[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Note: Lots and lots of spoilers ahead!
Let’s go beyond the conventional movie review and really get into SPECTRE.
If you’re reading this now, you’ve probably already seen the film. And you either side with those who loved this latest James Bond adventure, or you weren’t crazy about it.
Audience reactions have been very divided.
One thing’s for certain: People are talking about Bond in a way I haven’t seen in a very long time, more than they did with Casino Royale, even more than Skyfall with it’s massive success. This bodes well for the franchise, which most assuredly will have a new film in theaters in 3 years or less.
But why such differing viewpoints?
There is so much to enjoy about this movie. But it’s not without its frustrations as well.
I am a HUGE Bond fan. With SPECTRE, they didn’t make it easy on me.
So we’re going beyond the writing on the wall.
Grab that cup of coffee and prepare to dig in, because we are going deep, and I mean, deep into Bond geekdom territory.
And it all starts as all Bond movies should…
The Gun Barrel
They put it back at the beginning!
Finally!
The gun barrel is as mandatory a component of a Bond film as the opening song and the tuxedo.
It says to an audience, “You’re now entering the world of James Bond.” It’s what helps distinguish this franchise.
The Daniel Craig era hasn’t had a traditional opening gun barrel, so this was a very welcome, and very good sign. A classic Bond adventure forthcoming? Bring it on!
Day of the Dead
OMFG are you kidding me?
The Day of the Dead opening is one of the best of the entire franchise. It perfectly encapsulates all that works with James Bond in a gripping, spontaneous 10-minute sequence.
The directing prowess of Sam Mendes is apparent, with a gorgeous tracking shot that follows our principles through a massive crowd and seemingly never ends.
This is vintage Bond on display right here.
It reminds me of Connery evading the bad guys at the Junkanoo in the Bahamas in Thunderball or Moore avoiding the clutches of Jaws in the middle of Rio’s Mardi Gras in Moonraker.
With Mexico City, SPECTRE goes even more massive with the crowds, and throws in a helicopter aerial stunt sequence, putting lives on the line and demonstrating Bond’s heroism.
It’s simply awesome.
A huge theme that comes out of the film, which we see later, is the relevancy of the double-0 program with its emphasis on field operatives in our modern world of information and technology. The new head of the Centre of National Security, Max Denbigh, aka C, threatens to shut down the program, considering it unnecessary in today’s day and age.
One could very easily say the same about the way these Bond movies are shot in today’s era of computer generated fabrication. Is it really necessary to film a crowd of thousands on location in Mexico City when they could have captured a few money shot masters, digitally added extras, put Daniel Craig in front of a green screen, and added him in post production later?
Hell ya!
There’s nothing like seeing Craig in the middle of a crowd one side of a street with his target on the other side and a Day of the Dead street parade moving through them. That sense of realism, the sense of place, of putting Bond right there in the middle of the real world, gives these films their credibility.
It isn’t to suggest that these movies are completely devoid of CGI, but especially in the Daniel Craig era, they seem hellbent on shooting scenes and stunts practically whenever they can, only resorting to the computer when there is simply no other way to get the shot.
Over the course of SPECTRE, Bond proves that yes, even with technology and surveillance, having a physical operative out there is still vital to ensure the success of the mission.
Similarly, the film proves the sense of realism an audience feels is a key ingredient to its box office success. Both require Bond being “out in the field” where he belongs.
The franchise is just as relevant now as it ever has been.
The Writing’s on the Wall
If you’re into alternative music, Sam Smith‘s The Writing’s on the Wall may not be your cup of tea. You probably preferred Chris Cornell‘s You Know My Name from Casino Royale. That song was probably cringeworthy to someone with more operatic musical tastes.
But if you’re a Bond fan, this song ranks up there among the classic greats. It’s both haunting and beautiful. It has a slower-paced “love song” quality that makes me think of Octopussy‘s All Time High by Rita Coolidge or Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon from The Spy Who Loved Me.
