Spectre (Bond 24)

Daniel S

I absolutely loved it! I think it's a good one for Craig to end on too.

My friends who all are mad about Bond too feel pretty much the same.

4/10 is very harsh lads. I didn't want it to end!

jpfahy

[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]It's just a mess, doesn't know what it's about. It has three endings one after the other. Plot holes abound. It's made up of set pieces referencing other movies (including non Bond movies). Usual jaw dropping opening is.....not jaw dropping.[/font]

ricero

I enjoyed it more than skyfall although casino royale is still Craig's best. I think I know where there going with the next one by the ending of this one

Slydice

Saw it tonight. It was good... but kinda Avengers Age of Ultron good. Like something just felt off.

They did some great set pieces though, I'll say that much. Like explosions, fights and chases etc

THAT FIGHT ON THE TRAIN OMG!!!!!

NachoBusiness

Really enjoyed it..

Just a few nit pickery things which kinda irked me:

Not enough of Monica Bellucci. Thought we'd have seen an heard much more from her given the publicity surrounding her inclusion. It bordered on the cameo.

Also thought it was very, very, very thin on humour and yes I know this series of Bond films have deliberately been made in that way, but even still, this could have done with just a few more dry wit lines, even if cheesy, than we were given and still not have strayed too far from it's overall darker tone. A minor quibble, granted.

Mostly though, the most annoying thing for me was: The safety net!

Sorry, but that was the laziest out I've ever seen in a Bond film and God knows it has competition in that regard, but that took the biscuit!

Still enjoyed it a lot though. Lea Seydoux in particular was fantastic.

Pierce_1991

Really didn't like Skyfall at all. Loved this one, felt like a Bond movie again. Agree with den87 above that it does drag in the middle. They could chop a good 25 minutes out of the first half I would say. But when it gets going, boy does it get going! Great stuff.

lab man

Thought twas absolutely ****e worst bond film in years casino royal was the best in a long time in my view

FunLover18

Tom.D.BJJ wrote:

The torture scene was lacking too.

In comparison to the torture scene in Casino Royale it was like something out of Austin Powers.

I don't understand how Mendes has got away with bringing back all the Bond traits CR was praised for ditching (ridiculous bad guy with a poor plot and inability to kill one man, secret lairs, gadgets, cardboard cut out female characters) and been praised for it.

The mirror scene with Monica Bellucci is terrible, pure cringe. Lea Seydoux (who I thought was wooden, although not given much to go with) makes a crack about not being a girl with Daddy issues who will simply fall into James's arms does just that 15 mins later. Waltz is ****ing wasted, could've have been a brilliant villain and is turned into a petulant little **** with envy issues. I have no idea why they decided to make it personal, it was ****ing daft. Bragging about orchestrating all of Bond's pain, I felt like screaming "you should have just killed him". He killed his own father but not the step brother!! WHAT THE ****!?!? The music is **** as well, genericc action thriller fair, no hint of Bondness to it all. I've never been more underwhelmed by hearing THAT theme then I was when it came it at the end of this. And the ending? No, just no.

I've a lot more to say but I'm on my phone.

Das Kitty

It had many wonderful and shiny action sequences, but not one of them was earned. It really felt like they had all these homages they wanted to pay, to wrap up Craig's tenure, and the plot, characterisation, sense-making was all unimportant.

Bond's character. He gets injected with smart blood and he passes no remark. He should at least have something to say. Near the end the lady who he had a very believable love affair with, and who he vowed to protect, wanders off into the night and he just lets her.

Grindingly obvious plot decisions. Give gun to guy; guy shoots himself in the head. Lady friend wanders into the night; she's kidnapped and used to control bond. Yeah, I know it's Bond, but it would have been nice to have been surprised at least once.

Monica Belluci's character. What was the point of her? Why was she so bleeding empty? Why didn't they give her a character trait or two?

The love story. WAT. They were supposed to be falling in love there? Really? I only know because she said it randomly in a gun fight. I was expecting Bond to tell her not to be ridiculous. Blofeld was left to spell it out for us. "The daughter of an assassin, the one person who might understand you." Basil Exposition! And even then it took me an age to realise why he didn't kill Blofeld in the end. Oh, he's changing for her because he loves her apparently. No.

The torture. Yeah, it was gross and ow. But Blofeld should have played it up more. A few more face drillings, some actual lasting damage maybe. And then he drilled the face recognition part of his brain, and it didn't even work. Blofeld, seriously dude, get your rig working properly before you strap someone into it.

Blofeld himself. Such a waste. They could have played up that rivalry between himself and Bond. They could have mirrorred them a bit.

Tension. There was none. They needed an overblown score just to add a tiny bit.

All that said, it did keep me engaged for the full length of time, mainly thanks to fun action and explosions. And I did enjoy the Scooby gang of M, Q, Moneypenny and Tanner.

The Good_Dinosaur

I haven't seen this yet but from what I hear it's a more classic Bond movie which is exactly what I want. Sky fall was an absolute mess in my opinion, it made absolutely no sense, I hate how it is centred around Bond as well, Bond should be someone who the villain only becomes aware of in the movie, he shouldn't be central to the villains plans.

