From the opening tracking shot, held on almost tortuously too long through Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, Spectre illustrates once more that with Sam Mendes at the helm we are in good company. After all the inevitable build up, some feared that the opening scene would be underwhelming; within seconds those nerves are dispelled.
The blessing and curse for Spectre is that it had to follow Skyfall, perhaps the best of all the Bond films and certainly so in recent years. ‘Goldeneye’ was in 1995, remember. The existential discussion about the future of MI6 and the “double O” program continue, alongside a new collection of political questions like drones and surveillance. But where both ‘Spectre’ and ‘Skyfall’ succeed is flagging these up if you are interested but if you want a fun, action film without the detail, you can enjoy that too. And what fun! The pace is expertly done, with Mendes happy to take his time to control the mystery especially through lighting and masks, but then speed along when it needs to. Other good features of Skyfall, Q and Moneypenny make re-appearances, with the former particularly scene stealing, taking many of the films funniest lines.
The downside of its relationship with ‘Skyfall’ comes through the film’s villain. When I heard Christoph Waltz – sorry, double Academy Award winning Christoph Waltz – was set to face off with Bond, that sounded like wonderful news. Unfortunately, his berth was somewhat taken by the stunning Javier Bardem in the previous film. Waltz’s slightly effeminate, articulate, effusive villain, paled in comparison the slightly effeminate… you get the picture. He toned down his performance somewhat, but with less screen time, at least until the final act than the Spaniard, you can’t shift the spectre (boom-tish) of his predecessor.
While Waltz may be compromised, the reference to Jaws and Oddjob in Bautista’s sidekick is also welcome. Just like his predecessors he says few words and provides one of the films best sequences when fighting with Bond with splintering wood flying everywhere. And just in case it needed saying, Craig remains muscular, with quips and charm. If he believes what he said about preferring to ‘slash his wrist’ before returning, that would be a great shame.
Elsewhere, the franchise’s relationship to women has been historically very poor, and while ‘Spectre’ is by no means a feminist film, it certainly has a much improved relationship with its female characters over previous outings. Though unfortunately used sparingly Monica Belucci is the oldest ever Bond “girl” at 50 and Lea Seydoux is fantastic. By failing to fall for his charm and taking care of herself on many occasions, she proves a partner for Bond and less of a damsel in distress than is traditional. Now, of course that is her role at times, but watching her strip down a gun but refuse to do the same for him is a welcome departure for the series. Accept her offer of a dirty Martini and go and see ‘Spectre’, it may not quite match ‘Skyfall’, but Bond still has his licence to thrill.
*All pictures are taken as stills from the trailer from various sites.
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