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Just saw spectre for the first time! I really enjoyed it, but there were a few scenes that confused me. Overall it felt streamlined, but maybe that's because I was enjoying it so much. The rome spectre meeting kind of confused me and felt awkward, I expected something a little different. I really wanted to buy the bond- swann relationship, but to me it felt very forced, but I really don't think I can make a good assessment about that without seeing it again. Also I missed a few dialogue bits from the torture scene and was left confused bc of that. Finally in the final film did they make bond and blofeld brothers again? or did they share foster parents like in the dec. script. In general I did really enjoy the film but found it a bit by the numbers (surprisingly). I'll post an actual review after a few more viewings, these are just my initial thoughts I really don't feel like I can make a good assessment at this point.
I just saw SPECTRE and it was amazing. I have greatly enjoyed all the DC Bond films but SPECTRE felt the most Connery era like to me. I admire how Mr.Mendes and Co. paid respect to past Bond films and Fleming novels while turning familiar Bond tropes on their ear. Not easy to do and yet they avoided making it pastiche.
Villains were devious, henchmen were menacing. Blofeld's cat was white and furry.The plot was terrifying. The Bond ladies were intelligent, tough and beautiful. "M", "Q" , and Tanner were brilliant and resourceful. Bond was bold, ruthless reckless, smart, brutal, and resolute. This was quite possibly the most fully realized portrayal of 007 ever.
Mr.Craig may not be contracted for the next film, but in the words of Miss. Moneypenny,
"I think you're just getting started."
While watching the film I had no clue where it would end up and was genuinely surprised at the ending. Everything was top notch. My favorite badass Bond moment was when 007 took down 2 SPECTRE assassins while his hands were tied and he had a bag on his head.
I must admit reviews from some professional on-line film critics made me wonder if they even saw the same film I did. I found myself saying they don't get it.
One thing I thought would have been cool to see was a few of Bond's double 0 colleagues involved when Monneypenny," M" and "Q" were taking down "C".
Genuine Bond fans{like the ones on this forum} do get it and offer intelligent discussion, observation and opinion.
Cheers to you lads and lasses.
Oberhauser's father took care of Bond after his parents died. So in a way, they do end up being brothers. Step brothers I suppose. Thus Oberhauser felt later on that he wasn't being treated equally thinking his father loved Bond more. So he killed his own father in a fire, and Oberhauser himself went missing, presumed to be dead but his body was never recovered as evident from the newspaper article that Moneypenny was reading.
I need at least one more viewing, but its better than Skyfall in some ways & others its not. I would say its close to being on par with CR.
The PTS just screams Bond. I loved the opening PTS sequence. Best one of the Craig era. The film moves along well with plenty of drama accompanied with action. Rome/ Lucia Sciarra Austria/White & Swan Morocco/Oberhauser. Bond & Swan @ Oberhausers lair & the torture scene were tense & suspensful. I thought the ending was a little tacked on & anticlimatic. The ending scene with Q makes up for it & Bond finally gets the girl & drives off into the sunset. This is even more of a Bond film than SF, arguably Craigs first true Bond film.
Craigs performance was on fire, never missing a beat. Waltz delivery was great, would have liked to have seen interaction between Oberhauser & Hinx. Seydoux is the best Bond girl in the Craig era IMO.
If your going in expecting a repeat of SF you will be disappointed. SP is not perfect, the script/plot could have been a little better, Smiths theme is just okay,. But the great far outweighs the bad.
8/10
For the last 35 years I have always looked forward to my first viewing of a new Bond film and I unfortunately have to say that I have never been as disappointed with a first viewing as I was with Spectre. If I had a single comment to make it was that the studio notes revealed in the Sony hack (which said that the film was great for the first two thirds but that the third act was terrible) were bang on target.
I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the film (except perhaps for the disappointing Tentacle Porn Title sequence) but the film comes to a stop at the Spectre base with the revelation of Oberhauser's back story and then falls apart completely in the ridiculous London sequence at the end of the film.
Can anyone tell me what the countdown clock was for? The Nine Eyes system going active at 12AM? What would have happened if Q hadn't heroically initiated a shutdown? I have no idea (and neither does the script). Why was there no one else in the MI5 building on the eve of the launch of their new Global Surveillance program? What was C's motivation for all of this? Once the Spectre base had been destroyed was there any real threat remaining?
Q is pretty awsome in this film but aside from knocking out some goons in the final battle with a balloon he and M shouldn't be getting involved in the final action. It detracts from the fact that its a James Bond movie unless the filmmakers are planning Q and Moneypenny solo films like the Star Wars one-offs.
