SPECTRE - Press reviews and personal reviews (BEWARE! Spoiler reviews allowed)

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  • I Held My Pee for This - A Review from a Forum Oldie

    [img]<img src="http://twinsdaily.com/uploads/monthly_08_2015/post-59-0-46264100-1440432629.gif"/>[/img]

    I guess it takes a new Bond film to bring me back here. I left years ago soon after the forum overhaul. Most of you probably have no idea who I am, but if you do, Hi!

    I went in to Skyfall with very few spoilers. I knew Waltz would likely be Blofeld, and I knew Monica Belluci was going to be a Bond girl. Obviously it was going to be about Spectre. That's all I knew. I like being spoiler free at this point in my life.

    The good: I felt like the film had a very strong start, right from the classic gun barrel. I had all kinds of nostalgic feelings. When I saw the opening scene was at a Dia de Los Muertos celebration, I was enthralled. Classic style Bond locale. The long, uncut shot was incredible and so well done. I was very impressed. I thought the humor in this film was on point. Loved the "mouse moment" and I'm sure none of you were thinking the "C word" was careless :)) . The locations were beautiful, as was the fashion. I love Christoph Waltz, but I'll mention that more in my disappointments.

    The "meh": The villain "plot" in this film is weak and unoriginal. Oh, they're harvesting information? What are they going to do with it? Do I care? No. Every other Bond film has had a more entertaining villain plot than this. I would rather have something ridiculous like trying to blow up the moon than something so bland. I think the fact that Blofeld is supposed to be responsible for every other villain plot in the previous Craig films is supposed to carry this film, but that doesn't work for me. I feel like James Bond has kept the politics to a minimum in the past, and this was way to heavy on that. Also, I didn't care for the opening song. Sounded like a generic romantic tune to me, and I don't care for Sam Smith.

    The disappointing: I was super excited that Christoph Waltz was going to be the villain, but I don't feel like he was given enough to work with, as well as not having enough screen time. I could have done with a lot less of Q and Moneypenny, and more Blofeld screen time. (Ralph Fiennes as M was fantastic, I was fine with that). I was also really thrilled when I heard Monica Belluci would be a Bond girl. People have been wanting it for year, and you actually have someone of a proper age for Bond. Barely in the film. Just a huge disappointment for me personally.

    The final word: All I heard about the film before seeing it was that Skyfall was better. It was. I will hold my pee during a movie if I think it's worth it. I did for Spectre, and it really wasn't. (I'm also 15 weeks pregnant, so holding my pee was probably a bad idea in general. I'm all crampy, now....)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    I would completely agree, though my favorite has always been Bond fighting Slate in QoS...though that one may have been equaled for me, as well.
    That fight was awesome as well, but it wasn't Bond vs. a total wrecking machine like the other two.
    ;)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I just loved the frenetic hastiness to Bond fighting Slate: equally-skilled men using some everyday objects to do battle in a confined location. I loved it.

    I can't believe I've failed to mention this, too, but the biggest surprise for me in SP? The fact that Lucia makes it out alive! The way her character was set up and the footage I saw in the trailers, I would've bet a good amount of money that we'd get our fourth Bond movie in a row where one of the main Bond girls was killed off. Very happy to see that this wasn't the case! She deserved better than some quick death.
  • MansfieldMansfield Where the hell have you been?
    edited November 2015 Posts: 1,263
    I saw discussion of the torture scene a few pages back. The scene is near perfection, besides the torture actually be completely ineffective. That's easy to overlook (for me that is) with all that was marvelous in that scene. The white cat being the first object that comes into focus when Bond regains consciousness was a stroke of genius. That introduction surpassed all of my expectations. Blofeld was totally insane when telling Bond how he became the person he is in that moment. Madeleine was portrayed so brilliantly. There is one shot in particular where Sam Mendes does not show he facial reaction to Bond's torture. It shows her from the waist down, and the subtle flinch she makes with her hands and legs is all-telling.
  • Creasy47 wrote: »
    @Soundofthesinners, where is your Bondathon ranking at? Just from the snippet I saw in your review, I can tell that our lists more than likely differ in many, many ways, so I'm interested in seeing your ranking of the films.

    Thanks very much for your interest, I've been reviewing them gradually in the "last Bond movie you watched" thread. The Dr. No review is on page 136, and they proceed from there. I've got rankings up on the Bond rankings thread, I can repost them here if you'd like.

