It was just over a decade ago when Daniel Craig became the
sixth actor to take on the role of James Bond for Eon Productions. But, just
like with pretty much any actor or actress who takes on a major role in a comic
book film, Craig’s casting led to a ton of backlash by fans of the franchise.
Simply put, many believed that the 5’10’’ blond-haired Englishman did not fit
the ‘tall, dark’ description of the character both described in Ian Fleming’s
original novels and portrayed by Craig’s predecessors in the role. But,
thankfully, Craig managed to prove his biggest critics wrong with his first
film, 2006’s ‘Casino Royale’, which served as a reboot of the franchise after
the critically bashed ‘Die Another Day’. Instead of the campy gadget-filled
escapades of the franchise’s older days, ‘Casino Royale’ took on a much edgier
and grounded route while Craig portrayed Bond as an emotionally driven and more
vulnerable character, again compared to his predecessors. The end result was
simply perfection as far as the franchise was concerned… and then his second
Bond film, 2008’s ‘Quantum of Solace’, ending up being a major disappointment.
It may have had something to do with the Writer’s Strike that was going on at
the time but even then the film was extremely bland as far as Bond films went.
Thankfully, Craig’s run as Bond rebounded with 2012’s ‘Skyfall’. Under the
excellent and classy direction of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, the film
served as both a fitting commemoration of the franchise as it celebrated its 50th
anniversary and another ‘re-invention’ of the franchise in this modern
technological world.
Three years later, Craig, Mendes, and the new cast of
primary Bond allies that were introduced in ‘Skyfall’, are back for the
franchise’s 24th installment, and Craig’s fourth official Bond film,
‘Spectre’. As the title suggests, this film re-introduces the franchise’s
classic criminal organization of the same name; ‘Special Executive for
Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion’ (disclaimer: this
acronym is not used in the film). SPECTRE played a major part in the Sean
Connery/George Lazenby era of the franchise but had been absent from the
franchise since its last appearance in 1971’s ‘Diamonds are Forever’. This was
mainly due to copyright issues that had initially spawned from legal disputes
between Ian Fleming and ‘Thunderball’ co-writer Kevin McClory, which subsequently
affected Eon Productions for more than four decades. MGM finally managed to get
the rights back to SPECTRE in 2013 and immediately implemented the organization
into ‘Bond 24’. But now the question is how Mendes’ second Bond film turned
out. Well, despite what the rather low 62% rating on RT may suggest, ‘Spectre’
is another rock solid entry of this long-running franchise. Now while I don’t
want to make any major comparisons to ‘Skyfall’, I will admit that this film
can be rather predictable in terms of the writing. But even with that said,
this is still very much a Sam Mendes directed Bond film that manages to be a
well-crafted and classy spy thriller in almost every way.
After a unauthorized mission in Mexico City ordered by the
previous M before her death (Judi Dench makes a brief video message cameo) in
which he kills an assassin by the name of Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona),
MI6 Agent 007 James Bond (Daniel Craig) is taken off field duty by his boss,
the new M (Ralph Fiennes), who is in the middle of dealing with the recent
merger between MI5 and MI6 headed by Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott) that could end
up resulting in the shuttering of the ‘00’ section. Meanwhile, against orders, Bond
begins an investigation into the mysterious organization known as Spectre that
Sciarra was a member of. His probing soon leads to him crossing paths once
again with an old foe, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), as Bond learns that
White, whose organization Quantum is revealed to have been a subsidiary of
Spectre, has a daughter named Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) who, like him, is
being pursued by the organization. Bond finds Madeleine and the two, with the
help of Bond’s MI6 allies Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris),
venture off in order to uncover the mysterious plans of Spectre. This ultimately
leads Bond into having to deal with a ‘ghost from his past’ in the form of
Spectre’s mysterious leader, Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), who as it
turns out has a very special connection with Bond.
