Spectre (2015)

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grim_tales
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Re: Spectre (2015)

Post by grim_tales »

Markgway wrote:I think it was Skyfall's 'Silva' who was supposed to be gay and to whom Bond made his ambiguous remark.

Personally, I feel if they want to make movies with gay lead characters, that's fine. But not Bond. Bond is what he is - and one of those things is a beaver badgering sexist.
Oh yes you're right :) I thought the 'You've taken good care of your body' line in Casino Royale was somewhat ambiguous also.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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grim_tales wrote: Oh yes you're right :) I thought the 'You've taken good care of your body' line in Casino Royale was somewhat ambiguous also.
True. I forgot about that. I didn't think he was meant to be gay though. I'm sure he has a female companion. Perhaps he swings both ways? :D
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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** Also posted in the reviews thread.

Spectre (2015-UK-USA) ***½
I needn't have worried... Bond is back and better than ever in an action epic that's superior to Skyfall in every way. The humour and lightness of touch absent from that film makes a welcome return and the story is considerably stronger, too - to my mind the plotting made sense this time without sacrificing character drama and darker moments (the depth praised in Skyfall is still here, this isn't a goofy, empty cartoon spectacle). Mendes' direction is stylish and confident (the opening "one-take" hit brings something new to a series always looking to refresh itself), the villains memorably sinister and brutal (on several occasions Bond is closer to death than we've seen him before), the set-pieces explosive and kinetic in the best blockbuster tradition. I'll need to see it again on BLU to make a more measured judgement, but upon first viewing it gets a high recommendation from me. Only caveats -- it IS very long and the theme song is abysmal.

Look forward to hearing other opinions.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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I only have to wait till December for it to open here...

Very much looking forward to seeing it. I'm surprised to hear about the tone; some early teaser I saw made it look quite dark. I've been avoiding seeing any of the the real trailers.

I don't know why they can't manage a good theme song these days. Goldeneye is the last theme song I can actually remember and recognize. The later ones I probably wouldn't recognize if I heard them on the radio...
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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I havent seen a real trailer yet either, only quick TV spots.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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HungFist wrote:I only have to wait till December for it to open here...

Very much looking forward to seeing it. I'm surprised to hear about the tone; some early teaser I saw made it look quite dark. I've been avoiding seeing any of the the real trailers.

I don't know why they can't manage a good theme song these days. Goldeneye is the last theme song I can actually remember and recognize. The later ones I probably wouldn't recognize if I heard them on the radio...
I quite liked Skyfall's theme song. Casino Royale had a decent one as well.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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I agree with Yi.
The one for Quantum of Solace was pants. Die Another Day was execrable. Tomorrow Never Dies ending song was so much better than the opening theme :)
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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Spectre 7.5/10

Watched this tonight with my girlfriend. Enjoyed it, Craig was fantastic as usual, and I liked the new Bond girl.

Loved the opening, and it stayed a pretty strong movie until about the last half hour, where Mendes once again went into B-movie dramatics with a 'trap' for Bond in an abandoned building, including hostage, bomb, timer, etc etc. Basically just the kind of stuff you would expectre :roll: from an old TV show or something..

That said, the plot luckily made a lot more sense AND was a lot more interesting than Skyfall, and apart from that last half hour orso, it was mostly very entertaining, and made far better use of it's locations than Skyfall did. Some stuff was of course a bit over the top (plane chase, and the ending), but then again, this IS a Bond movie so that's also kinda expected. The dry witted humour was also very amusing, and although 'new' M kinda sucks balls, 'new' Q was a lot better implemented and likeable than he was in Skyfall.

All in all an entertaining movie, although not quite reaching the heights of perfection that was Casino Royale, which to me is pretty much a flawless Bond-flick. VERY close to being really great though, but Mendes pretty much drops the ball in that last half hour, sadly.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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Yi-Long wrote:and although 'new' M kinda sucks balls, 'new' Q was a lot better implemented and likeable than he was in Skyfall.
Agree about Q. I didn't like Ben Wishaw in Skyfall. He needed a slap. But I found him amusing in Spectre.