    With regard to the Silva bit, for both you and @chrisisall, I suppose it makes some sense if Silva did some hacking work for Spectre on the side and they provided him with his henchmen as payment. But the way Blofeld presents it is as if Silva was working for them the whole time, and that I simply cannot abide.
  • I saw the film last night and I was very satisfied. It wasn't really suprising that Oberhauser was actually Blofeld, but I did like how they connected the 3 previous films together. I thought the pre title sequence was one of the best in the series, I loved the character of Madeline Swan, and the return of Mr. White to the series after the disappointing QOS. The only problems I had with the film was that the widow he bedded early in the film was cut out to early, as was Mr. Hinx. But overall I enjoyed it as much as I did Skyfall, but I think Casino Royale still stands as Craig's best film (so far that is, assuming he does another one.)
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    @Soundofthesinners, once you have a finalized ranking listed somewhere, I'd love to see how ours compares, because I know they're going to be polar opposites and I love that we all differ so heavily at times.
  • Well, here's the current ranking that I've got over on the other thread:

    1. Goldfinger
    2. From Russia With Love
    3. Casino Royale
    4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
    5. GoldenEye
    6. Skyfall
    7. The Spy Who Loved Me
    8. Dr. No
    9. Licence to Kill
    10. For Your Eyes Only
    11. The Living Daylights
    12. You Only Live Twice
    13. Tomorrow Never Dies
    14. Thunderball
    15. Quantum of Solace
    16. Spectre
    17. Octopussy
    18. The World Is Not Enough
    19. Live and Let Die
    20. Diamonds are Forever
    21. A View to a Kill
    22. Die Another Day
    23. The Man with the Golden Gun
    24. Moonraker

    I'll let you know how it changes after a rewatch in the theaters and maybe on DVD, @Creasy47.
  • Mi6LisbonBranchMi6LisbonBranch Lisbon, Portugal
    Posts: 243
    Hi everybody I finally got to see it (and on IMAX) today and here follows my first impressions after this first viewing (full review only after I watch it a 2nd time).
    Basically, as I expected, .. I loved it!
    This is by all means a James Bond movie, and a good one! It has ALL the elements that made this series so successful (great locations, lots of over the top action, beautiful women, the vodka martinis and the gadgets, the JB wit we got used to, and so on).
    It is not, obviously then, as deep and character driven as SKYFALL, nor as perfectly structured as Casino Royale, but it is by all means highly entertaining and damn fun to watch.
    Anyway, will have to see it again to have a final evaluation. It will, nevertheless, surely make my Top 5 list (still it won’t top OHMSS as my number 1 or CR as my number 1 DC James Bond movie)

    Likes/Plus (+):
    - The Morocco PTS (from start to finish a triumph) – the highlight of the film;
    - The titles sequence (DK’s second best after Goldeneye);
    - Against my initial belief, the Thomas Newman score works beautifully in the film (even in the Action scenes);
    - The fight scene in the train (really brutal!);
    - The dialogues scenes between Bond and Lucia Sciarra (Monica Belucci…..dio mio!!);
    Dislikes/Minus (-):
    - Christoph Waltz didn’t seem as menacing as I expected;
    - The Morocco scenes, although well filmed, are not as impactful as the rest of the film.
    Note: I loved the “Hildebrandt” line…

    If the movie had toned down a bit of the action in order to further develop the (romantic) relation between Bond and Swann it would be a contender for my top 3.
    After just one viewing and regarding an Overall Rating I will give it an 8 out of 10 (or a 4+ out of 5).
    I will share a more detailed (and final) review next week after seeing it a second time.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,976
    I agree with CR being so high, happy to see OHMSS and GE make your Top 5 (the latter is my #1 favorite), and I agree with your #7-10 rankings (in that they do deserve to be ranked that highly). I wouldn't rank QoS, SP, OP, TWINE, LALD, or AVTAK that low, but I think your bottom three lines up with my bottom three quite well! Suppose our lists aren't 100% different as I thought. Looking forward to seeing how SP increases or decreases in your list.
  • Posts: 1,068
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Yesterday I watched a certain film (you can probably guess which one) for a fifth and sixth time. For a bit of variety I saw it at a cinema I've never visited before: the Showcase Cinema De Lux in Leicester. (As I was seeing The Primitives in concert in Leicester last night I decided to make a day of it.) As with three of my other viewings (at the Showcase CDL in Derby) I watched it in the X-Plus theatre which gives the largest screen size. It also boasts Dolby Atmos which is supposed to make the sound surround you more than ever. Personally I'd say it just makes things very, very LOUD! Especially Newman's re-heated SF action "music".
    I'm still seeing new things. For example, it wasn't until the fifth viewing that I noticed Michael G's blink and you'll miss it cameo. Of course, with each screening I'm picking up on more credulity-straining moments. The latest one (and somebody else may well have already mentioned this) is when Moneypenny is in her flat reading the old newspaper article about the death of Oberhauser and his father on her laptop. She highlights the article, hits "translate" and it changes from Swiss (or German?) into English. Well, given that it's a scanned page surely the computer wouldn't be able to do that. Wouldn't it see the whole page as a single picture? And it certainly wouldn't be able to change the actual text itself. Also it's unlikely that the article could translate from one language into another and still fit into exactly the same space. Maybe technology has moved on further than I knew. Still, plot holes and such aside I'm still absolutely loving SP to bits.

