MovieChat Forums > Spectre (2015) Discussion > Not a Bond fan, I liked it mostly.

Not a Bond fan, I liked it mostly.

posted 8 years ago by just_in_case
2 replies | jump to latest

I skipped out on this until this weekend because I'd heard it was very contrived and generally kind of bad. I have mixed feeling on it but I liked it over all.

To be honest I'm not a Bond fan, maybe because I didn't really grow up in the Pre-Pierce Brosnan Bond era so all those felt like bunch yawner 70's boat chase scene movies. The Pierce movies were ok, but not great. I couldn't even tell you which was which.

Conceptually I always dug the new take on bond. That 00's are more government assassin's than the traditional playboy spy stuff. I liked that nobody likes James Bond. That he's a brute and a weapon so part of his story is overcoming that stigma. I like that Craig is sort of a enclosed story not really in continuity with the mythic Bond continuity.

So after hearing that spectre ties all the CD films to together I decided to sit down and watch them all in a row this weekend to get full perspective. I hadn't watched them in so long I only vaguely remembered what any of them are about.

Casino Royale - 8/10 - I like poker so gets a small pass. Felix is awesome and needs his own movie. losses points for an ending that drags on forever.
Quatum of Solace - 7/10 - Bad guys weren't super interesting - YAY Felix! Good god his sidekick is hot and supercool and they never sleep together which is Interesting there's a comment he makes about her sleeping around and it creates this odd dynamic between them. I like the revenge full circle stuff.
Skyfall - 9/10 - Very tight interesting film. I love seeing antagonists that are mirrors of the hero and arguably better and also sympathetic, yeah its because he's crazy but he honestly believes hes in the right. I dug that.

Anyway all that in retrospect Spectre felt like a final return the classic world ending supervillain story of the old bond. They even through in the evil cat and the evil eye thing. I enjoyed the vast majority of the film. It's corny but weirdly works because through the movies they do a good job of hinting at a larger syndicate at work and never just cleanly end the films. So yeah the door is always there.

There's a few things I really didn't like however.

1. The early film helicopter fight. The pilot spends the battle spinning the helo in circles for no particular reason. Then tries to fight bond, while flying. Land the damn thing! or put it in a stationary hover at least.

2. They should have let Skyfall remain an independent story. It steals some weight from that film and it's antagonist acting like Spectre was behind it. Makes no sense.

3. Bonds escape from the building was away too easy. "oh heres a net and a boat" whatever seemed lazy.

4. Again Bond takes down a Helo with a small caliber pistol. Yeah its possible, but they already noted in previous films his aim is not great. Hes a brute force close quarters guy and why didn't the Helo just lift up higher out of his range. It literally stays stationary just in range for him. I have to imagine any pilot would groan when watching those two scenes play out.

Overall I think its best to believe that the villain is using circumstantial evidence to draw connections and make Bond think he was behind it all. If you are forced to accept Spectre was behind everything then the series has all manner of plot holes.

7/10 I think this could have been tighter. If they were really trying to escalate these smaller Bond stories to a Larger old school world ending Bond storyline then they should have worked harder. This was fun but lazy effort.

I'm curious, did anyone notice that in this series, though Bond sleeps around he's distinctly actually trying to settle down and find love in every film? Most of the girls are genuine love interests and no throw away characters. I thought that was kind of weird.

[–] d-walsh4911 8 years ago

Solid review. I agree with about everything except for the helicopter fight, i liked it. As well for the ending when Bond shot the helicopter down, i was fine with suspending disbelief. I feel like Bond has always had a good shot and it's his thing to always be able to hit the target (although it's more of a tradition and less of an actual characteristic of Bond, i believe the whole gunbarrel sequences heavily imply that). Ibdo feel the ending felt a bit anticlimactic. I also feel Skyfall should have been a standalone completely. And that this movie should have taken place years after skyfall instead of within a year. Ummm, hmm, about the Bond girls. I actully disagree. I feel Craigs Bond has been goood at not falling for most of the girls. Most of them, he just uses to get to the next clue. But ever since Vesper, i've never seen Bond open up to any of the girls like he did with Vesper....other than Madelaine (whom he supposedly falls in love with in this movie). If you remember how angry he was after Vespers death, i don't feel like he's had that connection to any other Bond girl other than her so far (with the exception of madeline.) Anyways, good review, Craigs series is awesome. And while Spectre is different then it could have been, it's still a beautfiful movie.

[–] dbreckman-130-794160 8 years ago

You seem to be representative of your generation. You prefer your escapism on the dark and serious side (like BOURNE! And Christopher Nolan's BATMAN!) and you like the new TV/comic book approach to movie storytelling, which is to make everything more serialized and unified, part of a larger whole.

I guess I'm a product of MY generation -- someone who prefers his Bond flicks to be more rollicking and fun (but still smart, like GOLDFINGER and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE), and not directly connected to the films that preceded them.