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Spectre (2015)  

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Review/stream of thoughts.

It's fun. Very very fun. Craig's amazing in this, Seydoux is great if a bit too underwritten and too polarizing characterisation (thanks script rewrites), too little Monica which is a bit expected tbh, Whishaw and Fiennes are MVPs, Waltz is great. So many laughs and cheers in the audience. This is definitely the 21st century version of classic Bond. First 15 minutes, from the first frame of the MGM logo, are absolutely fantastic. Thing is, it feels like it should've been even longer, like 160 minutes even, between the end of the Mexico sequence and Austria it feels really cut down for time, not to mention that it's played far too straight and breezy sterile  (thanks again script rewrites) with exception of a couple of fantastic scenes such as the Rome meeting  But pacing improves as we go along, and actually the film gets stronger as it goes on, surprisingly the third act is very strong IMO. Dat cinematography (give Hoyte an Oscar finally please), and the song (which Newman actually does his own arrangement of in a later scene) actually works with the amazing titles from Kleinman. 

Overall, very fun and enjoyable but not perfect and not Skyfall. It feels a bit too sterile for the sort of thing this really goes for, it should've embraced and been more operatic in both the emotional and the fun sense in some bits, if you see what I mean. Closer to TDKR in that sense - after all, this is indeed TDKR - if you make CR/QoS Begins and SF TDK.

Other points:
- First minute will make any Bond fan squee
- title sequence is mother of all couch gags
- dat opening tracking shot
- Epic cheers at end of train fight (you'll see why)
- a certain line from Fiennes got the biggest laugh and cheers
- JAMES BOND WILL RETURN at the end of credits.

8/10

Trailers: The Hateful Eight teaser (no reaction), Dad's Army teaser (no reaction), Mockingjay Part 2 theatrical (some murmurs of "this is the last Hunger Games"), Star Wars TFA final (cheers and applause at opening shot followed by nearly stunned silence)

MEGA SPOILER THOUGHTS AND ANALYSIS/SCRIPT-TO-SCREEN BELOW

 

So yeah - seems like a lot was cut down for time from the first half of the film. Which is a real shame and it shows in the first half especially. Stuff just moves on swiftly before it lands. Too streamlined A lot of touches sorely missed - the cameras gag with C and the lack of "Spooky" in the Rome chase is just the start, it felt sterile in the final film and it could've really improved it. There are other smaller bits that were changed for the worse but another big one is the whole dinner scene on the train is cut too short.....the whole "have you ever been in love" exchange will be sorely missed and really would've helped build Bond/Madeleine's relationship.

Madeleine - she's been made excessively polarising - one minute she's like "I'll kill you if you touch me" and 10 minutes later she says the three words. The Morocco hotel sequence in the final version is a bit ugh. That whole thing with Bond doing the complete opposite of what he usually does with Bond girls and Madeleine being drunk-surprised "why the f isn't he kissing me?" was a really nice touch and again, would've helped the relationship. Then the whole "I love you bit" at the SPECTRE base. Which brings me on to:

SPECTRE base and Blofeld reveal - Jesus - ok the torture scene was super great but it screwed everything up. Not only was the Blofeld name reveal is a bit cheesy anti-climax (in the December script it was an epic "oh-bloody-snap" moment from Bond, but then it left a plot hole), the whole "I love you" bit was just WHAT. Also I don't like how they made the whole scene with Blofeld showing Madeleine and Bond round the base about Madeleine and Bond. I would've much preferred what they had in the script with the cause-effect and blackmail demonstration, that was perfect, and how he eventually brought in M and Vesper, and then Mr White. The 'turn that off' bit in the final film was awesome though. And the white cat is welcome.

No complaints on third act changes, in fact it was damn strong. Although I missed some of the stuff on Westminster Bridge but that's probably a minor thing. It's literally in the final film just Bond about to kill Blofeld with the latter urging him to "finish it" and then Bond's like "I'm out of bullets". Then M does the arrest.

Also they cut the "we have all the time in the world" final line.

So yeah......most changes from December script, with the exception of Act 3 and the torture scene (ignoring the implications of said torture scene) are for the worse IMHO. Funny how I do all this with bloody Bond and not Hunger Games  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Throw any questions my way.

Edited by antovolk
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It is a derivative, soulless mess. It begins well enough, but the bizarre title sequence (hentai?) and the utterly wretched theme song mark the beginning of one of the worst Bonds ever.

Craig looks like methuselah and (perhaps because of age) the physical commitment he made in his first film is gone.

Seydoux is bland and mainly a damsel in distress. She has no chemistry with Craig, which makes the ending of the film even more ridiculous.

Waltz is wasted as Blofeld and the whole foster brother thing is even stupider than it was in the Austin Powers movie they stole it from. The idea that he is behind all of the events in Craig's bond films is moronic.

Bellucci is wasted and her seduction scene is soporific

apart from the helicopter scene, the only setpiece worth a damn is the train fight. The car chase idsbeautifully photographed but dull. there is no sense of danger. Bond even makes a phone call during it.

Andrew Scott is miscast as an ineffectual pantomime villain in Sherlock, and he is no better here.

Whishaw is good, Fiennes shines. he gets one of tne few funny lines in the film, but why does he gurn so much? he looks like Rigsby in Rising Damp.

the action climax is a direct steal from an episode of Dempsey and Makepiece.

the torture scene seems pointless.

the film has bigger plotholes than Skyfall

 

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3 hours ago, The Stingray said:

Aside from a phenomenal opening, I thought this was an utterly mediocre movie. I guess those Sony leaks about the script being a mess were accurate.

5.5/10

Btw, Craig is getting too old for this shit.

What I read in those leaked e-mails did sound like something from Spider-man 3 (or from a tv series in its 7th season).

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Fine, I guess? It's not QoS level dull. The TDKR comparisons are very apt - there's some amazing nuggets of stuff here packaged into a rather dull and overlong movie (and one that doesn't know whether to take itself seriously or just nudge nudge wink wink all the way). When the film comes to life, it's great - but there's some dreadfully dreary stuff in the middle that kills the film dead. I mean, I left the film about 20 minutes ago and everything in the Alps & in Morocco is a complete blur.

Also, Craig is the least invested in this he's ever been. He was fine, but he seems to have metamorphosed into a punny Moore-alike somewhere along the way. 

And yet, there's still plenty of fun to be had. Although the pacing of certain 'reveals' are really off, I actually quite like all of the SPECTRE/evil-villains-lair stuff. Q & M are great, Fiennes & Whishaw are having way more fun with this than Craig seems to. 

So yeah - a solid B. Keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed. 

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Guest Webseohub

thanks for the review, i've read some reviews on a website (www.themoviescout.com) about this movie before and i was not sure i would go to the cinema to see this movie. But i think i will give it a try, thanks!

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21 minutes ago, The Stingray said:

 

Die Another Day?

 

Also, I like the Dalton Bonds.

I like only of them. Die Another Day is entertaining in some way. Maybe time will chnge it but DAD I'm at least able to tolerate when it's on TV. But Spectre... I just don't need to see that movie ever again.

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