"Not every man would like to be James Bond, but every boy would." Roger Ebert opened his excellent Great Movies essay on Goldfinger (the third James Bond film) with this phrase. I can personally attest that it's true!
I was introduced to 007's adventures when I was around seven years old, when my dad brought home a James Bond VHS box set. The set contained all of Sean Connery's Bond outings (except for Never Say Never Again, Connery's independent 1983 Bond film), along with George Lazenby's sole 007 film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. My dad and I then set out on a journey to watch each movie in one long marathon.
My Bond love started during that marathon. I didn't fully understand all of the movies then (I'm looking at you, From Russia With Love), but I did know that I wanted to be 007. After all, this guy got to travel all over the world. He got all kinds of cool toys to play with. Pretty girls hung on his every word. In other words, James Bond had everything I wanted.
I don't idolize Bond quite as much as I once did. I still love Bond flicks, though, and I've seen them all! There are some Bond movies that I haven't liked (Quantum Of Solace, for instance), but no franchise is perfect. I'm a Bond fanboy, and I will be until the day I die!
I absolutely loved Skyfall; I thought it was the best 007 flick I'd seen in a long time. So, when I heard that Sam Mendes, the film's director, would be returning to direct Spectre, I was excited! I walked into the theater filled with anticipation. Was I satisfied? Well... let's talk about it!
Spectre begins in Mexico City, as 007 carries out an mission for his deceased former boss, the old M (Judi Dench). After killing off assassin Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona), Bond recovers a ring from Sciarra's body, a ring with an octopus symbol on it. After Sciarra's funeral, Marco's widow (Monica Bellucci) tells 007 that the symbol is the mascot for SPECTRE, a terrorist organization that all (and I do mean ALL) of Bond's former villains have been members of. Bond infiltrates one of SPECTRE's secret meetings, where he is immediately detected by the organization's boss (Christoph Waltz). The boss calls Bond out and sets the brawny assassin Mr. Minx (Dave Bautista) on his trail. Meanwhile, 007, with the help of Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), sets out to kill the head of SPECTRE.
The script carries the vibe of a classic 1960s Bond film, from the crazy-beautiful pre-credits sequence, to the SPECTRE meeting Bond infiltrates, to the cocky, over-the-top villain. In fact, the script is at its best when it's sticking close to that classic Bond style. When it tries to get more current, things go out of whack. The scenes that are cool are REALLY cool, but there are long, boring stretches between them.
The acting is so-so across the board, and I must say that I'm disappointed in Daniel Craig. He seems like he's sleepwalking through the movie. He's not bad, per se, but one can sense that he's bored with Bond. Unfortunately, Christoph Waltz doesn't do much better as the villain. He's only in about one-fifth of the movie, and he's only really good in one scene (the meeting). He spends the rest of the film shifting between two extremes: chewing up the scenery and phoning it in. Lea Seydoux makes like Craig and sleepwalks through her role. The only actor who is consistently good is Dave Bautista, but he's hardly in the movie at all.
The movie is great on a technical level, though. Special kudos to the cinematographer, editor, and stunt coordinators, who all brought their A-game. In fact, the movie is at its best when those elements take center stage; I'm thinking of moments like the Mexico City sequence and the train-fight sequence between Bautista and Craig. In fact, the train fight may be my favorite part of Spectre. It was nice to see a classic hand-to-hand fight in a movie again!
Unfortunately, the fight scene was somewhat ruined in the latter half by the music. Thomas Newman's score is... well, it's dull. It's so dull, in fact, that there's not much to say about it beyond that. Sam Smith's theme song wasn't boring, though. In fact, I like "Writings On The Wall" just fine as a stand-alone song. I just didn't like it as a Bond theme. It was a big letdown after Adele's amazing theme for Skyfall.
I really wish I had more good things to say about Spectre! It had a lot of the elements that I love in other Bond films, but they didn't really mesh this time. It's sort of like when you reheat leftovers; something's lost in the translation from when it was fresh the night before to the the freshly microwaved meal you have for lunch the next day. That's pretty much the way I feel about Spectre. Should you see it? Yes. But wait until it comes out on DVD.
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