Director: Sam Mendes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, MGM
Duration: 142 minutes
Spectre (DVD) – Movie Review
The James Bond series has always been popular. Daniel Craig’s incarnation of 007 has brought the movies back to the attention of a larger audience. But is the newest James Bond “Spectre” dumbing down the legacy?
Appearing to be on a rampage, but actually granting M’s (Judy Dench) final wish, Bond (Daniel Craig) kills two men, preventing them to blow up a stadium. The assassin Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona), who survived the attack, escapes and Bond chases him throughout Mexico City, during a dazzling Dia de los Muertos. After having killed him in a rather ridiculously spectacular fight inside a helicopter, Bond recovers a ring with the symbol of an octopus. Returning to London, he gets suspended from field duty by the current M (Ralph Fiennes). M is under a lot of pressure, trying to protect the ‘00’ program, which C (Andrew Scott), the head of the Joint Intelligent Service is trying to close down, believing it to be outdated. His trust in ‘Nine eyes’, a surveillance and intelligence cooperation between 9 states, makes him very persistent in convincing the voting members.
Ignoring his orders, Bond travels to Rome to get in touch with Sciarra’s wife Lucia (Monica Belluci), who tells him of the criminal organization “Spectre” to which her husband belonged. Attending a secret meeting by using the ring as his ticket of entrance, James finds himself surprised by the leader, who appears to be a ghost from his past. Clues lead him to Madeleine Swann (Léa Sedoux), who accompanies him on his travels to discover both the whereabouts of his nemesis and the nature of the evil schemes Spectre has been plotting.
James Bond movies are characteristic for their opening songs and animation, which really contributes to the anticipation for the movie itself. The extravagance of Mexico City and the opening scene set the expectations for the rest of the movie quite high, making the latter look dull in comparison. The plot unravels slowly to keep it interesting, intermittent with several stunning action scenes for a light, yet vibrant movie.
The producers seem to have done quite some effort to connect the later movies with Daniel Craig to the classic Bond series, which makes some attempts seem forced. The diversity of hints and items from previous movies are a nice touch.
Daniel Craig evolves throughout the movie, turning into an actual human being at the end. His embodiment of Bond is as it was before: strong and confident. The biggest disappointment is Monica Belucci; she had a minor part, which makes her quite an easy victim for such a strong woman. Christoph Waltz lives up to the expectations of a brilliant villain: with different layers in his personality, he shows his cunning as well as his desperation. The Bond girl, Madeline Swann, is quite cold and more robot like in her expressions, although in some scenes it actually added to the vibe. Naomi Harris and Ben Wishaw are nice sidekicks, funny and whitty, allowing some laughter in the movie.
While this DVD release of Spectre holds many special features, all of them are barely longer than a minute and a half in length. When played in sequence, they feel a bit like a simple ‘making of’, instead of separate standalone extras. Even though these specials don’t hold that much substance, they are fun to watch through after you’ve seen the movie.
Conclusion
Point is: we got spoilt with the previous movie in the James Bond Series: ‘Skyfall’. There have been critics who were quite harsh on the movie, exclaiming the producers were moving far away from the James Bond vibe. The general feel of James Bond ‘Spectre’ is somewhat more relaxed and it feels simpler than the previous version, in which Daniel Craig performs as ‘Mr. Bond’. Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining movie for both fans and people who are just into action.
If you’re a fan of the newer James Bond movies, you might be a little bit disappointed in the simplicity of its unravelling plot, compared to Skyfall. However, it’s still a very decent movie to watch. It’s entertaining, it has nice assets (cars/scenes/women) and a nostalgic touch.
Spectre (DVD) - Movie Review,
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