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Spectre
I found 44 positive and mixed critical reviews featured on metacritic as of today. There are only 4 negative. These are professional critics, something for which I am not. Of course I haven’t read all these reviews and this exercise is not a name and shame. I’m more concerned with sharing my personal opinion regarding this particular film. This particular film, Spectre, in my personal opinion, was overwhelmingly elevated from mediocre to good or above.
What does a film have to do to be good or great? Looking back at the films I regard as great it is not one thing that sets them apart. It’s highly complicated. You can have a great story, great actors and a great director and for some reason it doesn’t work. On the other hand, the story may be limited, yet the visuals, the characters and direction mesh to make something brilliant. I think nothing is certain, yet (without working in the industry) I feel logically the story and script are key to success.
That’s what I want to discuss, this segment will contain spoilers. Films like these are for our entertainment, entertainment is the overriding factor, going through a film with a fine tooth comb regardless of the quality, you are bound to find holes. Believe me, I have leniency regarding minor plot holes and the aberrant behavior of certain characters. I look at the whole product rather than the pieces of it.
This is how Spectre plays out in my mind, having only seen it once and looking at it wholly from this perspective. Bond, on post mortem instruction from M (Judy Dench’s character) finds himself in Mexico at the day of the dead festival with an unknown woman. He walks through the streets in a lovely panning/following shot and then casually leaves the woman, jumping out the window, walking along the building where he sets up his weapon and fires at a target in an adjacent building. He shoots an explosive device, rather than the target, the whole building collapses and somehow the target survives. He follows the target, fights him, fights him in a helicopter killing him and then escapes in a helicopter leaving the unknown woman in her room. This is the best part of Spectre and I didn’t think it was particularly engaging after the building explosion.
Following this he goes to his victims funeral, seduces the victim’s wife who tells him of a secret criminal organization of the highest order that her husband was a member of. He then boldly enters the organization using the ring of the deceased member. He is let in. He is let in using a deceased members ring. His face, his fingerprints, his I.D is not a barrier for Bond who enters this secret meeting that is rarely held. After some exposition surrounding the criminal organization called Spectre, which apparently has links everywhere, he is identified by the main villain (Christopher Waltz) and then escapes by jumping through a glass window. He is pursued by a sub villain on an empty street in a supercar. This car chase is so listless, there is about as much tension as there are others cars. I don’t understand, here was a chance for a major car action sequence, ala Bourne films, Goldeneye tank chase and instead we watch two supercars speeding through empty streets for what felt like 5 minutes with no action. What did they run out of money? They can’t use that excuse, this is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Bond escapes. Follows some leads. A few people die. Everything is very slowly paced and lackluster. Bond teams up with a female doctor. She is the daughter of one of the ex Spectre Member who absconded and ultimately was murdered by Spectre. They find a map to a mysterious location, presumably the headquarters of Spectre. They both travel there. Bond and the doctor. Two people heading to the headquarters of the world’s largest secret criminal organization. They have no plan. Well what happens? They get caught. Bond is tortured and it is revealed Christopher Waltz knew Bond as a child. Apparently Bond lived with him and his father. Waltz became jealous of his father’s attention on Bond and killed his father. So this man has had a personal vendetta against Bond and has been pulling the strings regarding the death of his loved ones from the other Daniel Craig films. Waltz is responsible for all Bonds suffering. After this exposition and this so called character development, which is very hard to swallow mind you, Bond escapes. Yes he does it again. With absolutely no plan, he wings it, throws his watch which is a grenade, shoots a gas line and then escapes in another listless action sequence with big explosions that somehow destroy the headquarters.
Not much else happens, we are still travelling at a slow pace here. At the end, Waltz has somehow managed to capture the female doctor who is now is in love with Bond, without Bond revealing anything emotionally personal about himself the entire film. She must be attracted to the mystery of him. Waltz uses her as a trap, offering Bond a choice. Save her and die or save yourself and let her die. So Bond somehow frees her and they both flee to safety while another building explodes with absolutely no tension of smarts. This genius Waltz, who has orchestrated all the pain and suffering and death in Bonds life, who has a personal vendetta against him since his early childhood, has cocked up another opportunity, as he did by letting Bond escape twice before. Bond then runs him down in a boat and arrests him.
Everyone’s fine and the problem is solved. We now have a re-worked villain in Waltz who is Bonds arch nemeses for the next movie. Was the whole purpose of this movie to set up a villain in the Bond universe. I see the studio executives shaking their heads. Why did everything have to end so clean and tidy. Why does Bond have to forgo any intelligence and planning in his adventure. I thought he was more than a gun for hire with gadgets. Wasn’t he more in the previous Craig films? He was caught twice stupidly, escaped with blind luck and aid from incompetent hence men (aid from an incompetent script), fell in love with without any on screen chemistry or romance and saved the day in a tediously long film. Such a long run time for how little actually happens. Unfortunately Craig’s Bond has had two hits and two misses. Craig himself voiced his displeasure regarding continuing to play Bond. What went wrong, well it is complicated. They had a good director, they had good actors and a great budget. Looking at it, the script is what went wrong initially. Then the execution. I find it hard to believe, with what I’ve detailed, why this film got overwhelmingly positive reviews. Mediocre is not good. It should never be good but with the reviews it got and the money it made who’s challenging this. I think there are people on here that are and that’s a start.
