SPECTRE Review Thread

[dallywhitty]

Guess I'm one of the few who loved the third act? The scene in which they arrive at the villain's hideout was like something out of one of the Connery films.

[Show spoiler]I also loved the bit in which Bond's trying to dissuade Madeleine from watching the footage of her father's suicide.

[Ruemorgue10]

Originally Posted by Blu-Malibu2009

The entire third act sucks, no doubt. But the tacked on 20 minutes at the end just drags out a movie that didn't need to be so long and that sequence introduces some really tired plot points. Strong first two acts but it really falls apart as soon as they get to Spectre's facility.

Agreed. From the pre-credits until the end of the train sequence, the flick is pretty solid. Bond and Madeleine's escape from the Spectre base was way too easy and quick. It would have worked better as a big action sequence done in a similar vein to You Only Live Twice or The Spy Who Loved Me .

[Gutz]

Saw it yesterday. Good movie but third act was a big let down. Great intro but overall not enough action. Didn't like that the music score was reused from skyfall a lot but ending piece was great. Bautista was a bad ass but the main bond girl was meh. Good but not great. B-.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Yes he was. He was tearing the room apart in the previous scene looking for anything out of the ordinary.[/SPOILER]

People desperate to like something are often desperate to defend it's flaws. Assuming you're right and Bond was

[Show spoiler]looking for a room (which he wasn't, but ok) the notion that a mouse running through a mouse hole indicates a secret room is on the other side is bizarre and defies any and all logic. If you saw a mouse run through a hole in your house, would you immediately smash through the wall expecting to find a secret room on the other side? It would have made a hell of a lot more sense (as in ANY sense) to have him notice either a small amount of light through the mouse hole or some sort of pattern made by the windows that indicated a clue to the room's existence or even noticed seams in the will where it had been covered over, I could have bought that premise. As it is... it's just a massive guess on Bond's part and is stupid convenience. There's no way to justify it. Sorry. And even if you bought their flimsiest of justification for Bond finding the room... I didn't, which means it's a failure in their storytelling.

Or maybe plan A was that he

[Show spoiler]expected the thugs to take him in and unmask him, showing him the messages before leading him into the room opposite him with the mirror.

Also assuming that true... it's an even more ridiculous and stupid justification/motivation than the lack of one we got in the movie.

[Ironhorse75]

Reactions to this movie seem very reminiscent to that of The Dark Knight Rises.

[chris_s]

Originally Posted by Cliff

But he WASN'T

[Show spoiler]searching for a secret room!! He didn't know what he was searching for. Just prior to arriving he thought L'America (or whatever the hotel was called) was a person. It was a lazy convenience that he just happened to find that room.

It wasnt lazy convienience that

[Show spoiler]he found the room. That was the same room that Madeline and Mr White would stay in when she was younger.

[Darth Marcus]

Just got out of my showing, and while I did find it to be a little too long, the film itself is aces. I honestly can't decide if I like this more than Skyfall, though Casino Royale is still Craig's best film to date. I've read a lot of people complaining about the cinematography, but I found it to be quite beautiful. For a movie about an organization that's been living in the shadows, this movie uses shadows quite well in nearly every frame. Some of the shots were truly wondrous to behold. Not to mention this is my favorite score to any Bond film by far. I honestly don't think the film would have quite the same impact without the transcendent score. In fact you could say that about many of the great films actually. Would Blade Runner be the same without Vangelis's masterful score? Absolutely not. And no, I'm not saying Spectre is masterpiece material, just stating that magnificent scores can take magnificent films to a whole other level. I did find Léa Seydoux to be a rather dull Bond girl, though that may be due to an underwritten part as opposed to just bland acting on her part. And I found the third act to work just fine. In my eyes there was no overly cheesy reveal where you could here the "duh-duh-duh" in the back of your mind. I found it all to be handled quite well, with Christoph Waltz effectively pulling off his typical menacing charm. An argument could be made that Christoph was resorting to his usual shtick, but it's just so damn entertaining! Oh and Hinx was by far the best henchman we've had in decades. Hats off to Bautista! Everything considered this is one of the best Bond films, in my opinion. I just hope Craig sticks around for one more.