Nerdlingr

Saw it last night. Thought it was good but not anything amazing! The first set piece of The Day of the Dead was class. Might have been better if they had used that as a centre-piece in some way late in the movie, but I guess they neeed a strong opening.

As other have said Monica Belucci was a nothing character. She could have been dropped from the whole film in all honesty. Few other small gripes as well, Blofeld being underused. Streets very empty during car chases, Bond getting his head drilled and not feeling any effects and the ending was very underwhleming.
I felt I was waiting for something that never really came

.

Enjoyed 'C' and Lea Seydoux. Thought they did very well with what little they had.

Looper007

Just back after a early screening of Spectre, although not a patch on Casino Royale or Skyfall (I still don't understand the hate for the film), it's a enjoyable enough film with Craig putting in his best performance to date as Bond, the actions scenes are a lot of fun especially the Pre Title Sequence in Mexico and the fight with Craig and Batista on the train.

My biggest complaint is really that it could have done with some cutting as it did get boring in parts

The Middle section when Bond rescues Swann and the trip to Tangiers

could have done with some cutting down.


The Bond girls are easy on the eye although none are a patch on Eva Green, although Monica Belluci was wasted

was it more then 5 minutes she was on screen

but Lea Seydoux does her best with what she's given

Did like that she was Mr.White's daughter

. Ralph Fiennes as M and Ben Whishaw as Q were excellent. I did think they didn't use Waltz or Batista

his death sucked was expecting a brutal fight between Bond and him in the end

enough for me, and the ending was a little disappointing.

I hope Craig has one more crack at it as he deserves a more fitting ending to his Bond career. Spectre is a solid entry into Bond Canon.

irishchris

Saw spectre last night. What a load of poo. So underwhelming and at times cringey. Poor to non existent plot. A lot of the movie seemed like just trying to add film minutes for nonreason. I am a big fan of bonds. Loved casino royals and skyfall and perhaps due to the highs of those I was expecting more. But this has to rank as the most disappointing and underwhelming movie I have seen in years.

eeguy

Properly writing my thoughts on this.

Not the worst Craig Bond, Quantum has that title by a large margin.

Nothing the film did made me care for any of the characters.

Dave Batista had absolutely no introduction, murdered a nothing character and now he's apparently the main henchman. Kinda felt like they were trying to recreate Oddjob, but even Oddjob had more of character.

Monica Belluci (who they made a big deal out of in the promo stuff) could have been played by ANYONE. Also the whole, "You murdered my husband, then saved my life, let's have sex while I give you some exposition" was ridiculous.

Blofelt was ineffective. He had Bond trapped 3 times in this film, yet let him escape through some convoluted plot point every time.

The set pieces were pretty bad too.
The torture scene was pointless. Some head drilling thing that came out of nowhere, which Bond recovered from 10 seconds after it finished.
Even the car chase lost momentum after Bond called Moneypenny for some exposition, then pressed the "Get out of car chase" button when then call ended.

Finally, while all the locations were cool, they could have set the film anywhere for all it mattered to the story.
Did Mr. White own the hotel or did he have to book the honeymoon suite everytime he wanted to use his hidden room?
Is it really practical to build a hospital in the mountains only accessible by plane and cablecar?

Loved the many many references to Casino Royale & Skyfall, and only one to Quantum, almost like the writers wished it never existed.
Also big fan of the villain's lair with its Death Star-esque design flaw.

dudara

Went to see this last night, and unfortunately I left the cinema with a big "meh". It was way too long at 2.5 hrs and I really disliked the cinematography style. Without going into details, it just felt dull and bland. I did like the first 5 minutes, as it really felt we were going to have a proper Bond, but then it just deflated.

It didn't have anything distinctive about it, in terms of plot, gadgets, cars or locations used.

johnny_ultimate

If Skyfall was a step forward, Spectre is an unapologetic retreat, and all the blander for it. After a film that shook and stirred the Bond formula in intriguing ways, this is as traditional Bond as they come. Car / vehicular chases, swooning women,

secret bases

, quote 'shock' revelations unquote - they all arrive like clockwork, as if ticking off a Bond checklist. For many, this will be welcome, but I couldn't help but be disappointed after Mendes showed a real interest in pushing the series in other directions. Most disappointingly, the lack of Roger Deakins is all too evident - outside of its very expensive looking extended opening shot, this is a much, much duller looking film than its gorgeous, moody predecessor. Impressively, the film also successfully pushed the old hoary Bond cliche of a supervillain over explaining their elaborate motivations to new levels of absurd tedium.

There's nice touches here and there - it's final act does, if nothing else, serve as an appropriate culmination of the Daniel Craig years. There's nicely physical flourishes in the action direction too, amid the more cartoonish stuff. But overall it's Bond by numbers. There's no doubt this is exactly the intention, so loaded is it with callbacks to the past. But as a viewer who is most interested in the series when it departs from the template, this earned little more than a resounding. shrug of the shoulders.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Seen this last night and enjoyed it without being wowed. Great opening sequence but the film did drag and some things bugged me like

girl saying she wont sleep with him then does a few mins later, the net at the end, letting her walk off into the London night, how easy he got away from Blofelds lair and what was the point of the whole Monica Belluci part? There must have been more that was cut.