I found 44 positive and mixed critical reviews featured on metacritic as of today. There are only 4 negative. These are professional critics, something for which I am not. Of course I haven’t read all these reviews and this exercise is not a name and shame. I’m more concerned with sharing my personal opinion regarding this particular film. This particular film, Spectre, in my personal opinion, was overwhelmingly elevated from mediocre to good or above.
What does a film have to do to be good or great? Looking back at the films I regard as great it is not one thing that sets them apart. It’s highly complicated. You can have a great story, great actors and a great director and for some reason it doesn’t work. On the other hand, the story may be limited, yet the visuals, the characters and direction mesh to make something brilliant. I think nothing is certain, yet (without working in the industry) I feel logically the story and script are key to success.
That’s what I want to discuss, this segment will contain spoilers. Films like these are for our entertainment, entertainment is the overriding factor, going through a film with a fine tooth comb regardless of the quality, you are bound to find holes. Believe me, I have leniency regarding minor plot holes and the aberrant behavior of certain characters. I look at the whole product rather than the pieces of it.
This is how Spectre plays out in my mind, having only seen it once and looking at it wholly from this perspective. Bond, on post mortem instruction from M (Judy Dench’s character) finds himself in Mexico at the day of the dead festival with an unknown woman. He walks through the streets in a lovely panning/following shot and then casually leaves the woman, jumping out the window, walking along the building where he sets up his weapon and fires at a target in an adjacent building. He shoots an explosive device, rather than the target, the whole building collapses and somehow the target survives. He follows the target, fights him, fights him in a helicopter killing him and then escapes in a helicopter leaving the unknown woman in her room. This is the best part of Spectre and I didn’t think it was particularly engaging after the building explosion.
Following this he goes to his victims funeral, seduces the victim’s wife who tells him of a secret criminal organization of the highest order that her husband was a member of. He then boldly enters the organization using the ring of the deceased member. He is let in. He is let in using a deceased members ring. His face, his fingerprints, his I.D is not a barrier for Bond who enters this secret meeting that is rarely held. After some exposition surrounding the criminal organization called Spectre, which apparently has links everywhere, he is identified by the main villain (Christopher Waltz) and then escapes by jumping through a glass window. He is pursued by a sub villain on an empty street in a supercar. This car chase is so listless, there is about as much tension as there are others cars. I don’t understand, here was a chance for a major car action sequence, ala Bourne films, Goldeneye tank chase and instead we watch two supercars speeding through empty streets for what felt like 5 minutes with no action. What did they run out of money? They can’t use that excuse, this is one of the most expensive films ever made.
Bond escapes. Follows some leads. A few people die. Everything is very slowly paced and lackluster. Bond teams up with a female doctor. She is the daughter of one of the ex Spectre Member who absconded and ultimately was murdered by Spectre. They find a map to a mysterious location, presumably the headquarters of Spectre. They both travel there. Bond and the doctor. Two people heading to the headquarters of the world’s largest secret criminal organization. They have no plan. Well what happens? They get caught. Bond is tortured and it is revealed Christopher Waltz knew Bond as a child. Apparently Bond lived with him and his father. Waltz became jealous of his father’s attention on Bond and killed his father. So this man has had a personal vendetta against Bond and has been pulling the strings regarding the death of his loved ones from the other Daniel Craig films. Waltz is responsible for all Bonds suffering. After this exposition and this so called character development, which is very hard to swallow mind you, Bond escapes. Yes he does it again. With absolutely no plan, he wings it, throws his watch which is a grenade, shoots a gas line and then escapes in another listless action sequence with big explosions that somehow destroy the headquarters.
Not much else happens, we are still travelling at a slow pace here. At the end, Waltz has somehow managed to capture the female doctor who is now is in love with Bond, without Bond revealing anything emotionally personal about himself the entire film. She must be attracted to the mystery of him. Waltz uses her as a trap, offering Bond a choice. Save her and die or save yourself and let her die. So Bond somehow frees her and they both flee to safety while another building explodes with absolutely no tension of smarts. This genius Waltz, who has orchestrated all the pain and suffering and death in Bonds life, who has a personal vendetta against him since his early childhood, has cocked up another opportunity, as he did by letting Bond escape twice before. Bond then runs him down in a boat and arrests him.
Everyone’s fine and the problem is solved. We now have a re-worked villain in Waltz who is Bonds arch nemeses for the next movie. Was the whole purpose of this movie to set up a villain in the Bond universe. I see the studio executives shaking their heads. Why did everything have to end so clean and tidy. Why does Bond have to forgo any intelligence and planning in his adventure. I thought he was more than a gun for hire with gadgets. Wasn’t he more in the previous Craig films? He was caught twice stupidly, escaped with blind luck and aid from incompetent hence men (aid from an incompetent script), fell in love with without any on screen chemistry or romance and saved the day in a tediously long film. Such a long run time for how little actually happens. Unfortunately Craig’s Bond has had two hits and two misses. Craig himself voiced his displeasure regarding continuing to play Bond. What went wrong, well it is complicated. They had a good director, they had good actors and a great budget. Looking at it, the script is what went wrong initially. Then the execution. I find it hard to believe, with what I’ve detailed, why this film got overwhelmingly positive reviews. Mediocre is not good. It should never be good but with the reviews it got and the money it made who’s challenging this. I think there are people on here that are and that’s a start.
Last edited by Larry; 08-25-16 at 03:49 AM.
