SPECTRE

Dustin: 3.5 of 5 stars Nick: 3 of 5 stars Average: 3.25 of 5 stars (Woozy canary)

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

Dustin: SPECTRE finds Daniel Craig starring in a Sean Connery film. The plot, I guess, is about Bond closing in on a shadowy organization for reasons that take forever to understand, while his employer, MI6, is being shaken up at the administrative level. It’s all an excuse to bring Bond face-to-face with his mortal enemy, Blofeld (oh, was that a spoiler? I guess you’ve never seen a Bond film before/or don’t remember Blofeld has always been the head of SPECTRE).

Nick: So very disappointing is the first thing that comes to mind. Everything I loved about Skyfall is either missing or overdone. The “overdone” would be all the winks and nods to former Bond films. I read something the other day there is at least one reference to every previous Bond film in SPECTRE. The missing is engaging drama, a memorable villain, and a somewhat unique story for the Bond series. Skyfall will live long in my memory, while SPECTRE might not last the week.

Dustin: I caught many references. A lot of it was visual. It wasn’t as painful as Die Another Day where they would reuse exact props from earlier films, but in SPECTRE we see similar sets from Dr. No or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. They also reused some situations, such as the train fight (From Russia with Love), the showdown in a funhouse (The Man with the Golden Gun), and Bond splashing a beaker of his own urine in a henchman’s face to disable him (Never Say Never Again).

The movie has actually grown on me a bit since we saw it. I appreciate what they’ve done in bringing back a lot of the fun, flamboyant elements of the original Connery films. If I had to fault this movie with something, it would be they tried too hard to backtrack and make SPECTRE the force behind all of the villains Craig has encountered. I understand for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, because there was an unnamed, shadowy organization behind the villains in those movies. But Silva had enough motivation on his own in Skyfall that making him an agent of SPECTRE sort of ruined it. I understand Blofeld was the best Bond villain (or a close second to Goldfinger), and the producers have worked forever to get the rights to that character back, which is why they couldn’t kill him off in this film (spoiler). But they didn’t need to backpedal so much. Or, if they wanted to backpedal, they could have made SPECTRE the secret organization behind every Bond film since 1971. The North Korean general who becomes a white person in Die Another Day? SPECTRE.

Nick: He was my favorite villain! Never saw it coming. I think it was the previous Daniel Craig Bond films (minus Quantum) which ruined this new one for me. I was enamored by Casino Royale and in awe of Skyfall. They both move slowly, build characters, have well-developed plotlines and some of my favorite action set pieces in quite some time. So many of the action sequences in this Bond involve a helicopter. So many that it felt like a Michael Bay movie at times. Why does the bad guy in spy movies always try to make a getaway in a helicopter! Even the solid comedy Spy ends with a fight scene in a helicopter. Blofield would have gotten away by car or maybe gotten further considering it’s a Bond film and he is fucking unbelievable!

Dustin: Frankly I’m surprised Blofeld didn’t have an underground monorail already in place.

This movie was good as fan service, and if it had followed Quantum of Solace, I would have seen it as a step in the right direction. As a stand alone movie or a follow-up to Skyfall, it was a bit disappointing.

Nick: Pshaw! Severely disappointing in that regard. Where would you put it on your list?

Dustin: Between The Living Daylights and Live and Let Die.

Nick: Although the action set pieces were perhaps my least favorite thing about SPECTRE, it had one great one in that train fighting sequence. The brutality unleashed by Dave Bautista upon Bond is back breaking, to of course anyone else but Bond. My favorite thing would be the cinematography. There are some very interesting shots throughout this film enough to where I feel as I left with a note of happiness. SPECTRE is truly a beautiful film when focusing on that one aspect.

Dustin: I agree. While this wasn’t a great movie, it had the look of a great one. I also liked some of the touches in the story, like the return of Mr. White, and the way Bond becomes something of a protector of his former enemy’s daughter.

What do you think will be the future of the series? Daniel Craig has hinted he may not be very interested in doing another Bond film, and I almost feel like he has outgrown the character. I kind of liked how this movie ends with Bond walking away as well. Should we leave it at that?

Nick: I think so, this film seems to not try as hard in terms of originality, which is what I was so enjoying about the new Bond era and with the way it is left with the obvious fork in the road I would be happy if they recast. Sam Mendes stated he is definitely not coming back, and Craig said he would rather slit his wrists then make another one at the moment.

Dustin: So now for the fun part of discussing who will be next. If I had to put money in Vegas on who I think will be cast, it would be Henry Cavill. But if I could choose the next Bond, it would be Michael Fassbender, even though he’s from Germany.

Nick: I will gamble with you, my friend. In no terms will they cast Cavill--they tend to cast relatively unknowns, and he has been in many big budget films including two as Superman, be cast as the next James Bond. Fassbender would be an amazing choice, and perhaps Richard Madden (of Game of Thrones) would be another one, but I like the idea of Idris Elba, but only if they call him 007 and not James Bond. Since it’s not an alias, but his actual name.

Dustin: I wouldn’t be surprised if Fassbender was a villain at some point. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Craig’s statement was really his way of holding out for more money, knowing he won’t be able to play the role much longer, trying to get a big payday for his final film.