    Without giving too much information I work in translation technology and it is now possible to translate a scanned PDF, although I am not sure it is possible with machine translation (and that said translation would be flawless).

    Not sure if someone has already mentioned it - there's an applie iOS app where it's effectively a camera where you hold it to frame a picture and instead of simply capturing a photo if changes words present into a different chosen language. - it's to help bridge language barriers on holiday and iirc it's even free and almost instantaneous - look it up it exists on a mobile phone so why not a desktop application?
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    RC7 wrote: »
    Question: who else felt the adrenaline pumping when rescues Madeliene in MI6 and makes his escape? The Newman score (Detonation) had me fist pumping - as did the moment they exit the collapsing building in the boat. I live for these moments in Bond films.

    That was a great moment. I'm not really a big fan of boat chases but seeing Bond pick up Swann and jump down onto the net with the score playing and then Bond poised with his gun to shoot down the chopper with the da da da daaaaaaa...da da da diiiiiiiiiiiiii. Had me smiling all 4 times.
  • Posts: 486
    RC7 wrote: »
    Question: who else felt the adrenaline pumping when rescues Madeliene in MI6 and makes his escape? The Newman score (Detonation) had me fist pumping - as did the moment they exit the collapsing building in the boat. I live for these moments in Bond films.

    I definitely liked the moment Bond and Madeline escape on the boat too. A glum M surveys the building collapsing and then his top agent emerges from the dust still in pursuit of Blofeld.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Cowley wrote: »
    RC7 wrote: »
    Question: who else felt the adrenaline pumping when rescues Madeliene in MI6 and makes his escape? The Newman score (Detonation) had me fist pumping - as did the moment they exit the collapsing building in the boat. I live for these moments in Bond films.

    I definitely liked the moment Bond and Madeline escape on the boat too. A glum M surveys the building collapsing and then his top agent emerges from the dust still in pursuit of Blofeld.
    Oh yes, that was SO cool. And Bond remembered where the old Q left his 2nd retirement boat!
    ;)
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    SP is a film that feels like it was made for the fans who love classic Bond. Everyone else is just along for the ride this time round. It'll be a successful Bond movie but it genuinely feels like the makers made SP to be some personal love letter to a select number of Bond fans and I feel overjoyed at how awesome it is.

    I mean come on, look at that scene when Lucia is about to be murdered, only for her would be assassins to be killed with such cool nonchalance by Bond who then swaggers into frame and focus, oozing with a relaxed confidence, I dare say Craig came pretty damn close to matching King Connery himself in that scene and I don't say that lightly.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
  • Posts: 486
    Well some of us felt like that during the Brosnan era. You just have to ride it out.

  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    edited November 2015 Posts: 4,585
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    Someone posted a little theory about Silva's escape in SF and how it now makes much more sense after seeing SP, and I'll admit (as hard as it is, ;) ) that it makes me appreciate SF a little bit more, as well. Itching to give it another re-watch (honestly the first time I've been interested in re-watching it since I first saw it) to see how the rest of it holds up and what may make more sense in its own way after viewing SP.

    I think a lot people misinterpreted Silva's escape from the beginning. With or without Spectre, I always though it made sense. the key is to NOT believe Silva had "everything planned" as Q so suggests. He didn't. What Silva did was plant "the fear" that he was always ahead of the game. This is how he was able to get everyone "off the island." Remember what Severine told Bond: "What do you know about fear?" Bond said "Everything." She then says, "Not like this. Not like him." Indeed...it is fear that drives people (and governments) to overreact, as Q did, as Bond did, as most everyone did.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2015 Posts: 23,883
    Cowley wrote: »
    Well some of us felt like that during the Brosnan era. You just have to ride it out.

    Oh god, don't remind me.

    I'm sorry you didn't like it this time either @Birdleson. It's got some great moments, but I understand your frustrations, because it can be almost schizophrenic. The better bits do elevate it in a big way imho, and just watching Craig finally be 'total Bond' is worth the price of admission (twice and more!)
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I agree on the Scooby crew (this is not 24, or Mission Impossible), and I'll add M to that as well.

