Saw it tonight. The good: That INCREDIBLE long opening shot that follows Bond and a female friend in Mexico City walking down the street during the Day of the Dead celebration into a hotel into an elevator down the hall into a room Bond goes out the window walks along a ledge walks across rooftops jumps over an alley and settles into a sniper's position. ONE LONG CONTINUOUS (albeit, no doubt, CGI-assisted) TAKE. Monica Bellucci does a lot with what is essentially a cameo. Lea Seydoux gives me a special feeling. Dave Bautista is absolutely unstoppable. If this is the end for Craig, he gets a great send off. M and Q get much more to do this time, although Moneypenny gets short shrift (at least she's got a man in her bed). Lots of easter eggs and callbacks. Some truly outlandish bits that work because Bond, dammit. Bond driving an ALREADY-CRASHED airplane down a mountain and through a barn is the king. Some social commentary on the surveillance state, even though it's never really driven home. The bad: The big twist you think is coming? Let me just say this: Benedict Cumberbatch is absolutely NOT playing Khan. Christoph Walz is never as much fun as you want him to be in this role. The connection between Walz's character and Bond is such that their winding up opponents is an incredible coincidence. Although the film moves along pretty well--especially for a running time of 2.5 hours--it does drag a bit in the late middle. Lots of countdowns--some complete with bid red LED numbers--in this film. The climactic action sequence is far from the best one in the film. The ugly: The Sam Smith song over the opening intro is instantly forgettable. Liked it. Very good. Not Skyfall good, but very good nonetheless. The film fails a bit in establishing the connection between Bond and Walz's character; it all seems a bit shaky. Other elements have an odd over-familiarness to them, given we live in a post Austin Powers world. 7.0/10
More of the same. Great opening sequence, some other decent action stuff, but the plot was a mess which served only the purpose of moving between the set-pieces. Both Spectre and managed to be both virtually omnipotent and laughably incompetent as was required to keep things moving.
You do realise it's just opening now in the US and you've dumped a huge spoiler right in the second post? Yes?
Heard an NPR review last night that essentially complained that it was a let down after Skyfall but otherwise a very serviceable, mid-tier Bond film. That works for me, and based on your review, I suspect there is enough there for me to thoroughly enjoy the ride. Hope to see it this weekend! [edit]Worth noting, I don't think it's fair to hold every Bond movie to the standard of the very best editions. Skyfall was brilliant, and deservedly praised, but we shouldn't expect more than 1 in 5 to be so good. Actually, with Craig, we have had 2 really outstanding chapters, which puts him at 50%. Did any other Bond achieve such a ratio?
I appreciate that stuff, but I'm much more impressed by the guys who did it old school, without computer help like in Touch of Evil and The Player. You had the length of the magazine and that's it.
Frankly I've enjoyed all the Craig films so far. I love Casino Royale and Skyfall and while QOS isn't as good its still a very enjoyable flik. I'll check SPECTRE out this weekend. Far as I'm concerned the Craig films are the best this franchise has ever done.
I'm inclined to agree. The current run definitely hasn't produced a single stinker, something that cannot be said for any of the other major Bond arcs. I've noted this before, but one thing I love about Craig is the way he blends just enough of what I liked in Connery with just enough of what I liked in Moore, while leaving room for a bit of his own interpretation, which I think more closely resembles the Bond in Fleming's novels.
Tell me, how many movies during the sixties had said spoiler in but also had Spectre? You'll find that spiler wasn't in all those if the latter. They could have been holding the spoiler over for another movie, just as was implied deliberately by the publicity. I love the way you can make the director's choices for him.
I'd rank the Craig films in this order (best to worst): 1. Skyfall 2. Casino Royale 3. Spectre 4. Quantum of Solace But QoS was still a good actioner, it just wasn't Bondish enough.
Saw it tonight, good solid enjoyable bond. First sequence was good although i almost felt sick with the amount of POV shakey cam that was going on in it. Maybe i was too tired or too near the front. For the 'baddie' to be who he was, it makes no sense to leave him alive, because there is noway that he wont have the connections to get him out of jail. Of course that will be part of the plot for the future. He did play to type though with the amount of chances to kill Bond, really living up to Dr Evil spoof placing him in overly complicated and escapable situations rather than shooting him. Lots of location hopping, i cant think of another bond film where he tots up as many air miles as this. Enjoyed it.
Saw it last night and really enjoyed it. If this is Craig's last then its a good one to go out on because it ties up all his previous entries and has him driving off into the sunset at the end. My rankings on the Craig bond movies: 1.) Casino Royale 2.) Skyfall 3.) SPECTRE 4.) QOS
Honestly, I was pretty bored. Everything was underwhelming. The callbacks to Casino Royale only reminded me of how much better that film was. Christopher Waltz was wasted and the connection between his character and Bond was just comic book silly. The Bond girl was also pretty flat. No comparison to Eva Green's fascinating Vesper Lynd. I don't remember much about Quantum of Solace but I think I enjoyed it more as a direct follow up to Casino Royale. The connections made in this film between Spectre, Silva, Quantum, and Le Chiffre also seemed forced. It is hard to compare this film with other non Craig Bond films but overall I've enjoyed his series more than any of the others. I'm probably too young to appreciate the 60s and 70s films.