Christoph Waltz was criminally under used compared to M, Q and the others who were in it too much I thought. Thought it was silly that this criminal mastermind knew him as a kid and his whole life as an evil genius was formed from this. Why not just kill him earlier in his life if Bond bothered him that much instead of letting him become a spy who is basically a killing machine?

Overall it was back to the old Bond film basics without anything new or exciting

Das Kitty

Oh yes, and more daftness.

Blofeld being the mastermind of all that's happened to Craig's Bond. He killed Vesper? Really? How? And he set Javier Bardem's scary dude on him? The same bad guy who had perfectly well reasoned and genuinely scary motivations? And he killed M too? Ah here.

velo.2010

They couldn't trust Dave Bautista with one line of dialogue!

VG31

I wasn't mad on Spectre at all. The recent films are all too dark with complicated plots (although it seemed to suit Skyfall). I would much prefer a return to the simpler styles of the Sean Connery films. Roger Moore may not have been that great as 007 but at least he was humorous and his films are light and enjoyable. Craig's Bond is barely human and has virtually no sense of humour.
When I sit down to watch a film, I much prefer the light but yet still thrilling films like Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me etc. to the recent Bond films which rely to much on intense action sequences.
I think Craig should let Spectre be his last Bond. Someone like Connery or Brosnan is needed who can be true to Fleming's character but still have the humour and charm.

JustTheOne

Ok is how I'd describe it.

Pretty much seen it all before nothing new.

Christopher waltz badly underused.

6\10.

irishchris

VG31 wrote: »

I wasn't mad on Spectre at all. The recent films are all too dark with complicated plots (although it seemed to suit Skyfall). I would much prefer a return to the simpler styles of the Sean Connery films. Roger Moore may not have been that great as 007 but at least he was humorous and his films are light and enjoyable. Craig's Bond is barely human and has virtually no sense of humour.
When I sit down to watch a film, I much prefer the light but yet still thrilling films like Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me etc. to the recent Bond films which rely to much on intense action sequences.
I think Craig should let Spectre be his last Bond. Someone like Connery or Brosnan is needed who can be true to Fleming's character but still have the humour and charm.

Of the opposite opinion entirely. Thought the previous Craig bond movies were excellent and provided a darker more suspense filled plot compared to this blasé movie full of unthoughtout plots.

coffee_cake

Aw I really enjoyed it
explosions guns suits pretty cars!
the plot hole criticisms are all perfectly true but i didnt mind

Loughc

bluewolf wrote: »

Aw I really enjoyed it
explosions guns suits pretty cars!
the plot hole criticisms are all perfectly true but i didnt mind

I enjoyed it too. It's as James Bond as they come. Leave your brain at the door type enjoyment.

heebusjeebus

MI 5 was the best Bond movie this year.
Strangely similar storylines too.

Memnoch

Boring and pointless. The opening was fine but apart from that, nothing really to praise about it. The action sequences were pretty tedious and by the numbers.

Unearthly

Surprised at the mostly negative opinions on here. I thought it was quite entertaining.

The train fight was highlight for me

heebusjeebus

Unearthly wrote: »

Surprised at the mostly negative opinions on here. I thought it was quite entertaining.

The train fight was highlight for me

I was taken out of that fight due to the lack of a score in that scene. Added to the mediocrity of it really.

Wedwood

Speaking of the newer Bond soundtracks, what's the story leaving out the title songs, Spectre being the latest culprit.

I've collected many Bond soundtracks over the years and was disgusted to find Daniel Craig's movies don't include the theme song on their soundtracks. The centrepiece of a Bond soundtrack is the title song, so why release a CD without the main part ?

John Barry would turn in his grave !

FunLover18

Ok I have to talk about the ending.

say what you will about QoS by the end of the film Bond is a cold killer who knows not to let his emotions get involved his work. Bond's arc in CR and QoS takes him from young(ish) agent who's a bit of a lad and a rogue who falls for the best Bond girl we've seen in Craig's films, one who doesn't take his ****, to a young agent who was always a bit of a rogue who's love has been turned against him and murdered, he goes on a murderous rampage killing anyone he finds connected to the organisation responsible until finally he becomes the cold, fairly heartless secret agent we all love. It's why CR and QoS being bookended by the amateur gun barrel scene in the bathroom and the one we all know is so perfect. Having that James Bond give the MI6 for Lea Seydoux's character makes no ****ing sense in the context of CR and QoS and we've seen nothing in either Skyfall or Spectre to justify such a turnaround and sudden show of vulnerability. If anything the needless personal stakes introduced in both of those films should have had the opposite affect and he should have become even more emotionally detached.

In regard to humour, Craig can't do one liners or quips. For me Craig's best comedy moment as Bond is the torture scene in CR, he can do that dry, wicked sense of humour which suits Bond but he's not Roger Moore.