The film hit the ground running with James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a mission in Mexico to thwart Marco Sciarra who intends to blow up a stadium, amidst the backdrop of Dia de Los Muertos. The costumes, the chaos and the carnival added a fun filled adrenaline rush to the hunt which unfolded through an epic tracking shot that was smooth, stylish and seamless and introduced Mr Bond in the most debonair way.
With a heart thumping mid-air helicopter fight scene, where Bond succeeds in getting what he was after all along - Sciarra's Octopus ring, he heads back to London to face the music of his unauthorised mission. The new M (Ralph Fiennes) who has no time for Bond's games as he deals with the possible disbandment of the 00 programme, led by C (Andrew Scott) grounds him until further notice.
But M should know better than to try and put a new leash on an old dog. With the help of his motley crew of Q and Moneypenny, watching his back in London, Bond heads off to finish what he started.
Spectre was an odd film. It is a little hard to explain, but I felt as though everything had been turned down slightly; the light in the room wasn't as bright, the colours weren't as sharp and the smell was more of a memory than an actuality. Don't leave, let me explain!
For example; the tried and tested James Bond clichés; the girls, the drinks, the whit, all fell a little short this time around. Granted there were some pretty decent fight scenes, but - to sound completely sadistic - no one was beaten to pulp, or left bloody and broken. Finally there were no super impressive gadgets and gizmo's. It was as if the whole film was working on auto pilot leaving everything feeling tired, old and a little forced.
I read that with up to a $300 million (almost £200 million) budget, Spectre is one of the most expensive film ever made. Frankly it seemed like a complete waste of money, which they - excuse the pun - blew on a number of unnecessary explosions that even the film couldn't quite mask its believability in. Another tactic they used to try and reinforce the believability of the plot, was to make as many references to the last three Bond films as possible in order to try to force the relevancy of Spectre down our throats. Luckily we were all able to cough up that bullshit.
At 148 minutes, (almost two and a half hours), the film felt way too long, and that's coming from someone who has sat and watched Lord of The Rings, which runs at approximately 178 minutes (almost three hours) countless of times. Aside from the pits of boredom that made the film drag slightly, I believe the fundamental reason for this is that James Bond is essentially an action series, and they tried to make Spectre a Drama.
As I have said during my reviews of Mission: Impossible Rouge Nation, and A Good Day To Die Hard; the plot for an action movie does not need to be too complicated, as long as there are legendary fight and chase scenes the audience is happy. By trying to weave an intricate web of interconnecting factors, the film forewent its primary objectives which caused indifference and boredom amongst viewers.
Maybe it was just me and my impeccable skills of movie predictability, but when the signs are all there, you just have to read them, and that's the issue with typecasting. As soon as I saw the actor Andrew Scott, it was pretty much akin to seeing Marion Cotlliard in pretty much anything. You could argue the same thing for Christopher Waltz, however the difference is; he was the villain in the beginning and he was a villain in the end, no twist and no turns necessary.
At the end of the day when all is said and done, I was very disappointed with Spectre. Sure it was an okay film, but the rawness and the passion was gone from James Bond and ultimately the film itself. Call me harsh for my rating, but when you set the bar high, the audience expect a damn good spectre-cal.
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