Paladin's review pretty much sums it up. And if you're gonna sing the theme song like a woman, then just have a woman sing it. Sounded whiny. I liked the movie, not as much as Casino Royale or Skyfall, but it was still good. Even the "turkey" Craig flicks are miles better than anything Moore, Dalton or Brosnan did (with the exception of Goldeneye). I didn't care for the Hinx brutality during the meeting. Seems like a criminal organization would favor individuals with brains not brawn. Brawn can be hired easily enough. Then there was the drilling scene which didn't make much sense to me either. I like Craig as Bond but it feels like this one was set up to be his last. And, I wouldn't mind getting back to the standalone adventures. It's nice to see everything related but I've grown weary of the story arcs pervading everything these days. It doesn't detract from the movie at all, I'm just ready to move on.
One of the silliest Bond movies ever - I'm talking about Roger Moore era silly. This ranks slightly above QoS and way below Casino Royale. I like Craig as an actor and he plays Bond well enough but damn have some of the scripts he's had to work been lacking, and this one takes the biscuit. So much stupidity in this movie, and the villain is the worst in all of the Craig movies, which says a lot considering the acting talents of Waltz and the fact he's supposed to head up the most powerful organisation in the world. And his connection to Bond and the fact he's been behind all the problems Bond faced in the previous 3 movies. Ugh, come on.
Best of Craig's bunch, PERIOD. It has the humor (very important), it has the outlandish action bits, it even has a volcano-ish base. But most importantly, it has that Bond feeling the other three only managed late in SKYFALL. IMHO that's how those movies should have been from the beginning. Being Bond, not emulating veeeery serious Jason Bourne. What I did definitely like VERY much was how they pictured Spectre. While it was flat out 'evil' in the last incarnation, what they did here actually makes sense. Playing the world from behind the scenes (conspiracy nuts rejoice!) Love it, together with the megalomaniac villain. However, Waltz can do better. But of course Blofeld was only a hand with a cat for quite some time. The big reveal that wasn't was indeed too close to ST: ID territory. As in, didn't make much sense but name dropping for the long time fans. I wonder if he'll be back. I need to look out for Spectre rings in the three other Craig movies. Did they force that in or was it really planned as a quadrilogy from the beginning?
Legally there couldn't be rings in the last three films because EON didn't own the rights to Spectre until recently.
The entire Oberhauser/SPECTRE bit is a ret-con; there is no forehadowing of it in prior movies. Also, Oberhauser's connection to Bond makes their collision seem like some long-gathering event, but, really, it's all just a big coincidence. There's no logical reason that the two men who have an historical connection should wind up being the major players in this story. Perhaps if Oberhauser's father had some influence that put both men on this course... But, alas, no. Coincidence. Still greatly enjoyed the film. Caught it a second time last week.
I finally got around to seeing this and I loved it. The opening sequence was great. I want one of those skeleton suits. The rest of the story was kind of already predictable since I had already seen Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and of course Captain America: Winter Soldier had pretty much the same theme. To be fair though, Bond did it first. There was a moment I felt like it was a little too slow moving, but then I remember the 60s Bond movies were kind of like that too. I think Skyfall, like Ghost Protocol, might have a slight edge over this one, but the locations and the humor really made this movie great. My biggest gripe is they don't fully embrace the Bond theme as much as I'd like. And I do get tired of the I'm retiring, but not really thing. Oh and the, I've known you for five minutes and now we're in love thing too. Bond should love em' and leave em' or sleep with them for information. Also, I want to see some real espionage, but Bond is more about assassinations, I get that. Anyway, glad I finally saw it. A- So we have HYDRA, SPECTRE and the Syndicate, I wonder what's next for the spy genre?
The fall in love/quit thing was expected. My prediction is that this movie was a version of On Her Majesty's Secret Service with the final chapter reserved for the start of the next film as a direct continuation. If you've read the Blofels trilogy you will know what I'm referring to.
It definitely looked like they're planning on bringing back Waltz and continuing that story line. Bond didn't kill him after all. I don't think I've seen On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
If you can find the old George Lazenby movie of the same name you'll see the book. it was one of the only ones that was true to the book. Which is why Lazenby never got to reprise the role. No one liked the movie
George Lazenby quit the role of Bond before OHMSS even premiered. His future as Bond was over before anyone ever even saw the movie. It's not fair to say "no one liked the movie". It was one of the highest grossing films of 1969 in the US and in the UK.
OHMSS is a better than average Bond film and Lazenby acquitted himself nicely for being Connery's immediate successor. It has the best/worst Bond witticism of the series and the theme is one of the best.
