Review of Spectre (2015) by Gadgety — 18 Dec 2015

A little more humor from Craig this time, not all seriousness. He's still shaping the character. The opening scene is spectacular. One of the best Bond openings. It's a drawn out shot, a long sequence, and it sucks you into the movie, wham, you're there.

Make sure you go see it in a theatre with a great sound system. It's a long film, almost 2.5 hours, for better and for worse. Mostly for better. In Quantum of Solace, the pace was so high it just blurred by, all action, bang, bang, bang.

SPECTRE is more drawn out affording to linger in certain scenes, giving more texture, more detail, more the feel of what it's like to BE there. It's what makes Bond Bond, time for a drink, time to take in the scenery rather than only breathless action.

Sam Mendes, and his cinematographers have brought real beauty to the Bond franchise. Nothing beats Deacon's color palette in Skyfall, however. I miss his cinematography in this film. It would have heightened the beauty of it more than van Hoytema's love of grainy images.

It's not bad, yet I think Deacon would have made more of it. Other improvement points? I had huge expectations on outrageously skilled Christoph Waltz, but he's sort of not capitalized upon. He begins well, and he's creepy but it doesn't go beyond that.

Javier Bardem was sensational in Skyfall. A tough act to follow, perhaps? I get the feeling it's the script that holds Waltz back. There's not much in it. In fact that's the major issue: the Bond movies need better scripts.

They shouldn't start until there's a rock solid story. In addition, perhaps it's time to bring in some more evil forces, real scary stuff, going on in the world, rather than villains who seem sort of harmless, even though they're creepy.

As for Léa Seydoux, she's great and plausible in her role. Great natural looking make up as well. Only a few faux pas, also script wise (no details, don't want any spoilers). Lastly, the title song. I remember reacting to the song, really listening during the opening.

I wasn't sure whether it was a man or a woman, or both. Captivating. Sam Smith's singing is fantastic. All in all, what stays in my mind after this film is really the opening, the laughs, a sweaty sequence in north Africa, and the feeling it was worthwhile to see it for its entertainment value.