    This film really missed Dench's gravitas (and I think you know I've not been her biggest proponent in the past......but she grounds the films she's in and even her little cameo here is what starts the whole thing off)
  • Posts: 725
    Saw it last night and liked it a great deal. It is up there with CR as my favorite Bond film of the last 4. For me it was the anecdote to the things I greatly disliked about SF. Not always the case, but I definitely see a correlation between many traditional Bond film fans that like SP and not SF, and vice versa.

    Rather than list all the things I liked, I will link to this review: http://jalopnik.com/spectre-the-classic-bond-movie-i-was-definitely-not-ex-1741078954

    It's the best review I've read about why SP works so well, and why some of us badly wanted a correction from SF. This critic really, really gets it. Zalopnik is a car site. The critic is a big Bond fan and there are plenty of his interesting Bond film reviews you can read without a login account.
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    edited November 2015 Posts: 4,585
    One more beautiful bit from SP that I had forgotten to discuss:

    When Bond finds ESB behind the bulletproof glass, he confronts him. As they talk, the shot shows ESB's reflection superimposed over Bond's face. It's a nice touch.
  • imranbecksimranbecks Singapore
    Posts: 984
    Ed83 wrote: »

    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.

    @Ed83 You did miss something. The watch didn't blow up the whole place. It only caused minor damage in the torture room they were in. Bond and Madeleine escaped and later on, Bond shot a few gas tanks with the rifle when he was outside during his escape. That started a chain reaction and resulted in the huge explosion to the entire complex.
  • Posts: 5,745
    smitty wrote: »
    Saw it last night and liked it a great deal. It is up there with CR as my favorite Bond film of the last 4. For me it was the anecdote to the things I greatly disliked about SF. Not always the case, but I definitely see a correlation between many traditional Bond film fans that like SP and not SF, and vice versa.

    Rather than list all the things I liked, I will link to this review: http://jalopnik.com/spectre-the-classic-bond-movie-i-was-definitely-not-ex-1741078954

    It's the best review I've read about why SP works so well, and why some of us badly wanted a correction from SF. This critic really, really gets it. Zalopnik is a car site. The critic is a big Bond fan and there are plenty of his interesting Bond film reviews you can read without a login account.

    Hello, I am the author of all your... enjoyment! Thanks for reading; glad you liked it @smitty
  • edited November 2015 Posts: 725
    Well bowl me over. There have been so many threads and posts on this site, you likely linked to your reviews yourself, but I missed the posts where you noted the links. My brother who went with us last night to see the film has an account on the jalopnik site (he is a major car guy) and he sent me the link as we both liked the film a lot. Small world. Didn't have a clue you were the author. I started reading all of your other Bond reviews. You write very well, and you really, really do get Bond, and I really, really do share your POV.
  • Posts: 5,745
    smitty wrote: »
    Well bowl me over. There have been so many threads and posts on this site, you likely linked to your reviews yourself, but I missed the posts where you noted the links. My brother who went with us last night to see the film has an account on the jalopnik site (he is a major car guy) and he sent me the link as we both liked the film a lot. Small world. Didn't have a clue you were the author. I started reading all of your other Bond reviews. You write very well, and you really, really do get Bond, and I really, really do share your POV.

    Ha, that's great to hear! I enjoyed it both times, and I'll be seeing it in IMAX again this weekend just to make sure. I simply think people were expecting something else - to me this is like a You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, GoldenEye, or Thunderball type of movie, which I'm completely satisfied with.
  • edited November 2015 Posts: 267
    lalala2004 wrote: »

    I guess it takes a new Bond film to bring me back here. I left years ago soon after the forum overhaul. Most of you probably have no idea who I am, but if you do, Hi!

    Haha, I remember those days of the old forum! I still lurk on the new one every now and then, but no where near as much as back then. Been back on pretty frequently in the months leading up to Spectre though.
  • Posts: 1,181
    imranbecks wrote: »
    Ed83 wrote: »
    @Ed83 You did miss something. The watch didn't blow up the whole place. It only caused minor damage in the torture room they were in. Bond and Madeleine escaped and later on, Bond shot a few gas tanks with the rifle when he was outside during his escape. That started a chain reaction and resulted in the huge explosion to the entire complex.
    Gotcha. Makes more since now. It's hard to take it all in sometimes on those first viewings.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,801
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I saw it again, liked it even less. I will not even go into all of the reasons why anymore. It's a train wreck. If EON continues with this team and this direction I'm not interested. I'll keep out of it for the time being.

    Dude... FUN. Bond is not reality. NO movie is reality. To attempt reality is to beg boredom. The more escapist the better, unless you're doing a documentary.
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