JAMES BOND 007 : SPECTRE (2015)

SPECTRE

Whenever a new James Bond film comes out, it is always a pleasant surprise to be thrilled by the various elements that make up such an iconic film series. SPECTRE is the fourth James Bond film starring Daniel Craig and it might also very well be the last one, even though Mr. Craig is still contracted for one more.
SPECTRE is as thrilling as the last one and perhaps even more than before it represents a step back to the Bond  we all knew before Daniel Craig took over the role. In SPECTRE, Bond has more of a sense of humor than we have seen before, he is equipped with gadgets and once more has a secial Aston Martin with the works. And he gets the ladies.

Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig in Rome

SPECTRE may be too ambitious with its length. With 148 minutes, SPECTRE is the longest James Bond film on record and while the film doesn't get boring, maybe the film could have stood a little tightening up here and there still. For me, it seemed a little like the length of the film seemed only to accentuate the formulaic quality of the story. You go from a quiet moment to a dramatic highlight, to a point of relief where after follows a new trajectory to another dramatic highlight and so on. But then, this is a James Bond film and not an Austin Powers movie.
For myself I also particularly enjoyed the struggle that the new M is engaged with, while Bond is still following orders from M's predecessor. Ralph Fiennes as the new M is excellent and works very well with Naomie Harris as Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw as Q. And the McGuffin of the story, vague as it is, would bring Bond even closer to his arch enemy, formerly known as Franz Oberhauser, but of course, he has started calling himself Ernst Stavro Blofeld now and ends up sporting a scar that refers to the look of Donald Pleasence as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967).

To be Blofeld or not to be Blofeld, that's the question!

I had some reservations about Thomas Newman's music for SKYFALL. Not that it was bad but it is practically not to be listened to on the soundtrack CD, which for a film music lover like myself is a sincere disappointment. I was pleasantly surprised this time by Newman's music because he manages to imbue his themes with an intensity that is dramatically quite satisfying in the film. On CD SPECTRE still doesn't match the grandeur of a John Barry score, but it is better than SKYFALL and intermittently also referencing the classic James Bond theme. Thanks very much, Mr. Newman. I'm afraid that I must say however that Sam Smith's Writing on the Wall doesn't do it for me. Sorry.

A trailer made for Heineken, a Sponsor of the Film 

A very personally satisfying background is now also being brought to a close for our hero, Mr. James Bond. It is almost as if these four Bond films for Daniel Craig have acted as a personal treatment for the trauma of his youth, losing his parents in a climbing accident, having been raised by someone else in their stead. It is the realization that he does have a choice at the end of this film which would validate an ending here, even if only for Daniel Craig as Bond, now driving away with the girl in the sunset. (I just hope that his girl friend doesn't get killed, prompting Bond to go on another killing spree in the next film. That's been done before. Daniel Craig by the way has aged a lot as well by now and maybe this would be his best cue to step down.)

Léa Seydoux, Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci 

Slightly disappointing was that Monica Bellucci is only seen so shortly in the film and also, Mr. Hinx, played by Dave Bautista, also is gone too soon. For that matter, by the way, even though Christoph Waltz does a good job of portraying the arch enemy of our Hero, he lacks a certain something in the menacing department. Maybe he just seems a bit too friendly.

Not Austin Powers 3

SPECTRE has in the meantime gone from the cinema screens but is now readily available on DVD and Blu Ray. At this particular point it is also going to be interesting to see where the films will go next as it is unclear at this point whether Daniel Craig will want to do one more or not. If not, other actors are foaming at the mouth to take the role.I loved Daniel Craig as Bond and if SPECTRE will be his last one, it was a good one ! But we'll just have to wait and see.

Final note: Sam Smith has been awarded the Oscar for Best Song, Writing is On The Wall. I am not in agreement that this is a good song but then, who am I? When Sam Smith sang the song live for the Oscars, it was also clear he could not match the vocal quality from the film song as his live performance was definitely off key. Not a fine note to end this review on but nevertheless congratulations to Sam Smith.