Spectre

Probably the weakest Bond with Craig... Primarily it doesn’t make sense and yes, it’s great that it contains so much wink-wink references to older Bond movies and hidden meanings, but... it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t answer questions that the viewer asks himself during this expensive spectacle. The excellent casting is degraded by illogical changes in characters’ behavior, badly thought-through jokes in Roger Moore style Bond from the 70s which are ok for the Muppet Show, but in a dramatic action thriller this is seen as unsuitable (the villain simply says “Fuck" in the face of unavoidable death) and spoils the whole effect of an otherwise brilliantly directed scene. I don’t know if the screenwriters went on the rampage, or if Sam Mendez wanted the abandon the brand because he’s had it up to here with Bond. No consistency, just a couple of great moments that you mustn’t think too much about. It stinks of big money. (08/11/2015)

An essential Bond film. I could have plenty of reservations about it (everything people hate is objectively true), but here, reason loses out on points because when all the important proprieties slowly begin to emerge from the shadows in that rambling style, and you enthusiastically tick them off, it carves itself out in the end into a full-blown epilogue of one acting decade that has reached a complexity beyond most other things. (15/11/2015)

An orgasmic opening and pleasantly lavish set designs, supported by bold footage, which did not bother me – on the contrary, it gave the film a large-scale, sweeping reach (Hoytema and Mendes turned out to be a good team). I was pleased with the connection with Craig’s other Bond films, action scenes and little things like the brutal surprise on the train and waiting at a desert station (a reference to Hitchcock’s North by Northwest). Thanks to these things, I forgive the film even the use of a likeable comedian in the role of a wannabe alpha villain (WTF?!), the climax lazily borrowed from The Dark Knight (as if there wasn’t enough inspiration from Nolan), and Bond’s fling with a wrinkled MILF (while he left the only really beautiful woman of the movie in the opening, lying fully dressed on the bed). (03/12/2015)

It’s not as dark as Skyfall. Actually, objectively it is significantly worse than Skyfall. James Bond is like a walking robot in this one. He knocks down everyone who just look at him the wrong way. Nobody can stop him, and I literally mean nobody. Count on it being much worse than usually. Plus there is a huge amount of cool lines. Even though there are no emotions, it shows that kind of harshness possessed by old action heroes in the nineties, which I’ve never seen in any Bond movie with Daniel Craig before. It’s a pity that the title song is so extremely slow that it’s really a pain in the ass. Similarly, the arch enemy Christoph Waltz was not really scary. The only strong positive of this movie is Léa Seydoux, who was a great fit. Maybe because I’ve known her for a while now and she is nice to look at. A little bit different Bond movie, but when it comes to the good old action movies, it fulfilled my long-time desired dream. (12/07/2018)

Although bad (however nicely subversive) Bond movie, but a nice watch. And it could have been much better. However, the screenplay would have to back a way to long footage without particular reason, the tension between the 007, bond girl and the bad guy would have to work better, and the whole thing would have to be at least a little more spectre-style like the opening scene. Anyway, thanks to the open end, I would like to see another Bond movie with Daniel Craig. And even with the same team. (05/11/2015)