The name is Bond. James Bond. For over five decades, Bond
has been a staple of action cinema, spawning 24 theatrical films, and
jump-starting the careers of six classic actors. After a rough patch in the
Brosnan era, the timeline was rebooted to feature a grittier version of the
character. Played by Daniel Craig, this era of Bond has given us thrilling and
(refreshingly) psychologically inventive films the likes of Casino Royale, and
2012’s smash hit Skyfall from Sam Mendes.
At this point, it goes without saying. I am a huge fan of
the 007 films. I have loved this series for years, constantly make callbacks to
it, listen to its theme songs obsessively, and even if I don’t end up liking an
entry of the series, that still won’t stop me from being the first one in line
to see it (Well, first in line in America, that is).
After being blown away by Skyfall, which became my new
favorite Bond film to date, I was beyond eager to see what director Sam Mendes
would bring to Bond 24, Spectre. I love the Craig films for heeding to the
classic tropes of Bond, but also having the smarts to deconstruct them and
bring new meat to the table, which is what I hoped this new entry would bring
me. Needless to say, it gave me exactly what I wanted… but only in the first
fifteen minutes.
In the aftermath of the attack on Skyfall, James Bond
(Daniel Craig) has been following a breadcrumb trail left to him, which guides
him through a series of events that pits him against SPECTRE, a dubious
worldwide criminal organization with sinister business and government control.
Bond eventually meets with a young daughter of one of SPECTRE’s former operatives,
Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), and the two find themselves banding together to
uncover the mystery of the organization’s figurehead, Franz Oberhauser
(Christoph Waltz), who not only has ties to Bond’s past, but may even be a
phantom architect to it.
One thing I will say about Spectre is that the film starts
off with incredible promise. For the first time in Craig’s tenure, we actually
get the film starting off with the traditional gun barrel sequence. This
eventually gives way into an extended Day of the Dead festival in Mexico City,
with a five minute tracking shot that follows Bond through streets, hotel
rooms, and even nonchalantly walking across various rooftops to Point B. All of
it is stunningly shot, with DP Hoyte van Hoytema making fantastic use of
environmental flavor and sublimely choreographed movement. We then jolt into a
thrilling shootout, chase through the streets, and a tussle aboard a
helicopter. There’s a lot going on in these sequences, yet at no point does any
of it become overwhelming, with Mendes confidently escalating the tension with
infectious adrenaline. This then leads into the film’s anthem “Writing’s on the
Wall” by Sam Smith (which works much better in context), and left me pumped for everything
that would follow. But despite it all, I would argue that the film ultimately
peaks there, with the rest of the following film never living up to the
unrealistically high expectations.
Another great thing about Spectre is that, technically, the
film is near-perfection. Mendes left an unmistakable personal stamp when
directing Skyfall, and he continues to develop that same stamp in new and
enthralling ways. Largely veering away from shaky cam whenever possible in
favor of steady and swift photography, actually allowing you to absorb every
onscreen detail, Mendes proves a wholly unique action director. Once again
having the film be driven by character and performances, there’s definitely a
feeling of high stakes and tension every time a new set-piece begins. Almost
everything in the film is accomplished through flooring practicality, with
Mendes only relying on CGI as a last resort, and stunt coordinator Gary Powell’s
excellent choreography and fight sequences once again become highlights,
including a train sequence where Bond faces off against Oberhauser’s muscle-man
Hinx, played by Dave Bautista. He also makes fabulous use of the sound design,
and draws another sleek and pulsing score from Thomas Newman.
However, technically brilliant as Spectre may be, its
screenplay is far too busy for its own good. While staying true to the harsher,
more psychological style of Bond that’s made the Craig films a success, but
also blending them with more classic Bond trademarks, Spectre often heeds to
both of these elements to a fault. With SPECTRE reinvigorated for the new
timeline, they play a very direct, and potentially interesting role in Bond’s
history, being a representation of the actions Bond has committed, and the
enemies and friends that died because of him, coming back to haunt him. The
problem is that - the way the film handles it - it feels like well-trodden
territory by this point. There’s a lot of potential still left to be tapped for
this interpretation of Bond, and Daniel Craig is still excellent as always as
the worn and icy agent, but much of this film’s usage of it doesn’t feel new,
and with the film spending more time on it than necessary, it gets a bit
tiring.
A talented, but underwritten supporting cast doesn’t
make up much for that. Lea Seydoux, while a natural fit with Bond, is undercut by
her character’s rocky back and forth between damsel and action-heroine, and
there’s not much to her after that. That’s exactly the same for Christoph Waltz
as Oberhauser, with the actor providing serviceable work, but nothing from him
that we haven’t already seen in similarly typecast work. Even with the
character playing a series of malicious and visceral mindgames with Bond, the
threat of the character isn't always properly felt, with Waltz completely
vanishing for stretches of up to an hour in the film, and playing more of a
behind the scenes role with obvious sequel bait in mind. In fact, the character’s
ultimate motivations and ties to Bond proves to be one of the more nonsensical
screenplay elements, raising far more questions than providing answers, and
without me giving anything of significance away, unforgivably goes as far as to
negate the impact of events in previous Craig outings.
This isn’t even mentioning the several diversions with Q and
Moneypenny (Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris, respectively), the unbalanced tie-ins
to previous entries, constant cute callbacks and fan service that border on
overuse, oh, and did I mention that there’s also a subplot involving the
potential shutdown of the double-0 program? The newly appointed M, played by
Ralph Fiennes, consistently finds himself at odds with Joint Intelligence
executive Max Denbigh, played by Andrew Scott, who sees the program as archaic,
and prefers that the British government opt in favor of drones. The entire
ordeal feels like a weak mixture of Person of Interest meets Rogue
Nation. Yet even with all of that, it can't even give QUANTUM a proper send-off?
Such things may not sound like too much to handle, as
previous Craig movies dealt with similarly complicated material, but the
content as is doesn’t really justify the film spending so much time on them. At
two and a half hours long, the film moves at a very uneven pace, often progressing
at sluggish speeds, and barely holding together at the seams. By the time the
film makes its way into its thirty minute climax, it’s lost almost all of its
earlier momentum, and runs on fumes for the entirety of its remaining running
time.
There’s much that I love about Spectre, and even more that I
want to love just as much, but even the most die-hard Bond apologist in me can’t
deny that this is to Skyfall what Quantum of Solace was to Casino Royale. As
far as technical accomplishment goes this could arguably be considered the most
gorgeously-produced film yet, but all of that is unfortunately wasted on
overexposed padding. The extended running time slowly begins losing all of its
steam, playing all of its best cards early rather than escalate to them, and
even as pure popcorn entertainment, while certainly fun, doesn’t hold a candle
to its predecessors.
Still, there’ll be plenty new Bonds to follow, and no
misfire big or small will be able to kill my excitement for them. See you next
time, James…
***1/2 / *****
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