Other questions: What was the point of showing Madeleine her father's death scene? Why did Bond not want her to see it? Did Oberhauser think Bond had lied about his death? Bond should have been OK with Madeleine seeing it. It wouldn't break her. That whole scene made very little sense.
Did Oberhauser do any damage to Bond at all with his torture chair? Clearly his memory is still intact. His ability to shoot accurately wasn't affected as he blows up the base and kills everyone with only a couple of bullets. And why was the Spectre base using the same fuel cells as the hotel in Quantum of Solace? Don't they know those things are hazardous?
More importantly, from a Bond series standpoint, why is there a need to include Silva in the Spectre master plot. Even if you didn't like Skyfall, you have to admit that Silva's central motive (revenge on the spymaster who had betrayed him) was a very compelling storyline. To suggest that it was all part of Oberhauser's revenge on Bond cheapens the movie. I dare anyone to rewatch Skyfall and say to themselves, "oh it makes so much more sense now". If Goldfinger has no ties to Spectre then there's no reason for Skyfall to have any such ties. I get that the producers want to keep cashing in on Skyfall so using Javier Bardem's picture in the opening credits and in Oberhauser's art class diorama in MI6's old building seems like a good idea but it only cheapens the overall product.
Aside from the one time Madeleine Swann mentions it, does anyone else ever refer to Spectre even once? Granted as an evil secret organization they probably don't want to do a lot of advertising but it seems odd that nobody ever even calls it Spectre, which at least was a cool acronym in the old days. What does it mean now? Spectre's a very British name for an organization founded by a crazy Austrian nutbar.
This brings us to Oberhauser's big reveal. He's really Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He likes white pussy cats. This was handled in the clumsiest manner possible. When Donald Pleasance announces himself in YOLT it comes after 3-4 years (in real time) of waiting for that reveal. In this movie he announces "my name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, it's from my Mother's side of the family". That means nothing to Bond and is a pretty lame bit of fan service if that's how it was intended. If you want to drop the Blofeld bomb for the fans do it at the end of the movie when M tells him Franz Oberhauser, you're under arrest. Then he can go "Franz Oberhauser is dead, my name is ......".
As Bond went through Oberhauser's little maze at the end I realized, Oh no, he's going to have the scar now. Another cheap bit of fan service that was completely unnecessary. Waltz has the special gift of looking deeply dangerous with a smile. Giving him such a ridiculous scar (and magical explosion healing powers) makes him look like a clown not a menacing supervillain. He gets way more pathetic as the film goes on. I'm surprised his helicopter didn't crash into a smokestack after Bond shot it down. (The entire arc of Blofeld in one movie)
All of this leads to a climax that is basically another save the girl or yourself game which reminds me more of things the Joker would do, but which don't really belong in a James Bond movie.
I'm OK with the end of the film. Bond finds (unconvincing) true love and gives up killing and being a spy even though it flies in the face of everything we know about Bond. That's a novel way to end the film (except why do I have a feeling that Madeleine Swann won't make it out of the PTS for Spectre 2 Electric Boogaloo). My problem is that the entire last act is a complete mess and I don't think I'll be able to watch it again (which I obviously will) without cringing.
I feel bad writing such a negative opinion but do other people not see some of the same flaws? Two good thirds does not a good Bond movie make.
Craig's best performance yet. He oozes cool in just about every scene, looking more McQueen than ever, and we finally have a Bond film which combines the gritty serious elements, plus the traditional gadget and humour elements successfully. This performance by Craig is on par with Connery in Thunderball.
Swann is by far the best Bond girl in a long time, and the love story is actually very convincing.
Soundtrack blew me away, the train fight has to be one of the best in the series, and loved the car chase. The torture scene was fairly horrific too, maybe worse than CR.
The only thing I'm not sure on is the ending (not the Aston bit, which was good), but the Thames helicopter chase. I need to see it again to decide on that one.
Hahaha, touche, but DAD knew where it was going for the most part- it intended to be "comic book-y" towards the end, I'm assuming.
From what I saw from the film. Franz and Bond were merely foster brothers. It hasn't exactly been explained how far their relationship went before Franz' presumed skiing accident with his father. So that's a wise thing. Now it seems they are merely linked because of paperwork :-).
The torture scene. Why did Bond's memory not get affect by the second drill? Can someone explain that to me as I may have missed something?
And the final helicopter scene with Blofeld. It felt a little bit tacked on, but I need to see it again as I may think differently next time round.
Agree. Every single word.
Ouch. Makes some good points though.
I loved the torture sequence. It was the more stylish version of the "Casino Royale" torture, which is logical if you look at the larger-than-life personality of Oberhauser/Blofeld. Le Chiffre was desperate. Blofeld merely did it for fun, and out of personal revenge (very similar how Silva wanted to avenge "M").