4.5/5

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by chris_s

It wasnt lazy convienience that

[Show spoiler]he found the room. That was the same room that Madeline and Mr White would stay in when she was younger.

Sure, they're staying in that room... but he doesn't know anything about

[Show spoiler] the "secret" room. He didn't know what he was looking for in that hotel room (again, the thought it was a person until Swan told him it was a hotel). That he thought to smash through a wall after seeing a mouse run into a mouse hole stretches logic and is only being accepted because people aren't wiling to think harder.

But you guys are right in that getting hung up on this head scratcher is minor when SPECTRE contains about 1000 more egregious lazy conveniences to question.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

"Peanuts will gross $16 million" - chris_sc77

[Vlad Draculi]

Originally Posted by Gutz

Saw it yesterday. Good movie but third act was a big let down. Great intro but overall not enough action. Didn't like that the music score was reused from skyfall a lot but ending piece was great. Bautista was a bad ass but the main bond girl was meh. Good but not great. B-.

Not enough action? It had a ton of action. A chase and helicopter fight in Mexico. A car chase in Rome. A shoot out in the desert. An airplane/car fight in the mountains. Another helicopter chase. That was a lot of action for a 2 and a half hour movie.

Originally Posted by Ironhorse75

Reactions to this movie seem very reminiscent to that of The Dark Knight Rises.

The only thing they have in common is that they both followed a near perfect masterpiece. Aside from that, Spectre is way better than that complete let down that is TDKR.

Originally Posted by Cliff

But you guys are right in that getting hung up on this head scratcher is minor when SPECTRE contains about 1000 more egregious lazy conveniences to question.

I do agree that the plot was convenient. Bond was pretty much invincible in this movie. It hardly detracts from it though.

[coulson96]

I was raised on the bond films, I've been pretty much a lifelong (thus far) fan, I also love the books as well. I have to say I wholeheartedly enjoyed this. My only (tiny) criticism would be it does slow down a bit at the half way mark, it speeds back up after but the L'american part does drag just a tiny bit, however its sort of crucial to the plot and to the character of madeleine so despite being a bit slow a sequence it doesn't bother me much. Pretty much everything else I loved. Craig was brilliant again, he adds so much depth to bond compared to previous bonds. I love M he's just brilliant and got the best zingers of the film, Q and Money-Penny are both on top form too. I really liked Lea Sedoux's character, she felt very strong and layered with a backstory and a personal conflict and a vulnerable side. Christoph Walz I loved as the big bad, I loved how this film sort of tied together Craig's era. I also really liked Hinx, best henchman we've had in ages. The action sequences in Skyfall were amazing so those are hard to beat but I have to say the ones that are in spectre are really amazing, mendes is on fine form with those. One last thing was some well needed levity added in, I mean this is a pretty dark, brutal film with some very intense parts so the injection of some light wit and humour was a good idea and something I felt that mendes did well on Skyfall. One particular instance in the opening made the audience laugh a lot in my theatre. Although dark and tension filled, the movie felt quite fun as well.

Overall I can't really decide whether this is a 5/5 or 4/5 as I liked almost everything about it. I'm goanna go with 4/5 cause of a reason I noted earlier. Overall definitely in my top 10 bond films, totally in the spirit of both the novels and the previous films! The grand legacy of Bond continues, I wonder where the next helmer will take this grand adventure.

[chris_sc77]

Wo. so strange to see hits by Fox and Sony and bombs by Universal on the box office chart

[Infernal King]

I know a lot of guys here will hate what I'm about to say but I liked that Judi Dench was the Bond Woman for Skyfall. Made for a refreshing change of pace, given how integral she was to the movie.

Severine was just the latest "Bond Girl shows up only to die two scenes later" (see also: Solange from Casino Royale, Fields from Quantum of Solace), only her treatment by Bond and Silva was repulsive, considering she had been a sex slave since she was a child. I know a lot of guys believe that misogyny doesn't exist and honestly, I try to be very careful about when I apply that word but the treatment of her character was misogynistic, in my opinion.

