Frank Smith
The technology is amazing, acting exceptionally good and absorbing.
We were gripping the edges of our seats in some scenes.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
11/09/22
Full Review
Jo & Co
Very enjoyable and was one of the best Bond movies we have seen for the first two thirds. Then it became very much as we have seen before. And it dragged. It was also very silly. There was no need for it at all. This was a clear case of "Less is More". We still give it four stars because it was excellent for the majority of the movie. Daniel Craig at his very best.
We missed it the first time around and glad we caught it at the reboot.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
11/09/22
Full Review
Eye C
The first that follows almost all of the canonical cliches, the only one that is missed is the card game, and also the beginning of the end, the ironic. A bit slow, also a canonical cliche, but I like it.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
04/28/24
Full Review
Fix F
Spectre isn't flat out bad, but it's not a strong entry either. It follows the reveal of Spectre from older Bond films, playing off nostalgia too strongly and too often. While the narrative threads of ‘the enemy taking over within' and ‘a global elite manipulating world events to gain power' are fine, believably grounded plots on their own, Spectre tries to juggle too much of it, resulting in convolution of the plot and a rather abrupt ending. As if that weren't bad enough, it copies its own parody – Austin Powers – and makes the villain Bond's legal brother, who was behind everything all along since the events of Casino Royale; like Agatha Harkness or something. I never had issue with the loose continuity of the Craig era films, but this attempt at making a Bond-verse MCU style, is just eye rolling. But when the plot is working, the potential can be seen. All that said, the action is solid most of the time (barring a slightly anemic car chase), Madeleine Swann is a very solid Bond girl and a decent blueprint of an actual strong female character. She's trained in combat somewhat, but carries her own baggage that makes her vulnerable and supports a believable romance. The ending is also a decent way to retire this iteration of Bond, even if it seems slightly out of character.
The acting has degraded significantly, partly due to the established characters of Skyfall not acting in consistency of how they were in that movie. Daniel Craig is looking aged and uninterested in what he's doing and that's reflected in his acting. Léa Seydoux is a highlight, really leaning into the material she's been given. Christoph Waltz is a good actor, but I'm not sure what he was going for in this role. Eccentric, I guess. Ben Whishaw loses any progress he made developing Q in Skyfall and more or less becomes just a generic guy in a chair with no wit and no spine. Naomie Harris is a little more consistent from Skyfall as Moneypenny and likable. Ralph Fiennes as the new M really seems weak willed and by the books compared to the rule breaker, win-by-playing-dirty, Mallory in Skyfall. It should be a crime to underuse Jesper Christensen as he steals the screen for the little time he gets of it. Finally, Dave Bautista is given nothing to work with as a Jaws clone. He gets no personality, no special trait, and no unique weapons. He's just ‘a burly dude' meant to play on the audience's nostalgia.
Special effects are mostly practical with a few CGI moments for things they couldn't do without it. And if memory serves, this has a record-breaking explosion in it. I especially enjoy the car chase Bond conducts from a plane, but the actual car chase earlier on is anemic at best. Fight choreography follows the standard fair gritty-environmental assisted beatings, and nobody appears to slow down or wait to be hit. In a word, serviceable, but probably nothing not already seen elsewhere.
At two hours and twenty-eight minutes, the movie is long and because of how much plot it's trying to cram in, the movie doesn't really drag until very close to the end. That being said, if they had stuck with a focused narrative plot instead of the mess they juggled, this movie could've been cut down to something shorter and more streamlined. There's nothing super rewatchable about this one either, but it's something that may be reached for once in awhile as opposed to not at all for other entries.
The soundtrack is more or less recycled from Skyfall, which is not a bad thing. Sam Smith's credit's theme is rather mid, even on its best day, which isn't surprising given how this guy relies on being a circus sideshow to stay relevant rather than anything resembling merit. Sound design itself is explosive and awesome as these Craig Bond films tend to reliably be. With a proper home sound system, it may even significantly standout.
Cinematography is beautiful, especially scenes in Austria looking almost ethereal. Can't help but feel that this padded out the already extreme run-time though and these scenes might have been better used for more cleanly fleshing out the story.
Spectre isn't as mediocre as Quantum of Solace, but it never reaches the heights of this Bond era like Casino Royale and Skyfall did. There're more than a few workable plots in here, had there been some narrative focus; and it could've been backed up by decent characters had they been utilized correctly. If nothing else, it would've been a more appropriate ending for Craig's Bond than say Die Another Day was for Pierce, but unfortunately… No Time To Die was green-lit to exist.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
04/12/24
Full Review
Jose Luis P
A boring, predictable, ridiculous movie and far from the soul of what was one of the best Jame Bond
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
03/31/24
Full Review
Adi 1
Spectre as a film should be much better than what it is. It has the ambition to be the most epic of the series, but its screenplay, storytelling and pacing let it down. The action is still well-choreographed, and it sets up no time to die well but overall turns out be an average venture.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/14/24
Full Review
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