Spectre (2015) Review **Spoiler-Free**

The name's '94. CJF94.

As some may know, I've been a fan of the James Bond series for the past three years. I've seen all the twenty-three EON-produced films from Dr. No to Skyfall, and I even have them all on Blu-Ray, whether I liked some of them or not. Naturally, I was excited for the latest installment in the series, Spectre. So how does it fare with this era of Bond films?

Daniel Craig once again plays Bond, as he goes rogue once again to investigate the eponymous organization. It's there that he goes from place to place, teaming up with Madeleine Swann (played by Léa Seydoux) before coming up against the man behind Spectre named Franz Oberhauser (played by Christoph Waltz).

There is also this subplot where this man named C (played by Andrew Scott) tries to shut down the 00 program in favor of a surveillance system. In other words, this is the James Bond version of this year's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, which the latter did a little better, which I'll get to.

Spectre does tie in the previous three films, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, so of course those events are going to be referenced. I don't think the continuity lock-out will be that big of an issue, but I do recommend that you see them beforehand.

It's amazing that Spectre now plays a part in the Bond franchise once again. Long story short, there were legal issues concerning the ownership of the organization and its characters that were finally resolved. For a while now, I always thought the Quantum organization from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were the modern day SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion). I guess they're out of the picture now, but not without a brief mention and an appearance from Mr. White, once again played by Jesper Christensen.

Daniel Craig is once again fantastic as 007. Like Skyfall, it does delve into his past a little bit, which plays a part in the film which I'm not going to spoil, becoming yet another personal entry for the character.

The first three Craig-era Bond films both deconstructed and reconstructed the commonplace tropes that the series had, to make it fresh once more. After Skyfall, all the common stuff we saw in the first twenty Bond films are finally in place. The gun-barrel sequence, for starters, is finally in the beginning, after the last two films put it in the end. Bond traditionally orders a vodka martini, this time "shaken, not stirred" after in Casino Royale he said "Do I look like I give a damn?"

Characters like M (now played by Ralph Fiennes), Q (played by Ben Wishaw), and Moneypenny (played by Naomie Harris) are finally established as major characters and play a big part in the plot more than ever. Ralph Fiennes does an excellent job and proves to be a great successor to Judi Dench's M, as he is more action-packed than her. Naomie Harris as Moneypenny is just as enjoyable as she was in Skyfall.

I enjoyed the interactions between Q and Bond the most in this film, having more funny dialogue than when Desmond Llewelyn played the former role. Like Octopussy and Licence to Kill, Q is out in the field once again, helping Bond out, risking his career since Bond has gone rogue, adding some dimension to his character.

When I heard that Léa Seydoux was going to play a Bond girl in Spectre, I was excited. I loved her in films like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and Blue is the Warmest Color and playing a Bond girl seemed like the next step for her. She did not disappoint.

Her character, Madeleine Swann, is pretty interesting and she seems to know how to handle guns. As expected, she is also really hot and looks stunning in that gray dress of hers during the train scene. She even shares some good chemistry with Daniel Craig and I think they make for a decent romantic couple. It's just not as strong as the romance between Bond and Vesper in Casino Royale. However, seeing as how every other Bond girl who makes it to the end of a film is always put on a bus by the next installment, I have a feeling she'll suffer the same fate.

I also enjoyed Christoph Waltz as the main villain, Franz Oberhauser. The build-up to his first appearance sent chills down my spine and he puts on a great performance. A lot of people complained that he doesn't have that much screentime. That's not really anything new. Take Blofeld from You Only Live Twice. Yeah, he was built-up for a couple of movies before, never showing his face in the meantime. It's not until he is finally revealed in the climax of said film that he has some sort of villainous presence.


Thankfully, every time Waltz is on-screen, he is great every time, so that more than makes up for it. Though if I have to nitpick, I think Waltz's accent is a little inconsistent. I'm probably the only one, but I noticed that he sometimes alternates between his American and possibly Austrian accent. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't completely turn me off.

Dave Bautista is also great as the henchman, Mr. Hinx. He is sort of like a combination between Oddjob from Goldfinger and Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. He is silent and is exceptionally strong like Oddjob and he kills people in a pretty nasty way like Jaws. He does come off as a huge threat to Bond and is pretty darn intimidating.

