*Originally written October 31st, 2015*
"Some great Bondage"
After the insane standard that Skyfall set back in 2012, it was suspected that Spectre would never live up to its hype, but my god, Spectre was just 100% gravy, I loved every minute and I'm even torn between what I loved more, this Casino Royale or Skyfall.
Sam Mendes returns to the directors chair in a story that bring Bond head to head with a mysteries organisation called 'S.P.E.C.T.R.E.' that has links to his past and is run by mastermind Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz).
In many ways it feels like Spectre is a finale to Daniel Craig's run as Bond, it ties up and brings all his films full circle, even Quantum of Solace, although the film tries its hardest no to bring that up to much. It turns out that all on Craig's previous villains were part of Spectre. I saw some reviews saying it felt cheap and unearned, but I felt it worked.
Mendes once again delivers several excellent and memorable set-pieces. Opening with a gorgeous tracking shot in Mexico for Day of the Dead that is filmed to look like one long take, it was beautiful and certainly got Spectre off to an amazing start. The rest of the action scenes are great too, we get a brutal close-quarters fight between Bond and henchman Mr. Hinx on a train that reminded me of From Russia with Love and a fantastic car chase through the streets of Rome.
What helps Spectre a lot is its return to a slightly more lighter tone, while still maintaining its dark seriousness. Since Casino relaunched the series, people have complained about its tone. Casino started dark and brutal, showing how Bond become Bond, Quantum just derailed everything, Skyfall was a step closer to the Bond we know and Spectre feels like the first fully fledged Bond film in a long time. It relies heavily on the formula that makes Bond iconic, but still feels extremely fresh.
We still have the locations, the girls and the over the top villain who is played marvellously by an always amazing Christoph Waltz, he does his usual and lovable Waltz thing, but that makes him no less great and memorable. Dave Boutista was awesome too, bring a henchman that feels like a classic with his quite demeanour and menacing size, he even gets a gorgeous kill that involves eye gouging, which was extremely brutal, even by Bond's recent standard of violence.
Craig is as good as ever as James Bond, he really seems to have the role tied down now, brimming with the charm and charisma that is needed for the role, while still doing some really audacious and bone-breaking physical work.
Lea Seydoux was really great as the Bond girl, she felt like the most human of Craig's women since Casino Royale's Vesper, she had solid chemistry with Craig and felt fairly genuine that they would fall in love by the end, even leaving an open ending for them that could hopefully be resolved tragically at the beginning of the next film. I won't even mention Monica Belluci, as her role felt like a glorified cameo that barely rounded up to five minutes of screen-time, which was weird as she was heavily featured in the advertisement and posters leading up to the release.
Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomi Harris all return as Bond's MI6 team. They were all great and each had there own moments to shine, the finale even felt like the recent Mission Impossible films where they all had a role to play and something to do.
If Spectre is Craig's last outing as Bond, then this was a damn satisfying way to do it, with a story that brings things full circle and completes the story while leaving the door open to more instalments. Filled with everything that makes Bond great, Spectre might just be the best of Craig's films and maybe even the best of the whole series. I just hope someone can fill the huge gap Mendes will leave now that he has said he won't be returning to direct the series anymore.
9/10 Dans
Spectre is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:
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