Spectre review

Title- Spectre
Director- Sam Mendes
Cast- Daniel Craig
          Lea Seydoux
          Christoph Waltz
          Naomie Harris
Certificate- 12A
Runtime- 148 minutes

Sam Mendes' second directing credit in the Bond franchise and Craig's 4th time playing the eponymous hero, Spectre truly feels like a classic Bond film, with more gadgets than before, a new Aston Martin, and finally the gun barrel sequence being out in the right place. Not to mention the globe trotting storyline.

Here we see Bond face his past, and possibly his future, as he comes face to face with the shadowy organisation, Spectre. But before we get into that let's take a moment to talk about, and appreciate the opening action sequence of Spectre.... And OH MY GOD, it is fantastic. A majority of the opening scene is shown in one continuous take as Bond navigates his way through Mexico's Day of the Dead festival.  This was not only the biggest opening sequence in the history of the franchise but is also without a doubt the most ambitious. We sse Bond, in full suited skeleton costume, look through the mass crowds of people, all extras each with a unique costume and make up (crazy right!) Before taking to the rooftops in his iconic black suit, and a rifle in hand as he attempts to take out his next target. Before the audience knows it, Bind finds himself in a helicopter fighting with both the pilot and his target. This sequence actually felt kinda similar to the airport scene from Caisno Royale, but here there are about 30,000 people who could be chopped up by helicopter blades, so no pressure 007.

This leads straight into Sam Smiths attempt at a Bond song, Writing's on the Wall, which although it fits alright with the opening credits, doesn't feel like a Bond song, but rather a rejected ballad from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. This is probably my biggest prolem with the film, as Sam Smith really should've been able to belt out a brilliant Bond song but instead gives us a whiny and at times excruciatingly cheesy tune.

Throughout a lot of the marketing (though at times it has seemed minimalistic), has focussed somewhat heavily on the casting of Monica Belluci as "the oldest Bond girl of all time" and she's in the film for all of about 7 minutes, so it seems really like wasted time in giving her focus, or anything for that matter as it does seem like her scenes could possibly have been cut and
have little effect on the rest of the film.

Now the real Bond girl in this film is Madeleine Swann played by Lea Seydoux. Similar to Vesper Lynd from Casino Royals, though not as rich a character, Swann is a woman who matches Bond in his wit and isn't just represented as another damsel in distress for Bond to save from the clutches of the evil Spectre, except for the final sequences of the film, in which that exact thing happens. This does seem a little against what the character displayed and stood for throughout the rest of the film.

That said, Bond now comes face to face with, and I quote, "the author of all his pain". Christoph Waltz plays Franz Oberhauser, a figure from Bond's past who is now the omnipresent cause for all his misery. His emotional torture of 007 is really what gives this film the edge it needs. This is particularly noticable during the final scenes in London in which Oberhauser sets up a labyrinth of torturous memories for Bond to traverse through and revels in physically torturing him as well. Played in a similar gleefully sadistic manner to Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds, Waltz may not be as intimidating as Silva from Skyfall but is easily just as terrifying.

There are some new additions to the cast here as well with Ralph Fiennes taking over the role of M after the events of Skyfall. Fiennes, as always, is great and plays M in a similar fashion to Bond, acting as a sort if surrogate parent to the agent in knowing when to ground him (literally) but also when to show his sentimentality for 007 and let him fulfill his potential. Andrew Scott (most famous so far for playing James Moriarty in the exceptional TV series Sherlock), plays Max Denbeigh, an enigmatic new head of MI6 who wants to completely scrap the 00 program in favour of his own ventures. Like a John LeCarre novel with more fighting, Spectre doesn't shy away from delving into the world of global espionage, giving the supporting cast a bit more time to shine, especially Ben Whishaw who returns as Q.

All this isn't to say that the film is without fault; this is the longest Bond film in the franchise, and whilst only a handful of minutes longer than Skyfall, the pacing is a bit off, forcing the film to at some times drag. There are a few sequences that feel as if they are there for the sake of filler, or just to add another location to the extensive list, not to mention, whilst some of the film as with previous entries, has included some tongue in cheek jokes, here some of the comedic moments fall flat and feel ill placed.

All in all, Spectre is another great entry into the franchise, but is most certainly in no way perfect. It doesn't have the pacing or thrill of Skyfall or the ever present sense of dread of Casino Royals, but this is as close to a traditional Bind film as the Daniel Craig films have seen.

8/10