Official Synopsis
In SPECTRE, a cryptic message from the past sends James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal. Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.
Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.
Before we get into the gushy parts of how much fun this film was in terms of action and style, let’s call it what it is, an open door to bringing back old Bond familiars. That’s the main purpose of the film and it serves that purpose well, although that door has some issues opening.
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The story of SPECTRE isn’t particularly groundbreaking, as it launches in a half-hearted manner through a video left behind by M (Judy Dench) before she perished at Skyfall (spoiler alert…too late). The video is the McGuffin in the tale that opens a door to the old familiar organization, Spectre, something that existed in previous Bond films (specifically the Sean Connery and Roger Moore years). Since Daniel Craig’s inception as Bond, MGM/Sony have been trying to bring Spectre into the storyline and have been hinting at such a thing since Casino Royale. With that said, using a 15 second piece of video to open that door is a rather cheap way to jumpstart the organization’s introduction into the Bond timeline again. What’s worse is that the story doesn’t give much support on why/how Spectre did things in the previous films. It only tells us that Spectre was behind all the events in Casino, Quantum and Skyfall. It doesn’t detail how it was or why it was, it just asks us to trust it that it was in fact the catalyst for it all.
That’s cheap. That’s not a well thought out storyline and it’s requiring us to suspend our disbelief and trust that all will be revealed in good time, which never happens, at least in this film. This is the biggest fault about SPECTRE and it’s a huge fault to overcome.
Having said all of this, if you can look beyond this huge fault, and it’s possible to do so, SPECTRE is still very entertaining. Daniel Craig reinforces from the first act that he is dedicated to his role and is willing to change his brutish character a bit to fall in line with Bond greats. The first part of the film starts with Bond tracking down a known assassin in Mexico City, per the old M’s instructions, during the celebration of Day of the Dead. The first shot sets into motion his willingness to uncover SPECTRE with or without MI-6’s help, though he prefers to keep in contact with them through bits of trust (so, not totally going alone). After finding and disposing of his target, Bond tracks down the organization in Rome and begins to gather intel on their intentions.
If you were going to start a film with a bang, this is the way to do it. While there isn’t an opening like what you find in a Casino Royale (constant action), SPECTRE sets its own standards through its lens and through the ludicrous stunts in a helicopter to create intensity right out of the gate. The first act also sets a standard of the movie’s structure, which is great. Bond is going rogue (at least distancing himself temporarily from his employer), MI-6 is having itself eliminated slowly by another British intel organization and both are on a crash course of discourse with each other in the second act. The movie stacks the odds against everyone involved without stopping to ask how everyone is doing. Director Sam Mendes does a great job with engaging and hooking the viewer in the first 20-40 minutes.
Act two rolls around and elements begin to shift a bit. Bond stumbles upon SPECTRE, who pushes back. Several action sequences collide into a single coherent plot point of uncovering what SPECTRE has planned for the world (though we never really find out). Along the way in act two, we see a final reveal of the main villain (not going to spoil it, but you can guess it), but sadly we never get to hear the ‘grand plans’, which is generally very prominent in the James Bond structure. We just hear about what SPECTRE is capable of, but not the future plans that are going to destroy and cause chaos somewhere in the world. On the MI-6 side of things, we’re left without much explanation of its merger from the old MI-6 ways into the new ways led by a man named C (Andrew Scott), who has motives of his own. Nothing builds on this side of the tracks that adds anything to the film. It’s merely a side story to break up Bond’s movements.
Act two disappoints a bit. Getting back to my previous argument above, we get lots of action, but very little reasoning behind it. We get scene after scene with beautifully shot scenarios, but there is never a real feel of intention ever displayed. This creates conflict when you’re trying to build a typical sense of urgency in a spy film. It’s never fully understood why Bond is trying to stop Spectre, other than Spectre has done previously nasty things in certain parts of the world. That certainly would be enough for anyone good to go after anyone bad, but typically there is a time table to follow that equals out to something atrocious. That never truly comes to fruition. Act two is a bit of a bust, despite the cool action sequences that keep our inquisitive minds occupied.
I adore action, folks, but there just was too much and not enough explanation.
Act three creates some great suspense, but ultimately nothing of significance is revealed. Don’t get me wrong, the film establishes that Spectre is huge and a force to be reckoned with, but beyond that it gives no rhyme or reason within the movie on why they are there. It feels like a bridge to the next Bond movie and nothing more.
Having said all this, I did have fun with the action sequences and the cinematography (which is just out-of-this-world GORGEOUS!). The action sequences are wonderfully planned, far more than just mindless shooting. For example, the car chase scene in act two is fun, eloquent and ends how a Bond chase scene should end. The brutal train scene between Bond and Hinx (Dave Bautista) is fantastic, maybe even the highlight of the movie. All the action was done well and fits right into the typical Bond scheme (possibly above the average).
The cinematography in SPECTRE was breathtaking. From the long, single-shot opening scene, to the stunning wide shots that Mendes loves so much (he does a lot of those in Skyfall), there was a lot of cinematography eye-candy to be had with this film. It is truly a work of art at times.
Overall, I like the way SPECTRE looks and feels. I do not like the cheap way it transitions into a Bond story and tries to connect all the previous Daniel Craig Bond movie pieces together. The story needed some more substance and a lot more thought. Regardless, this is still better than a lot of past Bond films.
On the Blu-ray side of the equation, it is gorgeous. Fox did a great job with the transfer, which lends well to cinematography of the film. There were spots of graininess here and there, but for the most part it was a great Blu-ray transfer.
In the special features category, here’s what you’re looking at:
– SPECTRE: Bond’s Biggest Opening Sequence
– Video Blogs
Director – Sam Mendes
Supercars
Introducing Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci
Action
Music
Guinness World Record
– Gallery
A good amount of value added with this release. Not bad at all.
