SPECTRE Review, James Bond’s 24th film (and Daniel Craig’s 4th as the iconic leading man) SIZZLED, when it could’ve exploded!

The organization lead by Obenhauser (Christoph Waltz) stands for:
Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion

In my opinion, SPECTRE had plenty of material to work with, and wasted the potential it could’ve explored. Rather than making SPECTRE a mysterious group of villains, it poorly connected the previous (Daniel Craig) villains in a way to make it look like this was the plan all along. Dr. Evil (who is looselyAustin Powers had a better round table of villains…

THE COMPLICATED PLOT:

The film begins with Bond hunting down Marco Sciarra on The Day Of The Dead in Mexico,and of course killing him, which results in him being forced to resign from the “Double-O” program, seeing as he wasn’t technically on a mission. A cryptic message from former M (Judy Dench) recorded before her death sent Bond there, but he can’t trust those in the secret service until he finds out how deep the conspiracy goes. This rogue path leads him to Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) who tells Bond what he needs to know about SPECTRE in exchange for the protecting his daughter (Léa Seydoux). A muscle man, without much of voice Hinx (Dave Bautista), who just climbed the chain of command in the organization SPECTRE, but seems to still be just that – a muscle man. He never speaks, and you don’t learn much about him at all, besides the fact that he popped his predecessor’s eyes out with his thumbs… This constant search leads Bond to SPECTRE – an organization that secretly controls most of the worlds business, one that as well managed to manipulate terrorism & fear to gain George Orwell’s worst nightmare: global surveillance under one control. And guess who’s behind it? Obenhauser (Christoph Waltz).

THE SECOND TAKE REVIEW:

SPECTRE is an over-complicated action-filled mess that attempts to connect the previous Daniel Craig James Bond films by posting the printed faces of every villain & lover that has died (because of Bond) in the basement cellars of the condemned MI-6. Yeah it’s that lame. So many weird backwards plot twists, family connections that don’t make sense, irrational decisions, plus villains that didn’t speak (Dave Bautista as Hinx) or spoke too much (Christoph Waltz as Blofeld). The film spent too much time following James Bond from location to location, but forgot to implement what SPECTRE is in the James Bond lore – an organization of villains that controls and manipulates the world through counter-intelligence, terrorism and extortion, all for revenge.

SPECTRE: Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion

Yes in the end you are made aware that Obenhauser’s motive was revenge on James Bond the whole time. Although I was hoping to see a league of villains sitting at the SPECTRE secret meeting table!

(Source ComingSoon.net)

THE WASTER CHARACTERS:

MR. HINX

Dave Bautista’s Hinx had the potential to be a franchise-loved villains like Jaws or Oddjob. But yet, Hinx’s character was never (actually) introduced, explained or developed. He was simply a non-speaking large goon, who seemed to be in charge of other goons that worked for SPECTRE. That’s all.

LUCIA SCIARRA

Monica Belluci played the recently widowed Lucia Sciarra, whose husband had been drop kicked out of a helicopter by Bond earlier that day. Easily the least memorable Bond Girl yet.

MR. WHITE

A character that had been teased throughout the Daniel Craig Bond films, and is finally revealed as a former SPECTRE member who is now dying

THE WASTED HELICOPTERS:

For some reason James Bond hates helicopters apparently, because he single-handedly destroyed 3 of them, and almost another. As well, he completely rendered a small airplane useless after going head to head with 3 S.U.V.’s and some trees…

THE THEME SONG:

Let’s start off with one of the most enjoyable & unique parts about the Bond series: the opening title sequence and the Theme song – that is meant to define the movie. They chose Sam Smith, who sang The Writing’s On The Wall

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The latest instalment in the long-running James Bond franchise didn’t live up to the hype of the franchise it has desperately been trying to reboot with Daniel Craig and even he, doesn’t want to be Bond anymore.

During an interview, he was asked

“Can you imagine doing another Bond movie?”

“Now? I’d rather break this glass and slash my wrists. No, not at the moment. Not at all. That’s fine. I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.” (Source CNN.com)

It’s hard to blame him, considering he’s been portraying James Bond for nearly a decade when he began in Casino Royale (2006). Actors want to move onto different roles, and it’s understandable, especially given how physically demanding playing James Bond has become.

Yet after watching SPECTRE, my perspective on Daniel Craig’s James Bond is that he truly is finished – he found the right woman to settle down with, leave it all behind and at the moment the “double o” program (007 included) has been left in ruins, waiting to rebuild. But I have never truly been sold on Daniel Craig as Bond, even from the beginning, he can of course perform the physical scenes, but the more emotional ones, he lacks the material, in my opinion. I’ve enjoyed Craig’s work in other films, but Bond – he isn’t, for me at least. So SPECTRE, the dismal waste of potential it was, is a fitting end for the actor as the Martini drinking spy.

What are your thoughts on my SPECTRE review? Whose your favourite James Bond? Any thoughts on Daniel Craig’s performance?

Let us know below!

11/12/2015 – 12:09 am

by James