Not to long ago I went to the movies to see the latest instalment of Ian Fleming's James Bond in Spectre. In my overall opinion without there being any spoilers... it was okay. The main issues I had at a glance were the villain and the love interest. Though I don't feel particularly cheated after seeing the film (having liked the visuals, music, and other characters), there were some things that could be improved upon and that shall be the main concentration of this post.
Note: below may contain some spoilers. If you have plans on seeing the movie and don't want to have you're viewing experience, please skip this post.
What Worked:
-The Characters
The characters were great as always. It was nice to see M and Q have a larger role in this one and (in my opinion) being the actual heroes of the day. Ralph Fiennes and and Ben Whishaw did a great job in how they portrayed their characters. Fiennes was convincing of portraying M as a person who is trying to not only run the organization, but also have to convince the world that there is still a place for the Double O organization in the modern world, a theme that continues from Skyfall. Whishaw was great as Q and was very reminiscent of Desmond Llewelyn's Q, cantankerous and fussing over the state that Bond left the gadgets.
Bond was... well... Bond. I've been on the fence on how Daniel Craig fairs as 007 but he met my expectations in Skyfall but this time, it wasn't as good as I hoped.
I have to say I was impressed by Christoph Waltz as Blofeld. He was fantastic job at giving us a villain who thinks himself superior to his adversary and does not tolerate being out smarted. I would very much love to see Waltz return to the role so long as the plot is right.
I did enjoy Andrew Scott as Max Denbigh, I liked how he did a great job at being a smug character who has all the power in his hands and knows it. That said, it would have been nice to have seen him as the main villain rather than sharing the spot light with Blofeld (an issue I will discuss later).
-Cinimatography
Before I start, I'm not an expert on this topic but I thought the film work was spectacular. I find this is often done well in Bond movies (with some exceptions obviously). I'm not sure how to properly describe it but everything looked great, I really loved the long shots of the scenery, the desert looked beautiful in the shots shown.
What Didn't Work:
- The Plot
I found this part to be confusing to be honest, almost like there were two plots going on. First Bond is trying to find out what's going on with a new program being introduced that would compromise the privacy of the whole world but then there's this plot to stop Blofeld, who is the mastermind behind the organization and has been orchestrating this whole thing. To be honest, the writiers should have taken a page out of Thunderball, one of my favourite of the Sean Connery movies. In that Blofeld is the villain but he isn't the main villain, that's reserved for his No. 2, Emilio Largo. What could have been done (if they wanted Blofeld in the movie) is have Blofeld act as the man in the shadows like in Thunderball while having Max Denbigh be the one Bond is always at odds with, not Bond chasing Blofeld and M and Q dealing with Denbigh. Or, just make Blofeld or Denigh the main villain.
-Chemistry with Bond and love interest
This part felt flat to me. Neither Bond nor Dr. Madeleine Swann seem actually interesting. I got really annoyed during the scene where Swann wants to stay behind. That scene felt poorly paced and awkward. This aspect in the movie felt, as a whole, to be just shoe horned in at the last minute because they wanted Bond to have a love interest this time since there wasn't much of one in Skyfall.
-Music
Again not an expert in this area so it's gonna be short. Not as energetic as in the past. The opening song Writing on the Wall just felt depressing and the score not the greatest but it did have those moments where it worked well so it wasn't all bad.
Closing Remarks
Overall, not my favourite Bond movie. The disjointed plot and the lack-luster chemistry and music make it difficult to enjoy. Despite this, I would be still willing to watch it because of the spectacular scenery and the actual charaters like M, Q, and Blofeld. I would still say see it if you're a Bond fan as it still comes with all the usual fixin's and you can still make scene of what's going on despite the battle-of-the-two-plots.
References
"SPECTRE Teaser Poster." James Bond 007. Accessed November 18, 2015. http://www.007.com/spectre-teaser-poster/.