Anyway, I can already say that even if I were to love everything about Spectre, I would still take away one star from its total for squandering Monica Bellucci in a cameo. That's unforgivable, to me.

[Vlad Draculi]

Originally Posted by Gieferg

Skyfall set the bar very low. I dont even remember any more disappointing movie.

It's dumb, it's boring, I am unable to sit through it (i tried to revisit all Craig Bond movies before Spectre and needed to watch it in two parts during two days). And partly thanks to that I enjoyed Spectre. I was expecting something as terrible as Skyfall from Mendes, instead, I got somewhat enjoyable movie (even if it has some problems).

CR - 10/10
QoS - 8/10
Skyfall - 3/10
Spectre - 6-7/10 (will decide after second viewing)

Well since you give QoS an 8, you clearly only want a convoluted movie that is all action and no character development. No breathing room to think about what is going on with the plot. You also don't want something that is edited together competently.

[Vlad Draculi]

Originally Posted by chris_sc77

Wo. so strange to see hits by Fox and Sony and bombs by Universal on the box office chart

Um, how did this bomb? It made $73 million, that is far from a bomb. The only reason Jurassic World did as well is because people are morons as Twilight and Bayformers have proven.

Originally Posted by Infernal King

Anyway, I can already say that even if I were to love everything about Spectre, I would still take away one star from its total for squandering Monica Bellucci in a cameo. That's unforgivable, to me.

I don't get the love for Bellucci. I think she is an average actress at best, but I find it pointless to have Craig talk about how great it was to have a woman near his age be a Bond girl only to have her in the movie for like 3 minutes.

[coulson96]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Guess I'm one of the few who loved the third act? The scene in which they arrive at the villain's hideout was like something out of one of the Connery films.

[Show spoiler]I also loved the bit in which Bond's trying to dissuade Madeleine from watching the footage of her father's suicide.

Yeah I noted that too, that lair was really reminiscent of one of my favourite bonds You Only Live Twice and also a bit Dr No I think in the way the scene played out. I really liked the whole third act, the twists, the suspense, the revelations, the emotion, the wit, the standoffs. Really intense and engaging and in one instance utterly heart wrenching. I have to say one of the scenes in the villain's lair part had me entirely glued to the screen, its one of those moments when something on the screen is so excruciating for the character that its hard to watch but impossible to look away, that was one of the best scenes of the movie though IMO. If anything I'd say the only bit in the movie that sort of dragged was the L'american part, but that was sort of necessary so I can look past that.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by Darth Marcus

Not to mention this is my favorite score to any Bond film by far.

Better than Barry's or Arnold's best scores? I haven't heard it yet but that's quite a bold statement!

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

I don't get the love for Bellucci. I think she is an average actress at best

This is factually incorrect, sorry.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

Um, how did this bomb? It made $73 million, that is far from a bomb.

I think he's pointing out that the tables have turned and Sony and Fox, after a rough patch, are atop the charts with SPECTRE, Peanuts, Martian, etc..., while Universal, who seemed to do no wrong this year, is having a rough go lately with releases like Crimson Peak and Steve Jobs.

The only reason Jurassic World did as well is because people are morons as Twilight and Bayformers have proven.

The irony in this statement for those of us who hated SPECT-UGH is so thick I can't even begin to imagine what Q would have to invent to cut through it.

[Infernal King]

Craig era Bonds, scored by Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic:

Casino Royale
95% all critics
96% top critics

80/100 "Generally favorable reviews"

Quantum of Solace
65% all critics
40% top critics

58/100 "Mixed or average reviews"

Skyfall
93% all critics
92% top critics

81/100 "Universal acclaim"

Spectre
63% all critics
67% top critics

60/100 "Mixed or average reviews"

Obviously, Spectre's scores could change a little as more reviews come in, but since it's almost Monday, I'd say not by much.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Casino Royale is the best Craig Bond. According to Metacritic, Skyfall just barely edges it out.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, "all critics" say Spectre is the worst Craig Bond, while "top critics" say it's Quantum of Solace. According to Metacritic, Quantum of Solace is the worst Craig Bond.