SPECTRE: Bond 24

[LambertandHam]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Not necessarily a bad thing per se. The problem with the latter Moore flicks was that he was just TOO OLD. They would've been better with a younger actor though credit must be given, Moore did most of his stunt work throughout his Bond career.

I really liked Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, and Octo*****. A View to a Kill was comical.

[sportsdude]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Saw it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Is it as good as Casino Royale or Skyfall? Of course not, but it is definitely not Die Another Day. There are going to be a lot of mixed opinions on the movie. If you're a Bond fan, and you've seen all the movies then you're going to like it. If you just came into Bond with the Daniel Craig era, then it may not be for you.

It does not have the same grit as previous Daniel Craig movies. Spectre is probably the most campy of the Daniel Craig ones - but that's not bad. In fact, if you've paid any attention to Daniel Craig you know he's said multiple times he's not a fan of the gritty, dark James Bond that he's portrayed, and that he is more of a fan of the campy James Bond movies full of gadgets and ridiculous action. Craig is an executive producer on this movie, so you can see he finally gets his wish.

Massive spoilers:

Spoiler

The Good:

The opening scene was fantastic. First, opening with the classic Bond intro of the dots and walking across the screen etc, then the opening shot that followed Bond around, the helicopter scene, all great.

They continue to dig into Bond's past, showing a level of depth we really haven't seen before. Bringing Blofeld back was a nice touch, and despite the way the movie ended I don't think we've seen the last of him.

Bautista as a Hinx, the henchman, was awesome. Everything a classic Bond henchman should be - quiet and deadly. I don't think we've seen the last of him either.

The subtle references to previous Bond films. Not enough time to list them here, but it's a nice touch.

The gadgets! As much as I love gritty Bond and the lack of gadgets, it's also fun to see them. And they're back here. An ejector seat, exploding watch, flame-throwing car.

I really like Bond's little, for lack of a better word, team. Moneypenny, Q, M, Tanner. And they all get good screen time in this movie.

The Bad:
The movie felt a bit unfocused, which is unfortunate considering how tight Skyfall was. And both were directed by Mendes so I'm not sure what happened. Is it Craig as the executive producer? I don't know. The entire movie felt like it's two different Bond movies fighting each other. Just when you start to get a glimpse of gritty, dark Bond, then there's a scene with campy Bond.

Bond is deeply in love with the deceased Vesper Lynd, and it's referenced multiple times in the movie. Yet, he easily falls in love with Dr. Swann after a very short period together. Which is it?

Blofeld never truly felt threatening outside of the scene at his desert base. I kept waiting for a grander master plan to emerge and it just didn't. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe this is not the last we'll be seeing of Waltz' Blofeld, and I hope that's true because Waltz was under-utilized in this movie.

The struggle between M and C felt very contrived. It wasn't hard to see C as the bad guy right away even though the reveal came later. I honestly thought the script should've painted C as a sympathizer with M and his team, only to stab him in the back later on.

And a minor complaint - but the intro song from Sam Smith was not my cup of tea. It's a shame, too, consider Adele killed it on the Skyfall theme.

[Psyblast]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Spoiler

Blofeld never truly felt threatening outside of the scene at his desert base. I kept waiting for a grander master plan to emerge and it just didn't. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe this is not the last we'll be seeing of Waltz' Blofeld, and I hope that's true because Waltz was under-utilized in this movie.

Spoiler

I think you found my biggest problem with the movie. It felt like Blofeld had three, four scenes in the entire movie. His intro, the desert base, and the finale (two scenes if you want to split it up). In the old Bond movies with SPECTRE, it felt like there was always something more. Another twist, another swerve, another SPECTRE plot; it felt like they always had a contingency. That's why I was expecting an OHMSS-type ending when I saw it today; oh, Bond uncovers the conspiracy, foils it, saves the girl, catches the bad guy, and drives off in the vintage car.......only to have a SPECTRE assassin team catch him at the end and kill the girl. When that didn't happen, it felt...odd.

The lack of screen time for the movie's villain and the "happy" ending left me feeling unsatisfied.

[sportsdude]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Spoiler

I think you found my biggest problem with the movie. It felt like Blofeld had three, four scenes in the entire movie. His intro, the desert base, and the finale (two scenes if you want to split it up). In the old Bond movies with SPECTRE, it felt like there was always something more. Another twist, another swerve, another SPECTRE plot; it felt like they always had a contingency. That's why I was expecting an OHMSS-type ending when I saw it today; oh, Bond uncovers the conspiracy, foils it, saves the girl, catches the bad guy, and drives off in the vintage car.......only to have a SPECTRE assassin team catch him at the end and kill the girl. When that didn't happen, it felt...odd.

The lack of screen time for the movie's villain and the "happy" ending left me feeling unsatisfied.