However, Ralph Fiennes' M grew on me throughout the film (as intended). What didn't you like about him? Frankly, I was glad to see Judi Dench go. After seven films and two tenures I felt we'd seen enough of her.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

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Markgway wrote:
Yi-Long wrote:and although 'new' M kinda sucks balls, 'new' Q was a lot better implemented and likeable than he was in Skyfall.
Agree about Q. I didn't like Ben Wishaw in Skyfall. He needed a slap. But I found him amusing in Spectre.

However, Ralph Fiennes' M grew on me throughout the film (as intended). What didn't you like about him? Frankly, I was glad to see Judi Dench go. After seven films and two tenures I felt we'd seen enough of her.
I find 'new' M TOO detached, too much of a one-dimensional unlikeable character, and also in that sense a bit unrealistic, both in the way he's cold and barely emotionally involved with Bond at te beginning, as well as the turn-around which just seems a bit manufactured, although luckily they certainly don't go overboard with that.

I thought Judi Dench did a much better job at balancing that hot & cold act between her and Bond, clearly a professional who was a match for Bond, who had her agents' back, even though she would also drop them if necessary if it meant more lives would be saved if she did. There were more layers to her M, and basically she was more realistic (to me), as opposed to Ralph, who seems to be written and portrayed reasonably 1-dimensional.

Do keep in mind I never really liked Fiennes in anything he did anyway, as well as the fact I've barely seen Dench as M in the Brosnan movies, as I found those to be unwatchable so I'm only judging her on these last 4 movies.

Back to the movie itself:It seems once again I'm disappointed by the fact that we have a larger-than-life Bond-villain, who seems to have a very personal and in fact quite pathetic and immature reason to do what he does, which seems overly convulated and contrived. While Mendes certainly nails the tone of Bond in terms of how the movies look and has the big set-pieces and such, the story he all hangs it on just feels a bit 'stupid'. His desire to make these movies 'personal' to Bond is, to me, also their downfall.

The whole 'Blofeld is actually Bond's 'brother' who basically became jealous of his father's attention towards James, so hey, let's create and lead the world's biggest secret evil organisation to, in the end, show Bond up and ruin his life along the way... it's just fucking DUMB. And by going so personal and obsessed with these personal vendettas, these supposedly smart evil masterminds also stray into old TV-show Batman-villain territory, with elaborate traps and speeches to explain why they do what they do, all the while giving the hero time to come up with a plan to escape and turn the tables... if you hate Bond so much, just fucking shoot the guy already. Oh, you're whole evil empire HQ just exploded? Hey, let's just fly into London and kidnap Bond, only to see him escape in front of the building you have already set up with strange print-outs from his past for him to walk his way through, so you can hide behind some glass wall to once again tell him you have him tricked and you have his girl, tied to a bomb, and he's FINISHED!!! HAHAHAH! (evil laugh)

Again, I enjoyed the movie until once again Mendes takes it all to fucking 'STUPID-town', plot-wise, with the villain and his (personal) pathetic motivations and his following dumb & overly convulated actions. Such a huge huge shame.

I know, if you can overlook the stupidity, and many have done so with Skyfall, you will find a great looking and entertaining Bond-movie. I'm just afraid that because of these final 30 minutes orso and certainly my feelings about it, it will also ruïn my enjoyment of what came before.
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Re: Spectre (2015)

Post by HungFist »

I thought this was pretty entertaining overall.

Somehow I'm often left underwhelmed by the action scenes in these new Bond films. The opening helicopter scene left me pretty bored. I should see it again to really say what was wrong with it... maybe too fast and too much going on at the same time. I dunno. I remember I had the same problem with Casino Royale where I remember being really bored by some airport action scene (haven't seen it since the theatrical release).

The airplane sequence, on the other hand, was pretty good.

The best thing was certainly the supporting cast. Léa Seydoux is easily the best Bond girl the series has ever had. Christoph Waltz may be repeating his manners film after film, but he made a great villain. I do agree that the series lost a fantastic actress with Judi Dench, but I've also always though Ralph Fiennes was a decent actor and I liked him here as well. The invincible killer played by Dave Bautista felt a bit stupid in a bad way (as opposed to for example the villain meeting scene in Rome, which felt stupid in a good way), though.

For me this was on par with Skyfall and Casino Royale, which are both good, but I still wouldn't include any of them among my favourite Bonds.

3.5/5
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