The opening credits behind the song, once again created by Daniel Kleinman, perfectly weave the lyrics, the themes, the tone, the symbolism into a surreal and astonishing composition.
The tentacles from an octopus that curl up behind the shadowy silhouette of Bond’s nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, come to mind. So great.
The Women of SPECTRE
I won’t re-hash the entire movie beat by beat. Suffice it to say, Bond connects a handful of dots that lead him to his first “love interest,” the sultry and mysterious Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci).
Bellucci’s class puts a tasteful gloss over the fact that her character, really, is nothing more than a passing fancy for Bond. He extracts the information he needs prior to sleeping with her, and so going further feels a tad gratuitous. When compared to the wonderfully shot seduction sequence of Bond with Solange in Casino Royale, this feels more “checking off the box” with having him sleep with Sciarra because that’s what audiences expect Bond to do in that moment.
There’s a little more to it than that, credit where credit is due. Bond does save her life. And he ensures her safety. He takes the time to make sure she stays on the right path after he leaves.
One of the things I appreciated the most with SPECTRE is that both love interests actually survive. Often, the bad guys will call James out on his inability to save the women he loves. Blofeld himself says this later on in the film. With the first three Daniel Craig outings, he fails to save at least one of his two interests. Here, he has a much better track record, and as a result, there’s a sense of greater nobility bestowed upon our hero.
Make no mistake. Bond kills in this movie. But he also saves lives. A lot of them.
Madeline Swann (Léa Seydoux) whom we meet later in the film, in spite of everything they had been through, still says, “You are a good man, James.”
Daniel Craig’s take on Ian Fleming‘s character continues to be flawed, layered, and dynamic. It’s a tug of war within him between his sense of duty for Queen and Country, his desires to love and be loved and give it all up, and his very human frailties, such as his drinking and his passing fancies, all of which constantly spin him in various directions.
Seydoux brings a classic femme fatale film noir feel to her character and her take as a Bond girl. There isn’t anything particularly dynamic, or overly charismatic about her. She doesn’t necessarily project an uncanny strength, but she isn’t weak either.
Hers might be the biggest tether to the Bond films from the Roger Moore era in particular.
Those movies had Bond as the conduit that introduced us to the lives of those central to the plot around him. The storylines weren’t personal. They were missions. As simple as that.
When I think of Swan, I think of Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only. Through Bond, we are introduced to an innocent life struck by the tragedy of a family involved in the world of espionage. What these women become is as a result of people like Bond coming in and out of their lives. There is a sadness in how this has defined their existence, when considering the chance of a life of happiness had been stripped from them.
Craig and Moore offer windows into these lives for just a brief period of time, to give us pause, to give us perspective.
Swan’s character is handled by Craig similar to the dynamic between Havelock and Moore.
The point of SPECTRE isn’t about whether or not Bond falls in love with Swan. For that plotline, you have to watch Casino Royale.
Do the two head off into the sunset together?
Of course.
This is a classic-structured Bond film. It’s a romance novel.
It’s no different than when Bond and Honey Ryder sail off while being towed behind a naval vessel in Dr. No.
And like those Connery days of old, Bond always gets the girl in the end.
It’s the right denouement in keeping with tradition, but in SPECTRE, it’s an incidental subplot compared with what this is all truly about.
The film, really, is the origin story of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Re-introducing the organization known as SPECTRE
Here is where we highlight the great accomplishment of cinematographer, Hoyt van Hoytema.
Our first introduction to Blofeld is with himself shrouded in darkness, and we can’t help but recall the head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E whose face (below) is hidden in Thunderball, our recognition of this being the single greatest threat to all mankind by way of his purring pussycat.
Similarly, Hoytema protects the mystery of this evil enigma as long as he possibly can before his face is finally revealed, and Bond is finally exposed.
It’s the perfect introduction to one of the greatest actors of our time, Christoph Waltz, whose take on Blofeld satisfies everyone, from the die hard fan to the harshest of skeptics.