Spoiler

I was expecting it too, I felt like I could see it coming in slow motion when it showed Bond and Swann in the car at the end - and then it didn't happen. The thing is, if they did that how pissed would people be that they just copied it straight from OHMSS? I'm not thrilled with the happy ending, but in that sense I'm also OK with them not ending it like OHMSS.

I left wanting more, because even though I enjoyed it, it could've been better. If the next entry does not include Blofeld, then all the setup in Spectre will have gone to waste.

[Leon]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Enjoyed the movie, but good gawd 2:30 is way too long for a movie like this. The gadgets were cool but not campy, and it was fun seeing a more "fun" Daniel Craig Bond even though scenes like

Spoiler

the train fight with Dave Bautista and how Bond basically gets his *** kicked, comes out victorious, and then immediately has sex with Swann comes off as a bit goofy.

Also, Christoph Waltz was too underutilized. For all the hubub about him being the architect of all of Bond's pain (revealed in the trailers), it sure doesn't come off that way on-screen and it sure as hell didn't look like Bond was too bothered by it all. I really thought they would match Javier Bardem's great villain with Waltz's casting, but nope, he came off as a Marvel villain instead -- just there to give Bond a reason to do ****.

7/10

[AUChase]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

I absolutely loved it. The action was fun and the pacing was pretty good. The time went by really fast in the theater. It wasn't a long movie where I would catch myself looking at the clock.

I'm also glad I don't analyze Bond films like some of you dudes..

Waltz played the character about how I expected, considering his roles in movies involving Tarantino. I'm a big fan of him.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Big meh from me. I thought it was boring. Fight scene with Bautista was pretty good, great locations but didn't like the plot and they wasted Waltz. Maybe I'm spoiled because Sky fall was amazing.

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[CaptainZombie]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Just got back from it. I didn't think it was the horrendous Tomorrow Never Dies/Die Another Day "gimmicky" Bond, but it was....missing something. It didn't have the same edge the previous Craig films had. It didn't seem to have the darker undertone like Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall.

I saw SPECTRE over the weekend, and like you I left thinking that this was a good Bond movie but something is missing even after 2.5 hrs. Some of the editing seemed like it was off too throughout. They tried to tell way too much in this one movie than they should have.

Spoiler

What turned me off quite a bit was that they tried to hard with the relationship between Bond and Blofeld. They should of never of told this story that these guys were half brothers and that Blofelds drive with creating QUANTUM/SPECTRE was to take James down.

Bautista as Hinx was a great villian, very silent and deadly. I loved his introduction during the meeting, very cool.

[Blzer]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

My thoughts can be found in the movie impressions thread, but it's pretty much the same as others here have said about it.

[bhurst99]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Big meh from me. I thought it was boring. Fight scene with Bautista was pretty good, great locations but didn't like the plot and they wasted Waltz. Maybe I'm spoiled because Sky fall was amazing.

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I just saw it last night and was disappointed. The early action scenes were amazing but I thought it might have had the worst plot of any Bond move. I absolutely loved the last two Bond movies with Daniel Craig so it came as a bit of shock.

Waltz was completely wasted in the movie. There was absolutely zero character development there.

I'm going to be criticized for this but that movie also had the worst Bond opening music and Lea Seydoux is the ugliest Bond girl ever. LOL

[Blzer]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

I'm going to be criticized for this but that movie also had the worst Bond opening music and Lea Seydoux is the ugliest Bond girl ever. LOL

I think you will be as well. I won't give you those ones haha. Lea was also beautiful in Ghost Protocol, although she was a villain. Her eyes are just gorgeous. I love that shot of her behind the bed drapes as she does the little explosion gesture with her hand and sinks into the bed. I just didn't get the "love" angle is all.

Also, the Sam Smith song was pretty good. I actually liked it more than Adele's Skyfall song. It kind of dragged, though. The only one that didn't drag was Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name." That one is just so bad-*** in every single way.

[daflyboys]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Finally saw this. Underwhelmed, but then again we've been spoiled with the amazing stunts that can be pulled off as the craft progresses. First off, I thought Waltz was purely miscast for this movie. I thought Bond came off as too superhuman on 3 occasions:

Spoiler

1. Drills in the skull twice and keeps on tickin'

2. Somehow breaks out of the handcuffs like a magician trick prior to be led into the mega-building

3. Finding the girl in a building that size in under 3 minutes and getting away

Seemed like an overdone TV movie overall to me. However, line of the movie:

Spoiler

"Now we know what "C" stands for (pause.... allowing your dirty mind to fill in the wrong blank) .... "careless".

[Scott]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Will be purchasing this when it's released on Blu-ray, didn't see it in theaters but I've like the previous DC Bond movies...

[Blzer]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

Will be purchasing this when it's released on Blu-ray, didn't see it in theaters but I've like the previous DC Bond movies...

Be careful by just assuming...

[jb12780]

Re: SPECTRE: Bond 24

I already preordered the blu ray to go with the collection I got for Christmas.

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