Sound Off: Sam Mendes' 'Spectre', the 24th Bond Movie

Now that you've seen it, what did you think? Bond is back! Now playing in theaters everywhere is the 24th Bond movie, titled Spectre, from Eon Productions, directed once again by Sam Mendes. Daniel Craig returns for his fourth Bond movie as Agent 007, this time chasing after a mysterious Oberhauser. Is it time to re-introduce the evil organization SPECTRE? Also starring Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, plus Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista and Léa Seydoux. So how is this new Bond movie? Better than Skyfall or nowhere close? Is Daniel Craig done with Bond? How about that ending? Once you've seen it, leave a comment with your thoughts on Spectre.

Spoiler Warning: We strongly urge everyone to actually see the film before reading ahead, as there may be spoilers below. We also encourage all commenters to keep major spoilers from the film to a minimum, if possible. However, this is an open discussion from this point on! Beware of spoilers, don't ruin this movie!

To shake this martini, upon first viewing I have to say that unfortunately I was quite let down. It was odd, because there are so many great parts to it. The opening of Spectre is awesome, the energy, the vibe, the cinematography, the action, that helicopter fight, it's all badass. Perfect start. But then it all goes downhill, and there's really not much to it. The movie is over two hours, but the story just skips along. Suddenly we're at SPECTRE, and really, there's nothing much to the villain either. Jeremy nailed it in his review when he wrote, "it feels more like a Roger Moore-era Bond film complete with lame quips, a storyline that is more convoluted than required, and villains who are more eccentric than proficient, at least when it comes to dealing with Bond." And I enjoy the Roger Moore movies! But this one felt like it was lacking in a big way.

I'm fine with Daniel Craig as Bond, but I agree with the assessments that you can start to notice how tired he is playing the character. So many other interesting characters appear and disappear without explanation, which is usual for Bond, but this time it seems so egregious when there's not much of the actual Bond story to follow. We get that it's going to end with Blofeld, and it's almost so expected when it happens, that I felt like that end should've been in the first hour, and then the movie would've really started. My biggest rant is the ending. Very Hollywood, and not in a good way. Why? Didn't they see On Her Majesty's Secret Service? Bond choosing the woman never works out. So unless this is a tease for what's to come in the next movie (perhaps like OHMSS?) it seems very out of character and bewildering. Why did they make these choices?

Spectre James Bond Sound Off

What did you think of Sam Mendes' Spectre? One of the best Bonds, or is it one of the worst?
We will remove any comments that indicate you have not seen the movie, as this area is meant to discuss the film only once you have seen it and can talk about your thoughts. Please keep the comments civilized!

Cinenus

The film industry in one place - Articles, Reviews, trailers and hype!

Saturday, 7 November 2015