007 Journals: Spectre

Well here it is. For years we've seen James Bond tangle with the sinister organization known as Spectre, but now we see it retold in the new rebooted Daniel Craig Bond universe. And that's exactly what this is, a connected universe. I alluded to it in my Skyfall review but Marvel has become so successful with it's cinematic universe that now every franchise has to do the same thing. Quantum of Solace was the first time we ever saw a direct sequel to a James Bond film and since Casino Royale was a reboot we've managed to see Daniel Craig take us through Bond's entire career up until this point. Now for years the Spectre rights were held up in a lawsuit that was finally settled so we never saw Daniel Craig battle the famed secret organization from the books but instead got a stand in with Quantum. Now that the rights are free it's all come full circle and finally it's time to introduce Bond to his greatest 

rival of all time for the first time in the modern era. Now for the whole year before Spectre released I went back and watch and reviewed all of the Bond movies in a row so this was the first time that I was following the hype for the new movie and having only recently taken in all of Bond lore in one huge chunk, this movie had a lot to live up to in my eyes. What was delivered was an enjoyable Bond that was missing only a few elements to make it amazing.

So the first three Craig films an all be lumped together as one big origin for Bond. It took three films to get the character to a place that he needed to be, and introduce his team players. In a way it was the perfect way to approach the franchise, with a fresh perspective, and bring us to the point that Bond fans had been waiting for. But not quite. This is the first time a Craig film has followed the more traditional Bond formula but it's not quite going off the exact blueprint of the old films. The old formula was simple, a cold open, leading to Bond getting a mission and dossier, Bond then gets his gadgets from Q, leading to Bond on his mission where he beds women and takes down a super villain. Well we get all of this for the most part with some twists. We get our action packed cold open but right away Bond is taken off of active duty by M. This naturally leads Bond to going rogue (again) meaning that in every Daniel Craig Bond film he has gone solo to some degree. However with this one it's not as dramatic as the past. So what I was looking for out of this plot was some great secret organization action and there is a good amount of that. The highlight being the secret meeting room that Bond sneaks into. I love the table with everyone watching and Waltz being draped in shadow. There's actually a lot of people being obscured by shadow in this movie and it totally works for me because that's what I expect from something like Spectre.

The only other thing I expect from a secret organization is a lot of string pulling and there's a little bit of that but mostly it's just hinted at. We are told that the villains from the three previous Bond films (Le Chiffre, Greene, and Silva) were all arranged by Waltz's character which is all well and good. It honestly helped make him seem like he carries some power and really is kind of spooky, but there's little of that kind of action actually happening in this movie and that's really my biggest problem with it. We finally get the big baddie in Spectre and they don't do a whole lot with it which is mind blowing considering this is the longest Bond film so where does that run time go? Quantum of Solace (which in this film we learn Quantum is a subdivision of Spectre) actually does a better job of making a secret organization feel like they are everywhere controlling everything. While the Spectre stuff they have in this movie is good, I just wanted more. There's also this side plot with Mi6 and Mi5 being merged with a new security force called the Nine Eyes which is obvious from the beginning that it will be a Spectre scheme and really they don't do anything with this side plot. It's amazing how long the movie is and how little the story gets fleshed out. It really just feels like all Bond all the time and the B story is there for necessity of run time. 

I've heard some people complain about the action in this film being kind of mediocre but I have to disagree. For one there was more action than I thought there would be. The cold open for instance has some great stunts and whether it was done on green screen or they really had people hanging off of the helicopter and looked great and was a fun action set piece. I even really enjoyed the chase in the snow with the twist being Bond was in a plane chasing some trucks. It was a fun scene and pretty creative. I think the one action scene that will stand in people's minds though is the giant explosion at the end which set a Guinness World Record. A second time for a Daniel Craig Bond movie. While that's all great I have to point out the fight on the train as being my favorite action moment. For one Mr. Hinx is a pretty good henchmen. Dave Bautista plays a silent but imposing henchman that gives Bond a hell of a fight and it feels like a call back to the great train fight in From Russia With Love. However the same characters have  a car chase that is fine but feels a little lacking. There's just some fast driving and no real stunts to the scene. Entertaining but bland. The best part about the chase is how he calls Moneypenny and we get the casual phone call talk while he's having a high speed chase. Her checking the fridge is a funny moment.