I'm absolutely certain Ian Fleming would have adored this torture sequence. I was on the edge of my seat. And I will hate dentists even more than before this film :-).
That's the worst thing for me, that's what I was thinking of when I mentioned the science in my spoiler-free review. I'm a researcher and, without giving much away, I'm known for being able to analyse impossibly small amounts of DNA. The way they did it makes absolutely no sense. It would be so easy to solve had they asked someone in the area (I'm free if anyone's interested!). Nowadays you can sequence an entire genome with a portable machine you can carry in your pocket but what did they show? A scanner. And that's my biggest complaint with the film, by far. It's still a top notch entry in the series :-bd
I agree! Especially the silent moments which are particularly effective in creating tension.
The drill had to hit a precise spot, Bond was trying like crazy to move, so it didn't hit the right place.
Ahhh! Thank you! That makes sense now....
^:)^
Finally, the gun barrel back at the front and it was brilliant.
PTS was very nice. I liked the day of the dead festival and Bond in a skeleton suit was cool. I wish we could have had just a little bit more time with Estrella, but I understand the pace has to keep moving. It's kind of funny to me that most of these meetings between the bad guys and their associates seem to all take place in front of windows. I mean honestly, if you were making a deal for an explosive device would you really expose yourself that much. Not a huge deal, just an observation. The building collapse and Bond's escape through crumbling debris were somewhat plausible and gave a good start to an exciting chase.
The helicopter fight scene was a complete homage to FYEO. It was a bit OTT, but it sorta had to be I guess. I enjoyed the part where it zoomed in on Bond as he was flying away and transitioned into the title sequence through the ring. That was a nice way to do it.
I thought the title sequence was really nice. My favorite part was the fire around Daniel during it. That looked amazing. I think the title song discussion has been beat to hell and I made my feelings noted on another thread about that so I'll just say I liked the orchestration with the title sequence. I get what they were going for with the Octopus and I think it worked ok. I enjoyed the quick glimpses of Silva, Le Chiffre, Green, etc.
Now, I will just try to list parts I enjoyed and the ones I didn't like as well.
Liked
1. Funeral scene and dialogue at Lucia's home. She was beautiful and Bond was Bond. If only we could have had some more time with her. Her presence was so much stronger for me than Swann.
2. Ralph Fiennes was very convincing as M. I really love what he is doing with the character.
3. I loved the scene with Mr. White. Jesper Christensen puts in an gripping and emotional performance with a bit of surprise there.
Disliked
1. When Bond is in the Twin Engine plane chasing Hinx and Swann down in the land rovers. He is pulling up to them and firing a pistol out of the plane. That is completely unbelievable for me. You could almost never hit a moving object on the ground out of a plane while shooting a pistol. I was at a loss for that one.
2. The scene at Blofeld's medical lair with Bond strapped in the chair. He's drilling into his head multiple times and no noticeable damage is done at all. Of course Bond's watch could never be a threat so let's make sure and leave that on his hand for him to use against us. And how the hell does that watch blow up the whole damn lair? Maybe I missed something there.
3. The finale. Blofeld's scar seemed painfully forced, but I get it. The ole textbook bomb with a timer is utilized and Bond manages to grab Swann and escape in the boat. Then, manages to gun down the helicopter with his pistol while driving the boat down river. This is just laughable.
I'd give SP a 7/10. I think the writing was what really stunk here. The cast potential was great. They definitely hearkened back to the days of the Brosnan films to cram this film chocked full of action. The plot was just really unoriginal. I get the whole thing about taking real world events and merging them with the film, but it just seems like the whole surveillance/one world government thing has been done to death. I was a bit let down with Waltz's performance. There just seemed to be something missing with him. SP is by no means a clunker though. Its far more serviceable then the other bottom feeder films. It could have been far worse.
That was pretty unnecessary.
I find it amazing how there are glowing reviews and the exact opposite. Seems some get, what they wanted and some just don't like that concept. Both fair points, but I don't think, they failed. Its just surprising, I suppose, that light touch and some feel, the Craig era shouldn't do that. But from what they said, it was always the plan.
Bond shoots the gas valves outside of the lair when he's making his escape with Swann.
It's supposed to be a fun thrill ride with beautiful women, exotic locales, hot rides and bigger than life villains whose schemes are outlandish and dastardly. Even Casino Royale had elements of this where-as Skyfall didn't really. It was just a straight-up revenge plot with political undertones.
um no. People are complaining that it's like something out of fan fiction. It's like DAD with the pretension that it's serious.