Review: Spectre
As I said when I reviewed Skyfall back in 2012, I’ve never been a James Bond aficionado and I’d never go so far as to call myself knowledgable about the series. I’ve only really watched a couple of the Pierce Brosnan movies and all the Daniel Craig ones, which isn’t all that many in the grand scheme of things. The tone of these recent films in particular is really captivating, though, and it’s wonderful to see how they try to balance out an old fashioned sensibility with Craig’s take on 007 as a highly physical and improvisational super spy.
Those things are still true of the 24th entry in the franchise, Spectre. Here, Bond (Craig) is off on his own mission from the outset, investigating a lead that will draw him closer to a shadowy organisation that could have had a role to play in much of what he has experienced in the past few films.
He’s aided by Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), but M (Ralph Fiennes) is trying to keep him under control while MI6 is under scrutiny and a new initiative based around global surveillance is being pitched, primarily by Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), to the world’s various national intelligence agencies. Bond’s search for this villainous collective finds him teaming up with the tough and resourceful Dr Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), and they stick together to find out more about what’s really going on.
At two and half hours, Spectre is somewhat too long. It’s a film with numerous incredibly exciting set pieces (there’s a great opening, a terrifically enjoyable car chase and a brutal fight on a train, to name just three) but the structure does feel a bit like it steadily falls apart as it heads into its final stretch. Thematically, it’s very much about the threat of too much surveillance and the lack of accountability that occurs when the work of spies is privatised. It’s all about that disconcerting feeling that you’re being watched, and it captures that atmosphere really successfully, while also allowing Bond to investigate and uncover hidden secrets.
This is much moodier than the superior Skyfall though, as it almost spends a little too much of its running time worrying about Bond’s tortured soul and the pain that he carries. That’s not to say it’s not fun at all, as this film feels like the Bond clichés have all been dissected and presented in the most entertaining fashion (with some subverted in clever ways too), but it does have a bit of a dark edge.
While the performances are top-notch across the board, the main reason Spectre doesn’t best Skyfall is a lack of investment in its villain. Christoph Waltz is having a good time here, but there’s too little to suggest his character is a formidable foe and neither his logic nor his motivation feel as clear as they should. Nevertheless, Spectre is still a great film with a lot to admire and enjoy.
While I’m no Bond expert, I get the impression this follows a very traditional template and you can tell. That template works effectively, though, and it’s unlikely anyone could leave feeling too disappointed after all this action and intrigue. With a sharper script and a shorter running time this could’ve had complexity and energy too, and it’s a shame that it lacks some of what the previous film made look so easy.
