the only one that truly clicked with me. I could sit down, watch Casino Royale and QoS from beginning to end, enjoy them but I couldn't even tell you what their plots were.

[Holmes]

With a clue found during an unauthorized operation in Mexico City, stalwart assassin and spy James Bond (Daniel Craig) pursues a mysterious organization as vast as it is nefarious. The search spirits him from London to Rome to Tangier and beyond, uniting him with a beautiful doctor (Léa Seydoux) and drawing him closer to a foreboding figure from his past (Christoph Waltz). For 45 minutes, perhaps an hour, this is a solid and well-crafted Bond film, directed by Sam Mendes with technical aplomb, if not an overt sense of enthusiasm or joie de Bond. Much of the Day of the Dead sequence at the start unfolds in a single shot, gorgeous and coiling, and it perfectly reintroduces the audience to the athletic, well-tailored, slightly haunted Bond played by Craig. The Roman interlude is also dynamic, buoyed by menacing nocturnal photography and a melancholy, sexy, too-brief performance by Monica Bellucci as the widow of a criminal recently pushed by Bond from a helicopter in midair.

Then, however, the film (lasting an ungodly-feeling two-and-a-half hours) loses steam...and loses more steam...and then its mind. The molasses-paced second act is interminable and discursive; momentum lolls just as it should reach fever pitch. And the third act, not enlivened by a typecast and underutilized Waltz, is deeply uninspired and a tad daft in the way it pins the crux of international malfeasance to a troubled period during Bond's childhood. It is a misguided contrivance in a film also plagued by tonal uncertainty; the general air of Bond-in-the-drone-era severity sits uneasily alongside forced nods to the naughty-lad camp humor of the franchise's Roger Moore era. This is never more groan-inducing than when a harsh, well-staged fistfight on a train instantly segues into a sex scene.

During one third-act scene, Bond surveys a room of photographs. We see, among others, the faces of Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, and Eva Green. The (harebrained) idea: the events of Casino Royale and Skyfall were, it is revealed, orchestrated by the Waltz antagonist, and he is now using the images to taunt and demoralize his foe. EVERYTHING HAS BUILT TO THIS! Cue the dramatic music! The (sad) truth: it is truly a hallway of reminders, reminders of far superior films.

C+

[SethRex]

Spectre tomorrow.

[McCrutchy]

I'll tell you, I was totally disappointed in the misuse of

[Show spoiler]Monica Bellucci here. I was expecting her to have a much larger part than she did, and I kept waiting to see more from her to no avail. Admittedly, some of that is bias, because I find her exquisitely beautiful, but I actually felt the Swann character was poorly written anyway, and I would have enjoyed seeing Bond's female accomplice be an older woman

. In fact, I would have vastly preferred if

[Show spoiler]Bellucci and Léa Seydoux had switched roles, making Bellucci Mr. White's wife, and Seydoux the daughter of Sciarra

, but, it was not to be.

The rest of the film, I am mulling over, and I'll probably see it again before I assess anything else.

[DanTheMan]

24. A number that may appear low, but in Hollywood terms, is a significant number when discussing the amount of films in a certain franchise. There are properties out there spanning different genres with 5+ sequels and reboots to their original film, but none have had the longevity, and none have been quite as successful or ever-evolving as the James Bond franchise.

Film #24 in the 007 saga is Spectre, a story that takes place in multiple locations, starting off in Mexico city, where we're re-introduced to Daniel Craig's Bond, who embarks on an action-packed mission, delivering quite arguably the greatest opening sequence in a 007 film to date. It's insane and kind of defies the laws of physics, yet somehow works if you're loyal fan of this franchise and know what you're getting yourself into.

Skimming through Sam Smith's mediocre "Writing's On the Wall" theme track, which is thankfully saved by the great visuals in the opening credits sequence, the story returns to London, where we last left off in Skyfall. The familiar team at MI6 including M, Moneypenny, and Q are back, and assist* Bond with his next mission. M and Q get more screentime in Spectre, while Moneypenny has less to work with, which is a shame as I loved Naomie Harris in the previous film.

As James progresses in his mission, and continues to gather clues to the next location, he has the unfortunate displeasure of crossing paths with Dave Bautista's Hinx, who is just the badass that I hoped and desired for a 007 film like this one. A man of few words (no, really, I mean that) who has one goal in mind: Stop Bond, by any measure necessary. Easily the best henchman since Oddjob in Goldfinger. You won't be disappointed in his performance and time on screen.

