SPECTRE Review Thread

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

It's got far less to do with Bond Begins than the trailers let on. Really just the scenes where

[Show spoiler]Moneypenny brings Bond the recovered stuff from Skyfall (the dialogue in that scene consists of lines that sound great in a trailer but fall totally flat in context for some reason), Bond infiltrating the SPECTRE meeting in Rome, and then Blofeld revealing himself to Bond and his whole "why I did this" monologue during the torture scene

. Other than that, it's pretty much a straightforward Bond mission with the occasional dip back into some of Craig's previous movies, but that's all part of the ongoing mission/mystery anyway.

That's good to hear, although like I said, we won't be getting a Bond truly divorced from all this serialization and backstory until Craig gets the boot or slashes his wrists, whichever comes first.

Also, I think Spectre was the movie to wrap up all this stuff. They keep putting it off. I thought Skyfall was the end, after seeing the epilogue. Then again, I thought the epilogue of Casino Royale showed that Craig had fully transformed into the Bond we all know and love.

And yet three movies later, he's still working his way there.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by Cliff

But having

[Show spoiler]Bond punch through a hotel wall because he realized there's space between walls (which is pretty much common knowledge anyway) was the least logical motivation next to just guessing (which is pretty much what this was)

When you're looking for something hidden, every place you look is a guess! If I were to tell you I had hidden my keys somewhere inside my house, how are you going to "deduce" where they are? In the movie,

[Show spoiler]the rat simply reminds Bond of a place he never thought of looking.

[Infernal King]

I lament at how the producers seem determined to diminish the power of Casino Royale's final scene - which I'd argue is maybe the greatest moment in the entire series - with every subsequent entry in the Craig Canon.

After all the mayhem Mr. White has set in motion, Bond finally gets the better of him (with the help of Vesper). David Arnold's new orchestration of the James Bond theme (which was reused during the Quantum of Solace and Skyfall end credits, plus when Bond unveils the Goldfinger Aston Martin) kicks in, White drags himself over to Bond's feet, who's towering over him in an impeccably tailored suit, holding a giant gun, and smug as all hell. "The name's Bond. James Bond." He finally gets his catchphrase and theme song. Simply glorious and well-earned.

Then in Quantum of Solace, Mr. White's all "lol I'm just another cog in the machine so let me escape while you go fight this immensely uninteresting bad guy and forget all about me".

[Foggy]

Isn't that pretty much a staple of James Bond, he's a bit impulsive and wings it most the time. I don't think he's very caring about punching through a wall in a run down hotel.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

That's good to hear, although like I said, we won't be getting a Bond truly divorced from all this serialization and backstory until Craig gets the boot or slashes his wrists, whichever comes first.

Also, I think Spectre was the movie to wrap up all this stuff. They keep putting it off. I thought Skyfall was the end, after seeing the epilogue. Then again, I thought the epilogue of Casino Royale showed that Craig had fully transformed into the Bond we all know and love.

And yet three movies later, he's still working his way there.

Yeah SPECTRE could easily have been the end if they had gone over that third act just one more time. Part of me wishes they had just taken another year and ironed out those wrinkles, but missed opportunities have become a bit of a thing with the Bond franchise. Still, overall I like the movie, it's just a case of "good, but could've been more."

[jayman3]

Infernal King, have you even seen Spectre or are you just reading spoilers about the movie?

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by jayman3

Infernal King, have you even seen Spectre or are you just reading spoilers about the movie?

Reading spoilers about the movie. When we're talking about the plot, it's the same thing as having seen it. Unless all the spoilers I've mentioned are wrong and not actually accurate to what happens in the film itself.

Obviously I can't comment on things like the visuals or acting or whatever because you can't judge those based off of the written word.

I don't want to have another argument over whether or not I'm allowed to participate so this will be my last post on the matter.

[Spirit Zero]

JAMES BOND SPECTRE - Every Easter Egg & Reference - YouTube

[Foggy]

I don't know why I watch films now when someone on Youtube can tell you everything about it.

[imsounoriginal]

The dumbass who made the video says the corkscrew-car stunt is from FYEO, but it's from Golden Gun. And he ends by being proud that he's "done enough work on this [video]." Smh...

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

The dumbass who made the video says the corkscrew-car stunt is from FYEO, but it's from Golden Gun. And he ends by being proud that he's "done enough work on this [video]." Smh...

That's why I don't watch these sorts of YouTube videos.

[Makarov]

Dunno what the big problem is with hinx and the train car. It's just another Bond moment where once Bond gets near the villain, the villain has to meet him / explain the plot instead of just capping him in the head. They don't really mind if their henchmen take out Bond, but if given the chance they like to gloat. That's standard James Bond stuff.

[tezster]

Saw the movie yesterday... found it to be a pretty generic Bond movie. Predictable and very average. I rated it a generous 3 stars.