Waltz gives us a taste of everyone’s favorite Blofeld.
As mentioned, he’s the one in the shadows in Thunderball.
He’s also the one who manipulates science for sadistic purposes in Diamonds are Forever.
He’s the Blofeld with the iconic scar in You Only Live Twice.
And he’s the one responsible for Bond’s pain and suffering in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
He’s even the one who comes to his end by way of helicopter as he does in For Your Eyes Only.
Re-introducing a character so perfectly parodied by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers series was no easy feat, and it took some brilliant screenwriting, clever direction, and the acting chops of Waltz to have us not only not laughing at this familiar antagonist, but rather, truly frightened by what he may be capable of.
Waltz takes the best of these portrayals, throws in his own flare, and makes this character a true nemesis to Bond – one we have been waiting on for quite some time.
To get to Blofeld, though, Bond must first journey to Austria to retrieve Madeline Swan, and it’s in Austria where we discover the weakest aspect of SPECTRE.
The Repetition of the Action
The Bond franchise has a large task ahead of itself every time it returns to screen.
On the one hand, there is a nostalgic nod to the films of old required with every new incarnation.
It’s the reason we see Bond in a tuxedo in just one scene in SPECTRE.
Did James and Madeline really need to change into such formal attire? I know they’re traveling on a train, um, from the lovely vacation spot known as Tangier, but perhaps a simple sports coat would have sufficed?
To the credit of the producers, they aren’t going to craft an elaborate party scene with no plot necessity simply to have Bond in a tuxedo. The nature of this storyline wasn’t conducive to Bond spending any significant amount of time in the tux. So this was handled here as more of a nostalgic wink and a nod. I’m totally fine with this.
Also to the credit of the producers, if Bond finds himself amongst the snowcapped peaks of Austria in the dead of winter, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are automatically going to strap skis on his feet and send him racing down a mountain with machine-gun armed bad guys on skis racing after him.
If you’re looking for a taste of this, check out On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
In that film, however, Bond was trapped on Blofeld’s mountain-top lair, and the fastest means of escape was to get down the mountain with his skis.
In SPECTRE, there clearly wasn’t a strong justification to put the skis on, and this brain trust seems hellbent on keeping these movies so true to realty that they just aren’t going to bend the rules for a gratuitous ski scene, no matter how tempting that may be.
If the action comes out of the story, they’ll go for it. Otherwise, they won’t.
As I said, this is to their credit.
But this is also responsible for what is ultimately a bland palette of Bond action scenes this time around.
There isn’t a breathtaking moment of Bond leaping from construction cranes high in the sky as in Casino Royale or jumping onto a moving train getting torn apart like in Skyfall.
In its history, each Bond film has a quintessential action scene to remember it by. The ones considered classics may even have two or three to boast.
In Live and Let Die, I’m thinking of two breathtaking scenes – one where Bond leaps from alligator to alligator to escape from the small island he is trapped on, and the other is the amazing speedboat chase through the everglades of Louisiana. Both feature amazing stunt work.
In For Your Eyes Only, there is a great ski scene, one where Bond and Melina are tied up and being dragged in the water behind a yacht, and a rockclimbing moment that truly takes your breath away.
In GoldenEye, there was Bond leaping off a cliff onto a falling plane and a crazy tank chase through the streets of Saint Petersburg.
But with SPECTRE, I keep asking myself which elaborate action scene am I truly excited about revisiting on Blu Ray over and over again.
I could watch Connery firing his speargun at Largo’s henchmen underwater in Thunderball any day.
But in SPECTRE, aside from the opening helicopter scene, there’s the sports car chase scene, Bond basically skiing with a plane in the second act, the fight sequence on the train between he and Hinx, then throw in some gratuitous gunfighting and fist fighting here and there, and really, that’s about it.