One thing Skyfall did was set up Bond's supporting players and they all return here and they are all still great in their roles. Ben Whishaw had a great debut as Q in Skyfall but I feel like he is even better this time around. Moneypenny is left with less to do but Naomi Harris still fills the role splendidly. All of the cast is really at the top of their game but I have to say this about Craig. Before the movie was coming out he was very vocal about wanting to be done with Bond and there is definitely some fatigue in his performance but he still puts in a better job than most. I wouldn't see he was at Connery levels of bland but you could sense that he was ready to move on and I know he was originally contracted for one more film but honestly I could see this being his last film and if they decide to just have the four Craig films as one arc Spectre has a fitting ending, even if it's not 100% satisfying. The one actor that gets the short end of the stick is Christoph Waltz. He puts in an amazing performance but he has less screen time than Javier Bardem did as Silva. Monica Bellucci is another big name actress they bring in for what seems like less than five minutes of screen time. The new Bond girl played by Lea Seydoux is a pretty good character but we don't get a lot of time with her which just seems to be the theme of this movie. No wonder Craig was fatigued, he's on screen like 99% of the time. I like the character of Madeleine Swann and they certainly do the best they can with trying to make us see how she and Bond could fall in love but I feel like the romance is just rushed. After Vesper Lynd it's hard to imagine Bond falling for a girl that way again in such a short time. I think it's believable enough that it doesn't seem completely unreal but I was left just wishing to see more of them together. 

So I need to get something out of the way. While Christoph Waltz is billed as Franz Oberhauser it's very obvious that he's Blofeld. You can't have a movie called Spectre and not expect everyone to know immediately that the villain is Blofeld. Star Trek Into Darkness tried to pull the same trick with Kahn but I feel like Bond suffered for it less. Even though I had that gut feeling he was Blofeld I still hoped he wouldn't be but I have to say I did like the reveal when the cat jumps on Bond's lap. It was played serious enough that it was still an "oh shit" moment because it does come out of nowhere and ends up being a very satisfying reveal. Especially since it comes during an intense torture scene and I wasn't expecting it at that moment. And since I'm here I might as well talk about the torture scene. A lot of people seem to be down on it but I liked it. It was creative and ridiculous the way you expect a James Bond torture scene to be and it actually made me cringe. To me that was an effective scene but I can see where people would have problems with it.

Sam Mendez has said that Spectre would be his last Bond film and I do think it's time to move on. Skyfall and Spectre are both spectacularly directed but I can't imagine what Mendez would do with three in a row. While the single camera tracking shot may be something that's getting outplayed I have to say that I immediately fell in love with the first five minutes of this film. Everything about the opening scene of the film is just masterfully cut together. Everything from the long camera pan through the crowd up to the rooftops, down to the music, all the way to the Day of the Dead costumes and festival it was all just magically executed. While Skyfall was a beautiful looking film, Spectre may give it a run for it's money. There's a lot of great camera work and production design, not to mention some beautiful locations, that Spectre is just as much a feast for the eyes as Skyfall was. One thing to note is the return of the Bond humor. There are multiple scenes where with some pretty straight up obvious jokes where in the previous Bond films there were only the driest hints at humor. The score however, while I feel is good and has some great moments, is slightly less memorable than the previous films. While I can listen to the score for Casino Royale and Skyfall I would find myself only hitting certain tracks on the Spectre soundtrack. One of them would probably not be the Sam Smith song, The Writings on the Wall. Now I think Sam Smith is an incredible singer and the song isn't terrible it just doesn't do much for me. I didn't like it until about four listens and I doubt I will ever love it. It just falls somewhere in the middle for me. The opening title sequence wasn't one of the best either but there was a lot of great and creepy octopus motifs. 

So where does Spectre fall in my ranking? Honestly I think it's really good and only slightly disappointing. A top ten Bond film for sure. Now the thing about the movie having the longest run time doesn't bother me because the movie is paced pretty well and never felt long. What bugs me is that they don't utilize the run time. I feel like Spectre needed to be two movies just to fit everything in. Waltz needed more to do and we needed more interaction between Bond and Swann to make the love story more believable. Now the film ends a little open ended, Bond is leaving with Swann, Blofeld is left alive and arrested (maybe the first Bond villain to survive?) so he could come back. I just hope Craig comes back for his last film and we get another run in with Blofeld before he wraps up his tenure as Bond. I just feel like the way the ending kind of drags out that they may have wanted to have a cliffhanger ending and drag out the plot in a second movie (which for me would have been great) but I feel Craig possibly not returning could have been a worry. You also have to wonder if modern movie goers would have had the patience for a two movie plot. While Spectre is great it's just not amazing but I feel is worth a four out of five.