SPECTRE - film review

After nine years, four films, six Bond girls and several shootouts, we arrive at the cinematical knot that ties together the Daniel Craig era of James Bond; SPECTRE.



SPECTRE promotional poster

SPECTRE picks up almost immediately after M's death at the end of Skyfall, with MI5 and MI6 in the process of being merged by Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), aka "C", as the British Government attempt to put more focus on data analysis and surveillance and less on 'the man in the field'. It's due to this that for entire span of the film Bond appears to be operating completely rogue behind the back of the new "M" (Ralph Fiennes), whilst employing the help of "Q" (Ben Wishaw) and Miss Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) remotely.

After removing a ring from the finger of an assailant in Mexico City during the Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival, Bond embarks on a journey to find out what the symbol on it refers to and who leads this mystery organisation; which by the end of the film we know to be SPECTRE and Bond's most infamous enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). It was also revealed in an interesting plot twist that Blofeld's Father took in James when his parents died and ever since Blofeld felt ignored and so killed his Father and faked his own death.

I referred to SPECTRE being the knot that ties the Daniel Craig era of Bond together at the beginning and here is why I said that. Every villain 007 came up against - Le Chiffre, Dominic Greene, Raoul Silva and Mr. White - were employed by Blofeld to affect the world in some way but when Bond inevitably saved the day and squandered his plans, Blofeld then punished Bond by killing his love interest in each case; most notably Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale.

SPECTRE as a spectacle is a phenomenal sight to behold, taking us through the typical Bond travelogue; Italy, Austria, Mexico and of course, London. The camera work is just beautiful and even during the intense hyper car chase between Bond - in a prototype Aston Martin DB10 (which ironically was intended for 009 but he stole), and SPECTRE henchman Mr. Hinx (former WWE wrestler, Dave Baustista), in the Jaguar C-X75 - the film still manages to portray the tightness and quaintness of the back streets of Rome with even a little comedy involved at the expense of an old Italian man driving a Fiat 500 that gets in the way of Bond's escape.

For me the most jaw dropping moment in the film is opening set piece. The aforementioned Dia de Muerta, looks so good while at the same time looking like it was a nightmare to organise, what with over 2000 extras to direct. In the opening scene, which is a single stunning four and half minute sweeping shot, we are taken down into the melee in the streets of Mexico City, where we see Bond in a skull mask, and up into a hotel where Bond leaves his mistress in the room and heads out onto the balcony in search of his target. It's so smooth and unprecedented in a film with such a huge budget where you expect cuts to fly by as quickly as your eye can blink.

Although rated 12A, there are a couple of moments you probably wouldn't want your pre-teen watching on the big screen; the scene when Mr. Hinx claws out the eyes of a SPECTRE member and when Blofeld is drilling into the side of Bond's skull. The latter moment was particularly 'superhero' ish, in that one minute Bond was getting drills in his skull and the next he was running from the guards and shooting each of them in the open whilst not even receiving a scratch from their machine guns or showing signs of a headache!

I only have one reservation about an otherwise brilliant film and that's the character of Madeline Swan as portrayed by Lea Seydoux. It's not so much the character itself that I have the frustration with, more the accent of Seydoux. As the daughter of Mr. White you'd assume she'd be English, and there's no mention of her Mother being French, but instead we hear a mixture of Queen's English in some scenes and sloppy English with a French accent in others - and it's very confusing!

Finally, and this isn't really a complaint about the film so much, the theme song as performed by Sam Smith that I reviewed a few days ago does fit into the context of the film lyrically but that by no means changes my mind on it. I still think it's a wretched song but annoyingly it does fit.

Verdict - 9/10
Ever since Daniel Craig stepped into the shoes of 007 in 2006 for Casino Royale, the franchise has been keen to shed more light on Bond's past and plunge into the depths of his at times dark character.

2012 was the turning point, when after the disappointment of Quantum Of Solace, director Sam Mendes came on board to produce the most commercially successful James Bond film of all time; Skyfall. After Skyfall became the 14th highest grossing film world wide of all time, raking in £1.109 billion at the box office, it may have seemed an impossible task to make a film to build on what went before and even to out do it. With SPECTRE though, I believe Mendes and co. have made a worthy follow-up and have avoided falling into the trap of copying what was so good about Skyfall and have instead made a film that stands perfectly well on it's own.

The combination of great camera work, excellent story and what feels like a sense of completion make this a must watch Bond flick. Enough said.