Don’t get me wrong. The practical stuntwork on display is still impressive. Flying and crashing that plane through tricky mountain and snow terrain in Austria was a huge achievement. The scenes themselves work. They look gorgeous and cinematic.
But why did I feel they lacked that punch? That excitement? That feeling of taking your breath away?
Put simply, there’s a repetition of the action we’re seeing in the Daniel Craig installments uncharacteristic of the franchise as a whole.
The opening of SPECTRE is a helicopter action scene. The 2nd act is a Bond flying a plane action scene. Bond and Swan escape Blofeld’s lair via helicopter. In the 3rd act, Bond shoots down Blofeld’s helicopter.
This, coming off of Skyfall, where, in the 3rd act, Bond shoots down Silva‘s helicopter.
And you may recall, the 2nd act of Quantum of Solace has an elaborate Bond flying a plane action scene.
Any one of these sequences as singular offerings have their merits, but when you put it all together, there’s a watered down nature that has arisen out of this repetition. The action scenes in SPECTRE feel a little “been there, done that.”
Craig is great in a fight. Only Connery rivals Craig where one-on-one fisticuffs is concerned, and Craig’s fight scenes feel particularly dangerous, vicious, and real.
When Hinx attacks Bond on the train in SPECTRE, you feel every punch. This is one of the few times in the Craig-era where even he feels like he may have met his match. It makes for fantastic drama. It’s one of the best scenes in the entire movie. For a second, I thought we were watching Batman vs. Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
And no doubt about it. Craig’s take on Bond is physical. He is in shape. When he realizes at L’Americain in Morocco that the answers he seeks are behind a false wall, he doesn’t take a hammer to it – he literally punches his way through the wall.
Such a great Daniel Craig moment.
But is this his singular note?
In SPECTRE, too often Craig hides behind the wheel of a vehicle, whether it’s a helicopter, a sports car, or a plane. He relies too heavily on what’s happening around him to provide the action as opposed to a physical skill set other than punching and sharpshooting.
There’s a difference in the excitement between this, where Bond is merely in the cockpit of the plane flying through the mountains in SPECTRE…
…and this, where Bond is literally hanging for dear life outside an airplane flying at 39,000 feet in Octopussy.
There’s a difference in the roller coaster ride of car chase action between this, with Bond safely behind the wheel relying on his gadgets in his sports car to stop the bad guy in SPECTRE…
…and this, where we physically see Bond hanging all over a truck in License to Kill, taking himself to the very brink of survival.
I don’t mean to suggest the car chase in SPECTRE is dull. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The cars performed some great maneuvers and it was great seeing some classic gadgets like the rear flamethrower.
SPECTRE, though, seems to be banking on our thinking of this car chase as one of the legitimate major action beats of the film. While it looks and feels very cool, very Bond, with what we know this franchise is capable of, I’m not quite sure this fully measures up.
The repetition we’re seeing isn’t unique to the action scenes either.
In Casino Royale, Bond and Vesper Lynd have witty back and forth get-to-know-you banter on board a train. In SPECTRE, Bond and Swan have witty back and forth get-to-know-you banter on board a train.
A major theme of Skyfall is the irrelevancy of the double-0 program in the high tech world of information and surveillance. A major theme of SPECTRE is the irrelevancy of the double-o program in the high tech world of information and surveillance.
In Casino Royale, they implant a chip in Bond’s arm to track his movements. In SPECTRE, they implant a chip in Bond’s arm to track his movements. Okay, it’s like nano-chip technology that goes into his blood stream so I guess this was an upgrade. Hmmm.
In Skyfall, Bond asks Q to make him “disappear.” In SPECTRE, Bond asks Q to make him “disappear.”
In Quantum of Solace, Bond and Camille infiltrate the enemy’s lair in the middle of a desert. In SPECTRE, Bond and Madeline infiltrate the enemy’s lair in the middle of a desert.
The color palette Hoytema uses throughout the film has a lot of yellow-orange. I mean, a lot. Mexico City is filmed in this tint, which is the same used in Rome, in Morocco, and out in the crater in the desert. I suppose there may be a thematic intention here. And it’s shot so beautifully. There’s just a feel of monotony when it’s all put together.
So the action in SPECTRE is a little weak, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t without some fantastic moments. Let’s get back to what works with this movie.
Blofeld’s Crater Lair
How could you not love this sequence?
It starts with Bond and Madeline being escorted to the base. Here, she turns to him and says, “I’m scared, James.” She looks at him, frightened, doubtful.
Bond takes her hand.
But he is stone cold. He is staring straight ahead at that crater. He is dialed in. He is focused.
In a way, he’s saying, “It’s been fun, Miss Swan, but it’s time for me to go to work.”
Brilliant.
They arrive at the crater in the middle of the desert, with perfectly manicured green landscaping on the inside, and an entire base hidden from the world.
They are treated respectfully. They are offered champagne.
Were my eyes betraying me, or did I find myself literally in The Man with the Golden Gun?
Some of my favorite moments across the entire franchise are when Bond and his antagonist share a few dignified moments before the shit hits the fan again. It’s Connery sitting down to dinner with Dr. No. It’s Moore eating stuffed sheep’s head with Kamal Khan in Octopussy.
It shows a respect the bad guy has for Bond for making it this far, and is also a demonstration of the arrogance that contributes to their downfall.
Classic Bond.
When Blofeld brings Bond inside, and we see a network of operatives in a high tech environment, with a production design reminiscent of the great Ken Adams, straight out of Moonraker (above), this is the moment when we can truly say Daniel Craig’s Bond has arrived.
The opening of Casino Royale has Bond chasing a petty bomb maker, just a gun for hire, a thug.
Here, Bond has infiltrated the lair of the single greatest threat to all of mankind in Blofeld.
This is what Bond is meant to do.
This is where he belongs.
And this is why we love these films.
Blofeld, of course, treats Bond to some witty conversation, but he’s still in control. Setting him up in the torture device gives off a vibe of Goldfinger activating the laser heading precariously for an area very near and dear to Bond.
Something struck me in SPECTRE when Bond escapes and single handedly destroys Blofeld’s entire crater operation.
I’m accustomed to Blofeld living in a massive mountain retreat like in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and having a base housed inside a volcano so large it can swallow up entire space shuttles like in You Only Live Twice.
In SPECTRE, Blofeld’s operation, while impressive, is still on a much smaller scale than these earlier films. Is it a sign of the times? Has the economy hurt the organization so it can’t build as unnecessarily lavish?
Or perhaps we are aren’t yet seeing the full might of Blofeld.
He did survive at the end of the film. Presumably, we will see him again. One would have to imagine he has built several sites such as this throughout the world, and maybe something even bigger to be saved for the next film.
Each Daniel Craig adventure, thus far, seems to be getting more and more massive, seems to be heading in the direction of the huge 3rd act set piece.
If this was a Connery film, the crater base would have been the climax, with military operatives infiltrating the location and an all-out firefight battle with the armed thugs ensuing.
Instead, this is a reminder that we still “aren’t quite there yet.”
This base is of the size and scale where Bond can take it all out himself. He doesn’t need to call in the marines. He handles this as a one-man army and still has a climactic scene in London to get through.
The Craig-era has yet to give us that monstrous 3rd act battle scene, like the one in The Spy Who Loved Me, with guns and explosions and bodies flying everywhere.
In fact, for this type of “war” sequence, we have to go all the way back to The Living Daylights.
SPECTRE feels more The Man with the Golden Gun in scale, especially when we get into the one-on-one cat and mouse game to finish things off back in London.
What a fantastic culmination this would truly be, then, to send Daniel Craig off literally in a blaze of glory in a 5th and final Bond film with this level of scale, before the producers reboot again with a younger actor.
Craig has earned it. These films have earned it. The fans have earned it.
Here’s to hoping they continue to push forward, continue to go bigger.
And then, let’s try to convince them to bring Craig back for a 6th outing so he can tie Connery’s run.
In the end, it’s all about Family.
M, Q, Moneypenny.
Bond.
What a family.
They are all for each other, though, in this one in particular.
They are the only ones Bond can trust.
The final act is reserved especially for them.
Naomi Harris is delightful as Eve Moneypenny.
She’s like that second cousin twice removed on the mother’s side, which explains the awkward attraction she and Bond have that they’ll never act on, and when they need each other, they’re family, they’re there for each other.
They play it perfectly.
Without a doubt, Q is Bond’s younger brother.
He’s all about his job, his reputation, his professionalism. He reminds Bond that he has a mortgage to consider.
He’ll make Bond have to work for it.
But in the end, he’s there for him, doing his part, whatever that may be.
Sometimes, Desmond Llewelyn only needed to hang out in the lab and hand over a few gadgets.
And every so often, good ol’ Q had to get his annoyed butt on a plane, go undercover, and deliver one of his specialties to Bond in the field.
Ben Whishaw carries on this tradition so seamlessly.
Just like Llewelyn, he’s really not here to chew any scenery and steal the show.
He just wants to be left alone so he can “get on with his work.”
Whishaw nails it.
The brilliant Ralph Fiennes as M. He walks through a room filled with government officials with his hands on his hips and his stomach tilted forward, like Alfred Hitchcock, and says to the room, “That’s right, I belong here. What are you going to do about it?”
I love that at one point years ago, Fiennes was a name that would come up with the idea of portraying Bond. With Bernard Lee, M was essentially a man behind a desk. Dame Judi Dench brilliantly allowed the character to branch out further. By the end, she had them all calling her “Mum.”
M has been, and always will be, the head of the family.
Ray Fiennes, in many ways, plays his M like Commissioner Gordon in the Christopher Nolan “Dark Knight” series in particular. He’ll usually be able to outwit you from behind a desk, but every so often, the ol’ codger gotta pull out the six-shooter, take matters into his own hands “old school” style, like the good ol’ days.
Overthrowing Blofeld and blowing up his base?
That’s only the second act in this Bond movie.
In many ways, this movie is about Bond protecting his family.
And his family trusting in him to make things right.
Every single one of them risked their lives, and their careers, for Bond in this film.
In exchange, he made the world a safer place.
When the question continues to arise of the relevancy of the 00-program, he now answers it, definitively, once and for all, by delivering the single greatest enemy mastermind right to the government’s doorstep smack dab in the middle of London.
I mean, talk about a “Take that, Motherfuckers!”
Bond saves the world in this one, make no mistake.
It’s not laser battles in space, but it’s saving the world nonetheless. Although please, Producers, if you somehow find a way to throw Daniel Craig in space in the next one, it would be one of the biggest box office movies ever.
Please make that happen. That would be so awesome.
Daniel Craig
If there is, indeed, a brilliance to SPECTRE, it’s that Bond, like the days of old, is literally the smartest man in the room.
Connery walked in a room and people noticed him.
Craig gives Bond a similar presence in this one.
MI-6 continues to run around like a cat chasing its tail half the time, but Bond has them all figured out. He knows he has the support of M, Q, and Moneypenny and can rely on them to be his moles. He has the skill set to single handedly bring down an entire secret base. He sizes C up before we do. He matches wits completely with Blofeld.
Daniel Craig IS James Bond.
Quite frankly, he is an AWESOME James Bond.
SPECTRE is an entertaining and worthy installment in the franchise. It isn’t a perfect Bond movie. It’s probably the third strongest outing in the Daniel Craig era, and while the action itself is a bit tame comparatively, it still contains some inspired experiences. It’s another leap forward for the series.
One thing is for certain, as we all know from the ending credits, and I will be first in line in the theaters when it happens…
JAMES BOND WILL RETURN.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]