[jayman3]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

Reading spoilers about the movie. When we're talking about the plot, it's the same thing as having seen it. Unless all the spoilers I've mentioned are wrong and not actually accurate to what happens in the film itself.

Obviously I can't comment on things like the visuals or acting or whatever because you can't judge those based off of the written word.

I don't want to have another argument over whether or not I'm allowed to participate so this will be my last post on the matter.

But...that ruins the purpose of seeing the movie. You'll know everything that will happen and you can't enjoy it as much you would seeing the movie without knowledge of the stories plot.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by jayman3

But...that ruins the purpose of seeing the movie. You'll know everything that will happen and you can't enjoy it as much you would seeing the movie without knowledge of the stories plot.

Normally I wouldn't spoil myself but curiosity got the better of me after the script leaked so I read that and well... things got out of hand once reviews came out because I had to know how much, if any, the finished product differed from the script. My impulse control in this case has been non-existent.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

SPECTRE's mission isn't specifically to just ruin Bond's life;

[Show spoiler]Blofeld

has a personal vendetta against Bond (the explanation of which is flimsy, at best), but he's mainly using SPECTRE as a way of

[Show spoiler]manipulating world events and creating an omnipresent evil surveillance organization that he can do nefarious Bond villain-y things with

. There's no reason for Hinx or any other member to not have autonomy, and frankly, Bond has been nothing by a fly in the ointment. I don't see why the script has to spell out that Hinx is going after Bond on his own for being a thorn in SPECTRE's side; we are never shown (nor need to be shown) Hinx receiving orders or being encouraged to go after Bond.

But again...

[Show spoiler]SPECTRE is headed by Blofeld. Hinx is essentially replacing Sciarro as SPECTRE muscle. He's an enforcer.

You guys are acting like SPECTRE has no hierarchy. SPECTRE is not an organization where the members of SPECTRE are free to do as they wish. It's a terror organization... it's ORGANIZED.

Originally Posted by lemonski

Exactly - he'd

[Show spoiler]just joined (or promoted himself) within the organisation. Why would Blofeld even know him? And there was nothing in the film to suggest he had been instructed by Blofeld to kill Bond anyway.

Criticism of the "airtightness" of a script is silly if you have to start inventing things that never happened to support it.

THAT'S EXACTLY MY POINT!!! There's NOTHING in the film to suggest this. And I'm not inventing things that never happened to support my opinion... you are! Every problem and plot hole I've mentioned having a problem with SPECTRE is PRECISELY because those explanations are not there in the film. You're creating motives and explanations that aren't there on screen. Why would

[Show spoiler]Hinx go after Bond on the train when the train was heading to Blofeld and SPECTRE already (and Blofeld knew this because there was a car sent to pick them up and bring them back). If SPECTRE had instructed Hinx to kill Bond before he can get to Blofed... why not send another assassin at the train station instead of a Rolls? You're assuming Blofeld didn't know Hinx, but Blofeld was right there when Hinx killed the other SPECTRE member and was quite aware that he was the new SPECTRE muscle. So he at least knew OF him and what his role in SPECTRE was. All this stuff about Hinx and revenge and getting Bond for being a thorn in SPECTRE's side is stuff you've invented to justify the fact that it's never explained adequately in the film.

[jayman3]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

Normally I wouldn't spoil myself but curiosity got the better of me after the script leaked so I read that and well... things got out of hand once reviews came out because I had to know how much, if any, the finished product differed from the script. My impulse control in this case has been non-existent.

Why don't you just see the film for yourself if you wanted to know about "script differences" so badly.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by Cliff

But again...

[Show spoiler]SPECTRE is headed by Blofeld. Hinx is essentially replacing Sciarro as SPECTRE muscle. He's an enforcer.

You guys are acting like SPECTRE has no hierarchy. SPECTRE is not an organization where the members of SPECTRE are free to do as they wish. It's a terror organization... it's ORGANIZED.

Does the head of any organization have to know exactly what each and every worker/employee/minion is doing at each time? Sciarra was far more than just muscle, otherwise he wouldn't have been so important that Bellucci knew she'd be killed as soon as her husband died. Hinx replacing him means he's more than just muscle, he's someone capable of dealing with problems on his own if necessary. Worst case, if

[Show spoiler]Blofeld

was upset about what Hinx was doing, he'd be chewed out (but that's OK, he's been chewed out before).

I think you're purposely trying to call out things in this movie as being stupid when they're not necessarily. There are things about this movie that are stupid but Hinx chasing Bond and Bond finding a secret room (that he's already looking for BTW, the mouse going into the hole and the beer spilling into the wall just give him an idea that maybe what's he looking for his behind that wall) aren't really the issues that need to be nitpicked here.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by jayman3

Why don't you just see the film for yourself if you wanted to know about "script differences" so badly.

I'm not a patient man in general but in this case, I went too far. Oh, well. What's done is done.

[jayman3]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I'm not a patient man in general but in this case, I went too far. Oh, well. What's done is done.