The action scenes are great to watch as usual and there is no sign of the horrendous shaky cam or hyperactive editing that plagued Quantum of Solace. There are some entertaining shoot-outs, hand-to-hand fight scenes, and traditional car chases to hold the audience over. The opening scene in Mexico City was pretty well done, with some great cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema. The beginning tracking shot was successfully done in one take, making me wonder how all of that was done. I was a little disappointed that Roger Deakins did not return to provide the cinematography for this installment after he did an excellent job with Skyfall. However, van Hoytema still got the job done and succeeds.

When the new vocal song "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith was released, I didn't listen to it. I heard Adele's "Skyfall" before that movie came out, so I wanted to try the opposite by watching the film and listening to the song for the first time, at the same time. I succeeded in the end.

Overall, I liked it. I don't think it's going to win any awards, but it's still a solid song. The orchestration sounds very Bond-like and I think Sam Smith puts on a great performance. It goes for a much more somber and personal but still classy tune that matches the tone of the film, while remaining true to its roots. It's even better when it plays during the stunning opening credits sequence.

Reactions towards the song seemed to be pretty split. Sure, it's no "Goldfinger" or "Skyfall" but not every Bond song has to be sung by Shirley Bassey or Adele. As awesome as it would be for Shirley Bassey to sing another Bond song (she almost did in Quantum of Solace), I say give other music artists a chance.

Thomas Newman is once again the composer. I was impressed with the Skyfall soundtrack that I still listen to it to this day. I thought the score for this film was decent. Maybe I have to listen to it a little more to warm up to it, but it's nothing to write home about. It did bring back some motifs from Skyfall, even some straight out of the soundtrack, which I found a little distracting.

It's fine if a composer brings back some tracks from previous films. Heck, How to Train Your Dragon 2 pulled it off well without sounding too recycled, even adding new motifs in the process. It worked on a couple of instances here, but not too much for the rest.

Since I talked about the underwhelming score, I do have to address other issues I have with Spectre. I did mention that Madeleine Swann shows that she has the capability of being an Action Girl, but it's disappointingly downplayed. Also, notice that I didn't mention Monica Bellucci until now. The oldest Bond girl ever was only reduced to about five minutes of screentime, which is a waste of her performance. I don't want to criticize a film based on how it was advertised, but even Bérénice Marlohe's character of Severine from Skyfall had more screentime, and left more of an impact on the plot.

Lastly, while I don't mind the sub-plot at all (I thought it was all right), I had two problems with it. First, it led up to a less-than-stellar climax. Second, it kind of undermines M's speech in Skyfall, where she gives this armor-piercing question: "How safe do you feel?" That question was enough to show that the world still needs the 00 section in the information age.

However, those weren't enough to break the film at all. There are a lot of great things to praise in Spectre. The action scenes are still fantastic, the cinematography is still well-done, I thought the song was fine, the humor is spot-on and it's still well-acted, well-directed, and a lot of fun to watch. Also, for the longest Bond movie to date (2 hours, 28 minutes), I did not check my watch even once; it's that well-paced.

I walked out of the theater humming the James Bond theme, meaning I had such a blast with it. It doesn't quite top Casino Royale and Skyfall, but it's still a good entry in the series, and one that I plan on watching a couple of more times in theaters. Overall, I say the...

GOOD OUTWEIGH THE BAD

With director Sam Mandes saying that this is the last Bond film he'll direct, I congratulate him for directing two good Bond flicks. I don't know about Daniel Craig and whether or not he'll return as Bond one more time since he signed up for two films after Skyfall. After shooting Spectre, he said he would rather "slash [his] wrists than play James Bond again." Maybe he was just tired. It's still too early to tell, though.

If, by any chance, Spectre is to be his swan song, then it's the best swan song for any Bond actor, though that's not saying much. Diamonds are Forever was a bad one for Sean Connery; A View to a Kill was the same for Roger Moore; Die Another Day for Pierce Brosnan was also equally bad; and Licence to Kill for Timothy Dalton really depends on the viewer. If Craig decides to return for one more Bond film, then I hope it at least matches the quality of this film.