Ever since I was young, I have always enjoyed the Bond movies. In 2006 when Daniel Craig was introduced with “Casino Royale,” I became a big fan of the direction the franchise was heading. Long gone were the days of ridiculous gadgets and over the top villains who wanted to destroy the world with laser beams. They were instead replaced with a grittier version of Bond, with the focus mainly on him as an assassin trying to take out his targets. The new spin also made Bond seem more human by showing him getting beat up during fights, and actually falling in love with a woman by the end of his first entry.
For the last few movies, I really enjoyed this change. Even if “Quantum of Solace” was a disappointment with a weak villain and a dull story, it still offered some cool action scenes and showed that Daniel Craig’s great intro was not a fluke.
By far my favorite was 2012’s “Skyfall.” Not only was Sam Mendes’ direction beautiful, but it offered the most personal story for Bond by forcing him to reflect on his rough upbringing and having to face a truly menacing villain that attacked people he cared for. This is by far my favorite Bond movie to date and it will be a tough one to replace.
Nevertheless, I was really excited for “Spectre” after I saw the first trailer for it. It brought the same director from “Skyfall” back, and it seemed to carry on the more personal themes for Bond as well.
In the first few minutes of “Spectre,” I was really excited for what was coming. Not only was the movie beautiful as 007 chased a man through the streets of Mexico during a Day of the Dead celebration, but it was very exciting as it climaxed with a tense fight scene in a helicopter. This is by far the best part of the movie and I wish it lasted longer than just a few scenes.
Unfortunately, from there the movie seemed to decline. The story is easy to follow as Bond is trying to stop an evil organization that is connected to his last few villains. Still, it takes so long to get going, that even when it finally kicks in during the final act and becomes the movie the trailer promised, I had already checked out and was just waiting for the next big action scenes to happen. So, when Wendy Ide from TheWarp states “All about the set pieces. Character development and dialogue both come in a distant joint second place.” I have to unfortunately agree. This movie is two and a half hours, and with a boring subplot about national security that just seems to be there to give the other characters something to do, it really makes this movie drag on too long. And even though the actors gave great performances, especially Christoph Waltz as the main villain, the characters were very underwritten and were not interesting at all. Another big problem I had with the movie was the forced love story between Bond and the new Bond Girl in the series. With barely any chemistry between them and not enough time on screen together, it seems really awkward when they start professing their love for each other and throws the movie even further off course.
If you are thinking, “well it is a James Bond movie, what were you expecting?” That’s a very good question. While I’m going in there to see James Bond be awesome and fight people in crashing helicopters, it is been great watching a story I find really interesting and characters I care about. After seeing this to varying degrees in the past three movies, especially “Skyfall,” it just feels disappointing.
Many critics are saying the director was going for a more traditional Bond and sticking to the established formula. While that is fine and I do not mind the formula, it does not mix well when you are trying to go for the more personal Bond angle that has been shown in the past few movies.
Having said all that, although the story is not great, if you are going to see this purely as an action movie, you will not be disappointed. I agree with Stephen Dalton from Hollywood Reporter who stated, “In pure action adventure terms, Spectre delivers the goods” because it truly does. From Bond chasing people in a plane, to shooting helicopters out of the sky with a pistol, the action sequences are over the top and a lot of fun. They really put a lot of work into these sequences and it pays off by being the bright spots of the movie.
There are a lot of rumors going around as to whether or not Daniel Craig will be returning for another 007 movie. Although he has signed on for one more, his latest interview with Time Out showed he is ready to hang up the tux and walk away from the franchise for good, especially with statements like “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.”
The article went on to talk about how many would be confused seeing that most actors would kill to have this job, but after nine years of being locked into the contract and being able to do little else, it’s clear that it’s taking its toll. Craig even went so far as to state “I don’t give a f***” when asked who he thinks the next Bond should be, so it is clear he wants out.
Personally, I would love to see him in just one more, given he is my favorite Bond, but mostly to see him go out on a better note than this movie. As far as the Craig/Bond franchise goes, in a list of best to worst, my order would be:
1. “Skyfall”
2. “Casino Royale”
3. “Spectre”
4. “Quantum of Solace”