Regarding the Bond girls of this installment, Monica Bellucci is undoubtedly beautiful as ever, yet, like Moneypenny's character, is sadly underused, though more so than Moneypenny. I would be lying if I said I wasn't tepid about Léa Seydoux as a Bond girl when she was cast, even though I'm aware that the woman can clearly act well, but here I am admitting she knocked it out of the park more than I ever imagined in a role like the one she had. Next to Dave Bautista, Seydoux as Madeleine Swann was the highlight character of the film, and is reminiscent of Eva Green's Vesper from Casino Royale. The exact opposite of Bellucci's character, she gets more than enough screentime throughout to shine, and has terrific chemistry alongside Craig.

Now for Christoph Waltz. I disagree with the reviews that he's barely in the movie, as I counted plenty of moments throughout the 2+ hour runtime where his presence was strongly displayed, though it may have not completely paid off until well into the final act. Through Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography, Sam Mendes' direction of covering Waltz' face, and Waltz' subdued performance early on, the scene taking place at the table with members of the Spectre organization became that much more tense and worrisome, and I felt that only enhanced the Oberhausen character for when he finally reveals himself later on. As for that "later on," when we finally get that moment, it sadly feels slightly anti-climactic, and if you pay close attention to the clues Bond stumbles upon early on, you can kind of see the reveal coming ahead of time. After said reveal, Waltz' explanation or motive for his actions did him no favors in my eyes, and what followed with some of the key characters seemed kind of weak and generic. However, despite the underuse of two female characters, and the bumpy reveal scene of Oberhausen at the end, those were minor nitpicks in an otherwise highly enjoyable film.

Waltz redeems himself at the very, very end of the movie, Craig once again delivers as the rough and serious, yet, charming and sarcastic 007, Léa Seydoux is the best Bond girl in quite some time, Hinx is the most credible physical threat to Bond in a while, Q and M get more screentime, as well as humorous well-timed jokes, and of course, Sam Mendes at the helm with Van Hoytema doing cinematography only made this new entry in this beloved franchise that much more memorable, and will certainly be one I revisit as much as Skyfall over and over again.

4.5/5

[Lt. Brannigan]

This was a movie that neither bored me, nor excited me, instead it is one of those movies that sits somewhere in the middle. Content with being a spectacle and striving for nothing else.

The so called plot twists were sadly telegraphed very early, and Batista was under used, I kept wanting one more Bond vs Batista showdown.

And as others have mentioned, Monica Bellucci's role is a throwaway role that has practically no bearing on the plot, except to serve as another notch on Bond's bed post.

Befitting a movie that straddles the fence, I give this a 5/10.

[DanTheMan]

Originally Posted by Lt. Brannigan

And as others have mentioned, Monica Bellucci's role is a throwaway role that has practically no bearing on the plot, except to serve as another notch on Bond's bed post.

Oh, but what a notch. What a lovely notch!

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

I'll tell you, I was totally disappointed in the misuse of

[Show spoiler]Monica Bellucci here. I was expecting her to have a much larger part than she did, and I kept waiting to see more from her to no avail. Admittedly, some of that is bias, because I find her exquisitely beautiful, but I actually felt the Swann character was poorly written anyway, and I would have enjoyed seeing Bond's female accomplice be an older woman

. In fact, I would have vastly preferred if

[Show spoiler]Bellucci and Léa Seydoux had switched roles, making Bellucci Mr. White's wife, and Seydoux the daughter of Sciarra

, but, it was not to be.

The rest of the film, I am mulling over, and I'll probably see it again before I assess anything else.

This might have been my biggest disappointment of all. I've waited so long to see Monica Bellucci in a Bond movie and now that she's age-appropriate for Craig, it could have really been something to see her as the female lead. That

[Show spoiler]she has almost no screen time

really pisses me off.

[HD Canuck]

Blame the North Koreans for the mediocre reviews. At least Marvel got Spiderman back from the hack.

[Lt. Brannigan]

Originally Posted by dantheman89

Oh, but what a notch. What a lovely notch!

I am unable to disagree with you there, but I was expecting a little more substance from her role,

Originally Posted by HD Canuck

Blame the North Koreans for the mediocre reviews. At least Marvel got Spiderman back from the hack.

So what you are saying, is that Marvel might get Bond back as well?

Wait..... that doesn't sound right.

[DanTheMan]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

BTW, did anyone who saw this in IMAX get a T-shirt? I was expecting a poster (which I didn't get ), but this is quite nice, too

Got this sexy collectible ticket at Regal IMAX: