Review of Spectre (2015) by Jabroni316 — 15 Nov 2015

SPECTRE would be a good stand-alone movie. But since it was meant to tie with the previous 3 Bond films, then it is a poorly written one. Apart from Mr White, it is not clear as to how Vesper, Le Chiffre, Greene, Medrano and Silva are all connected to SPECTRE or Franz. This is Bond supposedly at his weakest, losing Vesper and (the previous) M and watching his former colleague (Silva) sold out MI6 information and still unable to get along with (the new) M, and the double-O program to be shut down yet when he meets Franz, there is no emotional connection at all? Here is a man, whose father once took Bond under his wings and both were supposedly dead 20 years ago, suddenly appears in front of him and Bond just runs? Bautista plays Mr Hinx, supposedly an assassin, yet the only person he kills is a "competitor"?! This is just lazy writing.

Everything went well at the beginning until the meeting scene. This is the part where they got it all wrong. Here is an organisation always in the shadows, yet exposes the main boss to Bond immediately? It should have been Franz talking all the way until he mentions Bond's name only for the latter to turn around and immediately gets knock-out cold by Mr Hinx. Sciarra's replacement need not be killed by Mr Hinx. In fact, he's got a better role to play. Then the next scene should be a torture-yet-reconciliation scene between Bond and Franz. This should be a 10-15 mins scene where Franz explains how he survive and how Le Chiffre, Greene, Medrano and Silva are all connected to him (without mentioning SPECTRE). Franz then stops Mr Hinx from kiling Bond (as it would hinder C in accomplishing the "Nine Eyes Project"). Now, instead of Bond being ahead of Mr Hinx, it is Mr Hinx always a step ahead. Mr White should not be committing suicide, it should be Mr Hinx killing him (for protecting someone / something). When Bond arrives at Altaussee, he finds White dead and searches his body only to find the old father-daughter photo. Bond then goes to the secret basement room downstairs. Snooping around, he finds a name card of a Dr Swan (not knowing she is the daughter of White). Bond leaves on the cable car, asking Q and/or Moneypenny to search on Dr Swan. He then notices someone who resembles (Sciarra's replacement) dropping by the mountain-top clinic. Bond follows him. So instead of having the interview scene, this immediately moves into the scene where Q surprises Bond with his visit and after that, the whole action scene.

Now that Dr Swan is rescued, the 3 meet at Q's hotel room to discuss the next course of action. Although Dr Swan reveals that the organisation is known as SPECTRE, she does not know its full name, its history and its members. She says her father wants her to know less about SPECTRE as it would endanger the family. She then mentions to go the L'Americain. Same scenes all the way until Bond finds the secret door. While snooping around, Mr Hinx suddenly appears and knocks Dr Swan out cold and holds her hostage and telling Bond to drop his gun. Bond is then knock-out cold. Bond wakes up finding himself in the place (where he was supposed to find). Franz greets Bond by telling him that Bond does not have to find him, because he can find Bond anytime, anywhere. Same scenes til the blow-up.

The scene where Dr Swan gets kidnapped should have been where Bond, in the car with M, gets a picture of Dr Swan tied to a chair from an unknown sender. From the background, Bond deduces it is the old MI6 building. So no need for the "kidnap Bond" scene. M will just drop Bond there and head straight for C. Same scenes all the way until the bullet-proof glass. This is where the meeting with Franz via a huge monitor. Franz tells Bond that he spared his life in Rome yet Bond did this (the scars and losing one eye) to him. Franz then mentions he has Dr Swan held in the building and that there is a 3 mins time bomb to be activated. Mr Hinx appears to then push the trigger and waves goodbye. Bond runs all the way up. He looks around and hears sounds from behind a door. This is where the moment Bond opens the door, it is Mr Hinx who greets him! Mr Hinx then points Bond to the chopper that left and Bond realize that Dr Swan is in there. Both men fight all the way and with 5 secs left, both jumped off the building. Bond is then shown to leave on a speedboat chasing the chopper while Mr Hinx is then shown heading to his car. With C dead, M, Q and Moneypenny are interrogated over the hacking and stopping of the Nine Eyes Project without official approval and causing political outrage. Without Bond and/or sufficient evidence linking C to Franz or that SPECTRE exist, MI6 is now suspended and Bond is now a wanted fugitive-cum-terrorist.

No car-chase scene and no train-fight scene. This is how SPECTRE should have been. Shadowy organisation with a mysterious boss. SPECTRE 2 begins where Bond searches for Felix and Lucia to find Swan and Franz and gather info on SPECTRE and its history and activities.