As far as the plot is concerned, ‘Spectre’ is admittedly
much more predictable than its immediate predecessor. A certain reveal about
the main villain is pretty darn obvious given both the history of the franchise
and the fact that pretty much everyone on the internet predicted it just like
they did with Khan in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’. Not only that, but one of the
main plot-points in the film about a new intelligence system reminded me of, of
all things, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. In other words, this film is
a much more straight-forward entry in the franchise compared to ‘Skyfall’. But
at the end of the day, I’m totally fine with that. Even with some of the
story’s shortcomings, Sam Mendes’ direction is just as excellent as it was in
his previous Bond film. The action sequences are once again superb, from the
film’s terrific pre-credits sequence that takes place in Mexico City during the
‘Day of the Dead’ festivities to the intense hand-to-hand fight scene on a
train between Bond and Spectre operative Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista in a short but
definitely memorable henchman role). Sadly Roger Deakins didn’t return to do the
cinematography this time but ‘Interstellar’s Hoyte van Hoytema is a
more-than-suitable replacement. And despite what I said before about the
writing’s predictability, one thing that I did really love about this film’s
story was how it managed to connect certain events and characters from all of Craig’s
previous Bond films and tie them all to Spectre. And just like how ‘Skyfall’
focused on Judi Dench’s M dealing with a ghost from her past, this film’s plot
sees Bond’s past coming back to haunt him.
Four films in, what more can be said about Daniel Craig as
Bond? He’s just as excellent as he’s been in his last three Bond films. But
with that said, one of the best things about Craig’s performances in the
Mendes-directed films in particular is that he’s been able to have the chance
to bring back the character’s sense of wit that was rather absent from his
first two Bond films. And believe me when I say that this film definitely
delivers in terms of its witty dialogue; after all, no Bond film is complete is
without a few highly quotable lines. As the main villain, Christoph Waltz
admittedly isn’t in the film that much to be as memorable as Javier Bardem was
as Silva in ‘Skyfall’ but does manage to bring the right amount of diabolical
charm and intimidation required for the role whenever he does appear onscreen.
And without giving anything away, Waltz was a perfect choice for this role. As
far as the film’s ‘Bond Girls’ are concerned, Monica Bellucci, who plays Lucia,
the widow of the assassin that Bond killed in the opening, really only has a
‘cameo role’ in the film as she appears in only two scenes near the beginning.
But as for the film’s main leading lady, Lea Seydoux is arguably the film’s
biggest standout. Dare I say she even outshines Craig? Madeleine Swann might
not be a vengeful spy like Bond but she’s still a very strong-willed woman
reminiscent of classic Bond girls like Natalya Simonova and Tracy Bond. And of
course, all of the returning regulars from ‘Skyfall’ are great as well, from Q
(Ben Whishaw continues to be a worthy successor to the great Desmond Lleweyn)
to Moneypenny (Naomie Harris continues to have solid flirtatious chemistry with
Craig).
I don’t want this to seem like I’m pointing any fingers at
anybody but I have the feeling that the rather low RT score for this film was
partially due to certain critics negatively comparing this film to ‘Skyfall’,
which in my opinion is a rather unfair thing to do. I don’t believe that Bond
films should be compared to each other as if they were just sequels, save for
the franchise’s only true sequel to date, ‘Quantum of Solace’, because they are
all their own separate stories that just so happen to be a part of the same
franchise. And even though ‘Skyfall’ has ended up becoming my favorite Bond
film to date, I didn’t go into this film expecting it to be ‘better’ than its
predecessor. And ultimately while I do feel that ‘Skyfall’ is still the better
film, I don’t hold that against ‘Spectre’. It’s rumored that this may be Daniel
Craig’s last Bond film and if that ends up being the case, then he does manage
to end his tenure as Bond on a much better note than some of his predecessors
like Pierce Brosnan or Roger Moore. Sure, ‘Spectre’ can be rather predictable
in terms of its plot, namely a reveal that the internet figured out months
beforehand, but that doesn’t mean it is, to quote a review by someone who won’t
be named, ‘the worst Bond film in 30 years’. Whereas ‘Skyfall’ was a
reawakening for the Bond franchise in which Bond dealt with the possibility of
being obsolete in this modern world, ‘Spectre’ is very much a tribute to the
classic Bond films of yesteryear.
Rating: 4.5/5
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